Days, Hours, Minutes...

It's not the silence that's deafening, it's the loud voices inside the head that gives silence that power.  And to say those voices are just loud is an understatement...they're relentless.  They scream, they yell, they even feel like they kick on the side of the skull...protesting to be heard...tired of being restrained.  They know that the body agrees with their position; but you, the one that controls the body refuses to give in.  You believe you're determined.  They tell you you're stubborn.  You remain focused on the goal.  They tell you to just settle for a consolidation prize.  But you know better; even if what you claimed to have in your possession is a million miles away.

Isaiah 40:31 is one of the most widely popular Christian concepts ever.  People's ability towards ill-advised planning made it a quick go-to.  Slavery (though those who use it never experienced it first hand) reinforced its hold.  It even became a catchy, feet moving, smash gospel hit from Fred Hammond...and believe it or not, this song actually is based off scripture (not saying that Hammond's music isn't, but you know the deal).  **Ahem**...they that wait on The Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.  It's inspiring to know that if we're patient with God that we can have this unprecedented endurance to complete any challenge.  That's until....we're smack dab in the middle of the wait, and in many cases Fred's song is longer than our decision to just sit down somewhere and relax.

This is because in the dozens of stories the Bible highlights about people being patient and waiting for God's intervention (Sarai, Noah, and Moses to name a few), none of them goes into real detail about the days, the hours, and the minutes that passed before the break - because they can't.  Just imagine what the Bible would look like if it could describe each of the 60 -70 years it took for Noah to build the ark.  It would be impossible to read; but the daily toil of shipbuilding coupled with the ridicule from people who had never heard of or seen rain is really unbelievable pressure.  In this scenario remember, you likewise have never seen rain; so every hammer, every piece of wood is based on what can be considered just an ideal.  However, we know Noah didn't look at it that way.  He could envision that water destroying the earth and he believed that God had given him the key to survival.  And he stuck with that vision every day, every hour, every minute, for at least 60 years.

I encourage you to disregard your clock...and the concept of time altogether; because as it relates to faith and belief, it's a distraction.  Jesus says that we have what we need when we pray if we believe (Matthew 22:21).  But sometimes when we hear that, stand on that, and don't see the object of our prayer within the seconds we want to see it, we determine our prayers (and hence our faith) to be ineffective.  We've allowed the enemy to direct our attention to the clock as opposed to us keeping our attention on God's truth.  We gripe about "it" not showing up instead of praising The Lord that we've received it already.  And we doubt our ability to believe instead of rejoicing over the fact that God's grace made it possible to obtain by just using words.  But, if we spent that time...dedicated to our work...zeroed in on Christ, the days, hours, and minutes would go unnoticed; and we would understand the blissful experience designed for us when we trust God.

Peace