A Time to Wait

I'm taking a break from my "regular" reading schedule (ha!) to do a short study in celebration of the Christmas season. The verses for today are Luke 2:21-40. In them, Simeon and Anna are both, separately, awaiting the arrival of Jesus in the Temple. The Holy Spirit said (does the Holy Spirit say things? Luke says it revealed) to Simeon that he would live to see Jesus. Based on this, Simeon waited for that day to come, and rejoiced in the Spirit's promise.

We have been waiting for a long time. Waiting for me to finish school - that took two years longer than it normally does. Waiting for Ophelia to finally get here - that may have only been nine months but it was a really long nine months. Waiting for me to pass the bar exam - we knew when we would find out but time moved extra slow while we waited to see if I had passed. Waiting for me to pass the background check - this wait was particularly grueling since we were fairly sure of the outcome, but it was not a guarantee. Waiting to see the new Harry Potter movie - a fun wait, but still a wait. Waiting to find out if we got the house that we wanted in our new city. And now waiting to move, to start a new job.

We are always waiting, waiting, waiting...for life to settle down, for life to speed up. But none of our waiting really compares to the waiting of Simeon and Anna. They sat in the Temple and waited for their Savior. They simply waited, knowing and having the utmost faith that He would be there, some day.

Every night we say prayers with Ophelia. We thank Jesus for a fun day, and for our friends and family. Sometimes we thank Him for chocolate milk, or for Christmas tree lights, or for socks. We also have been reading at least one Christmas book to her every day. She doesn't yet understand the fact that she is - we all are - waiting for Christmas. But I am happy that, at two, the first thing she knows about Christmas is Mary and Joseph went to Bethlehem, where they had Jesus.

It is fitting that this new, huge transition in our lives comes with Christmas. Christmas is often celebrated as a time to be thankful, a time to show our love in the form of gifts and time. This Christmas, as we make a huge change and leave the city that we have grown up in, I want us to remember that this season began as the ultimate wait - the wait for Jesus, the Messiah.

Seeing an invisible God

"For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse." Romans 1:20


I love, love, love this verse. It so clearly explains what I have always firmly believed, that to look at the world is to see God. It seems almost too simplistic to me. How can someone look at the intricacies of our ecosystem, or at the vast expanse of the night sky, or at their newborn baby, and not see God's invisible qualities? Perhaps it is simply a matter of childlike faith, or perhaps this is one area where I have always felt God's peace, but when I look around, I see God's hand.

Who needs to stop making plans?

Oh, that would be me. Every time I say I am going to do something ... read a certain number of chapters per day ... read just a verse per day ... write something, anything every single day ... I don't.

From now on, I make no plans! I will simply pray that God gives me the patience and fortitude to read His Word, and if He helps me find time to read and write too, so much the better.

A Little Help From My Friends

"A despairing man should have the devotion of his friends, even though he forsakes the fear of the Almighty." Job 6:14

I really like the notes in my study Bible. They are short, but they usually provide a good starting point for applying God's word in every day life. The notes in this chapter say "be slow to give advice to those who are hurting. They often need compassion more than they need advice."

I can completely relate to Job's statement about friends. True friends should always be there for you, to listen, to provide comfort. So many times all you want to do is vent, but your friends feel like they should give their opinion or advice. Usually it is most annoying when you know what the right course of action is, you just have to get there on your own. Your friends can't talk you into it. I am sure I have been guilty of this many times. I want to try and remember this verse now, and in the future, when my friends go through troubles. Unless my opinion is requested, from now on I am going to try to be devoted to my friends in the way that they need, not the way that I think is best.

Blameless

The biggest thing I learned from reading Job 1 and 2 is that God is blameless, not us. Everyone knows the story of Job. A man of great faith, he was blameless before God, and prospered. Satan asked for a chance to test his faith. Despite losing his family, his wealth, and even being ridden with disease, he never blamed God.

The notes in my Bible talk about never knowing why things happen. Good and bad things happen in this broken world to Christians and non-Christians alike. The reasons matter less than our reaction. Do we turn away from God, casting the blame for our misfortune on Him?

"Shall we accept good from God and not trouble?" Job 2:10b

I was reminded of a passage from The Horse and His Boy, by C.S. Lewis. A young princess escapes from her home. As she is riding away, a Lion chases after her and scratches her across her shoulders. It is later revealed that the Lion was Aslan, the Christ figure of the Narnia books. He asks the girl if she knows why she was torn.

"The scratches on your back, tear for tear, throb for throb, blood for blood, were equal to the stripes laid on the back of your stepmother's slave because of the drugged sleep you cast upon her. You needed to know what it felt like."

Despite the fact that it was a good, and even right, decision for the young princess to run away, her actions had consequences that she was not aware of. It makes me think, even when we are trying our best to be good Christians in everything we do, every choice we make effects the people around us. We may never know the true consequences of our actions. Because of that, how can we begin to question why bad things happen to us sometimes? Perhaps, sometimes, we simply need to know what it feels like.

"The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised. In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing." Job 1:21b-22

A Change in Plans

I have realized that attempting to read the entire Bible in 90 days is a bit unrealistic at this point in my life. So I have changed my plan to 365 days. My goal is not to make it easier to read the Bible, necessarily, but to make each day's reading more effective. I would find that after reading 12-20 chapters in one day, my brain was so overloaded that I wouldn't really be able to process what I had just read. Plus, when I would get behind on my reading, the task of catching up seemed insurmountable.

I ran across this wonderful C.S. Lewis quote last week. "We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be." This is spot on for how our lives have been since 2005.

I just found out that I finally passed my background check. This means that I have met all of the requirements to officially become a licensed attorney. We have spent the last five years working so hard to get me through law school, it is kind of unbelievable that we have finally accomplished our goal. Soon, hopefully this week or next, I will be an attorney. As our lives change in the upcoming months, I want to be sure that the choices we make as a family, and the choices I make as a new attorney, reflect God's will for our lives. With that goal in mind, I will try to read at least one verse, if not one chapter, per day, and make a note, however short, of what God is trying to teach me.

A Pleasing Aroma

In the first three chapters of Leviticus, the phrase "an aroma pleasing to the Lord" shows up at least half a dozen times. It is always in the context of a burnt offering, usually some kind of animal.

At this time of year, I love putting out holiday candles, particularly candles that smell like pumpkins or spices. They have a pleasing aroma to me - just the smell of the candles around the house puts me in a better, calmer mood. It feels like fall is here, the season has begun. I wonder if that is how God felt when His people sacrificed burnt offerings to Him.

The Old Testament, particularly these first two books, are filled with so many laws and rules and so much rigidity. Sometimes it is hard to plow through such dense material. Of course, this is why my "walk through the Bible in 90 days" is turning into a little bit more than 90 days. Actually, it will still be a grand total of 90 days of reading, just spread out over about 120 days.

We may not make actual living sacrifices to the Lord anymore, but I hope that at the very least, through the upcoming holiday season, I can dedicate everything that I do to Him. Whether it is waiting to hear about a job, picking pumpkins with my family, or lighting candles around the house while I clean, I will try to let everything I do be an offering to God.