Abba's Dearly Beloved

For since the world began, no ear has heard and no eye has seen a God like you, who works for those who wait for him! 

Isaiah 64:4 (NIV)

Have you forgotten? Do you even care? Where are you in this situation? Are these some of the questions you are asking or perhaps yelling at God about right now? The situation you may have been praying about may feel as old as the hills, yet it feels like you are no closer to seeing God’s breakthrough in the painful labour of waiting. Where is his answer? This experience may lead you to question God’s goodness or if he has stopped caring for you. Sometimes that blame can be turned on yourself.

Is this your experience today dear reader? Take some comfort that you are not alone. This was and to an extent still at times is my experience and one faced by many believers all over the world. Indeed, well-known characters we read about in the Bible such as Abraham, Sarah, Joseph and David have faced the desert like experience of waiting.

Waiting on God to act can feel like a path into the wilderness and be a frustrating process if you let what you are waiting on God for consume your energy and time. However, waiting is the path to refinement and to greater revelation and intimacy in your walk with God that may well be part of something greater that God wants to do in your life and reveal to you about him.

In this season the deep and painful things of the heart get drawn to the surface before our Father. In such times, it is the response of God to our groaning as we offer up our angry frustrations or even our back to him that reminds us who our God and saviour is:  That He is and remains good, infinitely loving towards you and his arms never waver in being open to you.

To illustrate God’s response so that it hits home, I want to share a picture the Holy Spirit revealed to me in response to my railing against God in increasing frustration to the pleadings and petitions that I felt were going unanswered. In the picture, Jesus was holding his hands around my heart and in response, ice that had encased parts of my heart were melting in his tender hold.

The truth is, I had been consumed by what I was seeking God for rather than the giver himself and in the increasing frustration that had built up, so too had my heart been hardened by resentment and doubt as a thick layer of ice. What this picture did was reminded me of the fundamental truth of the God I worship. That whilst you and me were still sinners and still choosing our own way, our hearts stumbling from one thing to another in the hope that it would satisfy or bring peace, Christ, the epitome of the God the Father’s heart died for you and me (Romans 5:8). In our frustrations at what we feel are unanswered prayers or God’s slowness, let us not forget the heart of the divine giver who surrendered His own son, that we might be reconciled to him, received as His sons and daughters. God’s heart is and remains good. Yes, God’s heart is and remains good. He is not just the author of love; he is the definition of perfect love itself.

The process of our waiting can be seen as an invitation, to bring our frustrations and pain to Him and allow those hands of love to hold our heart as we unburden our hearts. He is the eternal fountain of mercy, grace, and strength that never run’s dry and his invitation to you and me is to come today. We may find that another chunk of ice melts in His presence and our hand chooses to squeeze that bit tighter in his.

The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.

Deuteronomy 33:27 (NIV)