Friday, March 11, 2011

Wait on the Lord


This semester I have been hosting a ladies bible study on Wednesday nights. There are about 18 girls that come each week to study the book of Esther. I love my girls, we have a blast together. Some nights we are just rolling on the floor laughing and others we are left in awe of how relevant the book of Esther is to our lives.

This week we look at chapter 5 of Esther. Now, I have to be honest. The part of the story where Esther has her 1st dinner party with the King and Haman has never made sense to me. You can almost feel the build up in the story. Esther has just survived the first hurdle without loosing her head...literally. She manages to charm the king into coming to dinner and bringing Haman along. The Lord has paved the way and she is skating right on through.

I can even imagine the amount of self control she has to muster just being in the same room with the man who is trying to wipe out her entire race. Then...the time comes. The king asks her about her request. HELLO...open door, why not just walk right through?

It was not time. Instead she asked them both to come back the next night.

I wish we could know what was going through Esther's head right then! Did she chicken out and not go through with it, did she feel in her spirit that something was off and decided to wait? Either way, the Lord's purposes were accomplished. A lot is going to happen in the next 24 hours for the King and Haman that will change their lives forever.

That is where out lesson left off. Esther making the decision that the time was not right, and waiting on the Lord.

Our time ended concentrating on Isaiah 40:31. We talked about how waiting on something is exhausting. We go through all the possible outcomes in our head until we are just emotionally and physically spent. BUT look at Isaiah 40:31.

31 but those who wait on the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

There it is! I can't believe this has never "clicked" for me. Waiting on "something" (a boyfriend, a job, someone to change) IS exhausting.

BUT

Waiting on the Lord renews our strength!


I don't know about you but I could use some renewed strength. And soaring like an eagle? Yes please!

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