Waiting: Faith Seeds: Prayers and Poetry

Isaiah 59:11, “We all growl like bears, like doves we moan mournfully. We wait for justice but there is none; for salvation, but it is far from us.

Like Israel, we often growl, moan, sorrow, complain, and grow restless waiting for justice. Even if we don’t show our frustration visibly there is often a toe-tapping impatience. And when we witness injustice to the helpless we become angry.

Angry enough to turn from waiting upon God and take matters into our own hands?

Sometimes it is for personal satisfaction and other times a worthy cause, but what Israel did recognize was that God alone could provide the right kind of justice. He seeks restoration first. We have a tendency to seek punishment first—unless, of course, it is us who need forgiveness.

In Revelation chapter 5 the writer weeps in heaven at the book no one can open because no one is worthy to open the seal. “Stop weeping,” he is told, “the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and it seven seals.”

We may need to wait for an external justice and, in some situations, the solution may not come in time for us to see beyond horizon’s reach. But we can choose internal integrity and trust in God’s promise of justice His way regardless of the circumstances in the meantime.

Hope that seeks the Lord’s will and waits with compassion and prayer.

Psalm of Worship: Psalm 98:2-3

“The Lord has made known His salvation;

He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations.

…. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.”

Thirst: Faith Seeds: Prayers and Poetry

                                                               Thirst

Thirst shrivels

insides to dry dust

covered bones

winding deep

into hollow well.

Trough a brackish

puddle below a

pump ready

to  overflow at touch.

Instead dip fingers

licking moist dirt

unwilling to reach.

Reflection Water: Faith Seeds: Prayers and Poetry

Reflection Water Questions

1.     Are you filling yourself up with living water every day or light sips now and then?

2.     Why do you think we turn away from the Lord’s daily provision?

3.     What causes you to turn away?

Share: How has the Lord poured His living water into a dry situation in your life?

Water: Faith Seeds: Prayers and Poetry

Jeremiah 17:13, “O hope of Israel! O Lord! All who forsake you shall be put to shame, those who turn away from you shall be recorded in the underworld, for they have forsaken the fountain of living water, the Lord.”

In seasons of drought, crocodiles often go into hibernation for several months. They dig out a den of mud in river or waterhole and wait. They trust the water to return. Other times Nile crocodiles will move across dry land to another habitat to find a water source. They survive. They trust. They wait.

Throughout times of plenty and times of tribulation Israel never stopped recognizing the hope of Messiah. Even during seasons of their history when they outright disobeyed God’s laws or counsel. So why would they turn away from His truth?

Why do we?

Israel had the belief and hope of Messiah, yet no concrete measurable concrete historical to verify. Like Abraham waiting for his heir, they believed in the promise but often chose to use their own solutions in the meantime. In case God was absent, or had forgotten, or was unable. And every time they failed.

We have historical proof. Messiah has come, is present to us, and will return. We trust in that overall hope, as did Israel. Until the drought comes, or the pressure, or indecision, or cost of relationships, or…., and stress whittles away a sense of security.

Then we sometimes pick and choose which parts of truth words to live by. We exist by drops of water instead of asking for God’s rain to soak us through and saturate us from the inside out. We forget to hide ourselves in His whole provision—maybe because we don’t want the solution to be hibernating in a mud-hole waiting.

Forgive us, Lord, for substituting our own solutions instead of relying on your fountain of life giving hope. May we thirst for your words every day and never doubt in Your answer. May we remember to ask in faith.

Psalm of Worship: Psalm 72:6

“May he come down like rain upon the mown grass,

Like showers that water the earth.

(request of King Soloman for his rule as king)

Hope: Faith Seeds: Prayers and Poetry

Hope

A dream is just a

fleeting glimpse, ideas

of delight or challenge

awakening senses to

possibilities.

Becomes hope when

acted on; building

invisible steps towards

visible reality beyond

present.

An anchor in

cold waters, chain

links rise ever

sun-ward keeping the

promise.

