Series: Flowers in the Desert
Isaiah 40:30-31 ESV
Matthew 17:20-21 (Mustard Seed Faith)
I can’t say I love the idea of waiting for God to open a door to change something that appears to be broken.
If I’m being really truthful I really hate waiting.
Even when I was a child I didn’t like to wait but because I was a baby boomer I knew better than to complain about it.
See, my dad had this “thing” he did when it came to discipline.
He took time to really think about what kind of discipline would work to bring about lasting change. For me, that meant teaching me what discipline really means.
The Britannica Dictionary defines discipline as, “control that is gained by requiring that rules or orders be obeyed or punishing bad behavior.”
Part of my discipline involved learning to wait. That meant sitting on the couch, facing my dad as he finished whatever he happened to be reading or writing at the time.
When I was a child the thing that made me uncomfortable was waiting, especially sitting on the couch waiting for my dad to finish whatever he was working on at the time.
Instead what I wanted to do was to retreat to my room so I could hide from the world. My room was my sanctuary. My books were in my room. I’m not sure, but I remember desperately wanting to learn to read when I was very young. Probably part of the reason was because my dad was an avid reader AND my brother knew how to read because he was two years older.
I bugged (actually harassed) my dad to get him to teach me how to read. I remember my early elementary school teachers being upset that I already knew how to read. They didn’t know what to do with me while the other students were learning how to read. It turned out that they gave me books to read during reading class. I read more books than anyone in my class during those early years. That established a lifetime pattern.
A few years down the road we were able to start writing stories. Once again, my dad worked with me at home teaching me how to write stories. Since he was an engineer, my stories were well structured and were based on fact. My dad taught adult Sunday School and he was an elder in the church so many of my stories were about Biblical principles.
I was a budding very small flower in the desert and my dad helped that flower to grow.
I’m not sure if he taught me because he knew that was part of who God was calling me to or if he was giving me tools for life. Either way, both were true and helped to give me focus.
Down the road a piece when I was in junior high school I had a Science teacher that helped me learn to love science. In those days, the science fair was a big deal in my district and all throughout the Kansas City area. Every year I participated in the Science Fair and my dad helped me build my project board.
I still love science today. While I didn’t major in science in college, the two classes I took were Earth Science and Botany. I’ve always loved learning about our earth, plants and growing things because I saw a direct correlation to what God created.
I recently came across this quote by Matshona Dhliwayo while I was researching desert plants, “A flower blooming in the desert has greater strength than a tree flourishing in a rain forest.”
I remember from Botany that flowers that bloom in the desert are very resilient.
The Prophet Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 40:30-31,
Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted,
but they who wait for 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.”
I believe the same (or similar) principles apply.
A plant in the desert fights to survive and thrive. Every drop of water matters. Every ounce of moisture counts.
When we are weary and exhausted we turn to God for strength. We turn to the source of life and we wait. Even with tiny mustard seed faith (see Matthew 17:20-21) we believe because we have to believe. Especially when we have exhausted all other possibilities we desperately look to God for help. We don’t have to wait until we are desperate, but we often do.
At that point when we turn to God, the strength IS there.
We CAN fly.
We CAN run.
God provides strength making it so we will not faint even when the journey is long.
Mind you, our way might be easier if we turn to God before we come to the point of desperation, but we often think we can do life on our own.
We are reminded by the Prophet’s words to turn to God and wait for His strength.
When we do turn, we receive promised renewed strength.
We are promised we can fly. God is telling us we will be able to run without being weary. We will be able to walk, even a long distance without growing faint. That’s because when we turn to God, the Spirit of our living God stands firm with us regardless of the task.
Spiritual Practice: Turn
Rest in the mighty hands of the living God and give God your burden.
In God, Deborah
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