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Published: 13 December 2013

There is a lot more to communication than words…at least that is what we often tell people in counseling. It is true that tone of voice and “body language” often makes the words we say seem less genuine. It’s tough sometimes to have all the parts of our being working in the same direction! However, the words matter. One of the things that the enemy has done over the years to create confusion in people’s minds is simple changes to definitions. These subtle changes to the meanings of words can erode our joy and confidence in profound ways. For example, this Sunday we’re discussing the matter of “hope.” The Hebrew and Greek definition of that word/concept includes anticipation based on solid confidence. The hope the Bible authors wrote about was based on the Person of God…His character. Because God cannot lie, because He is good and does all things well, we can trust His promises. Therefore we have hope, we have confidence that what He said will come to pass. In our modern use of the word hoping is more like wishing. We “hope we will stay healthy.” We “hope we’ll get the present we want.” We “hope to have safe travel.” When those two words get mixed up our hope for forgiveness, transformation, glory and heaven becomes wishful thinking rather than confident expectation. We really need to remember that “hoping the weather man is right” and having hope in God’s promises are two different matters. The weather man only reports the weather, he never controls the wind or the storehouse of snow. God, on the other hand, has made certain promises and on these promises we build our hope. So, are you merely hoping or do you have hope?

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Published: 05 December 2013

I have said this a lot, I’m sorry. Type “A” people have spiritual problems too and waiting at the light when it has turned green, and waiting in line and waiting for “fast food” are all tests of my spiritual formation. Waiting on God is very hard too. I realize that some people are just slow. Some people have limitations. Some people don’t know I am waiting on them, they are truly oblivious. But God on the other hand…He knows everything, loves me and has the power to do whatever He wants to do so…”Hurry up already, will Ya?!” I am an impatient child at times though I am thankful to be growing. I am not where I was a few years ago and taking the Word to heart has probably been better for my heart! Waiting on the Lord is different from waiting on the clerk in the government office. My strength is not renewed waiting in line, waiting at traffic lights or waiting for people who act like I am not in the room. However, my strength is renewed waiting on the Lord. This is a different kind of waiting; as we will learn this Sunday, “wait” in the Bible means to “endure with confident hope.” Waiting on God means I trust Him to make sense of things I cannot fix, therefore I rest. Waiting on God means letting Him run the universe instead of feeling like it is up to me (how silly is that?). Waiting on God means trusting Him with the information I don’t have and being okay with some mystery. Waiting on God means serving when I see no results, change or progress because I know that my labor in the Lord is not in vain. That kind of waiting is strengthening, not maddening. Remember what the prophet wrote… “But those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40:31) Wait I say, on the Lord!