Reflection Hope: Faith Seeds: Prayers and Poetry

Reflection Hope Questions

1.     Have you ever had to relinquish a promise? Why?

2.     How did it affect your faith walk?

3.     Are you willing to follow a new path without any guarantee of reward or applause? What kind of path?

Share: What dream has the Lord given you that you need to build steps towards beginning now?

Hope: Faith Seeds: Prayers and Poetry

Hebrews 11:39, “Yet, all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised,”

The promise they followed was beyond their realization or participation.  Yet they grasped the value and clung to its beyond fulfillment for themselves and their descendants. They lived into the future while in the present. Now.

How often do we become dismayed if we cannot receive immediate answers or tangible rewards? We are a society of immediate gratification. Even when we acknowledge it, there is often still a part of us that craves some applause.

Yet beauty evolves. Fruit bearing trees often take several seasons to flourish. We study and admire the cycles nature takes. We respect the wondrous perfection of a firefly’s brief lifespan as well as the longevity of a giant tortoise. Each of their days lived in the fullness of what they are.

Hope lives into God’s promises regardless of circumstances. Easier to desire than to do. Unless we live each day trusting and resting in the facts that we too can abide in His presence every moment.  And we too can grasp that gift now.

Lord, help us to walk and work in faith regardless of outward approval or censure. May it be Your Spirit’s word speaking in and through us  to share Your hope.

Psalm of Worship: Psalm 38:15

“For I hope in Thee, O Lord;

Thou wilt answer, O Lord my God.”

Wandered: Faith Seeds: Prayers and Poetry

 Wandered

Constantly alert to danger

sounds of pursuit

drummed a march in their ears

continuously moving

backtracking

setting false trails

 adept animal mimics

 held

faith in heart

a conscience hold on reality

despite cave dwellings.

Reflection Wanderers: Faith Seeds: Prayers and Poetry

Reflection Wanderers Questions

1.     How would you cope with silence from God over a period of years? Or have you?

2.     Do you find your strength in reading Scripture? What promises sustain you during season of trial?

3.     Would you be willing to live in caves for Jesus? What might a cave look like in today’s world?

Share: Have you ever had to run from danger? Were you able to trust God in the midst of it? How?

Wanderers: Faith Seeds: Prayers and Poetry

Hebrews 11:38, “of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.”

Merrill F. Unger refers to the time between the testaments as The Four Hundred Silent Years counting from the prophet Malachi to the arrival of the prophet John the Baptist. Most Biblical records for this era come from Jewish historians.

A the end of one portion of historical Jewish history, sometimes referred to as the time of the Maccabees (see post Destitute), they cleansed the Temple and, “They celebrated it for eight days with rejoicing, in the manner of the festival of booths, remembering how not long before…they had been wandering in the mountains and caves like wild animals.” According to the records this self-banishment lasted almost thirty years.

Their faith took them into this harried lifestyle with no guarantee that they would be rescued or ever able to return home. They fled in order to remain true to God in worship. They gave up everything they knew and loved to follow faithfully God’s words of truth.

And that day may come again to God’s people.

Would we be as ready to stand up with this level of courage? We who some days get upset over changes to our schedules, perceived intrusions in our lives, and fragile egos at hints of disagreement?

Not apart from the Word and the Spirit to sustain us.

During those silent years the words and stories of Yahweh as told by His prophets carried on through generation-to-generation waiting and hoping for Messiah. And each Lenten season we remember the real deliverance fulfilled.  We often choose to give up something during this season, either a habit that has become a hold on us, or time so as to spend more fellowship in prayer.

Sometimes though that focus on making it through Lent without … becomes our primary concern. Or during any other season of life when we face loss and can only manage to make it through the days. Instead, perhaps we should choose to celebrate that Jesus has won the victory for us and that regardless of loss or gain, He supplies true hope every day. His courage every day. His faith every moment.

Lord, please write your words into our hearts, so that we can pass on Your stories to the next generation so that they will know Your hope.

Psalm of Worship: Psalm 55:6-8

“And I said, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest.

Behold I would wander far away, I would lodge in the wilderness.

I would hasten to my place of refuge from the stormy wind and tempest.”