An Impossible Desire
Nehemiah was a man who knew what it meant to be utterly powerless in the face of heartbreak. He had heard about how Jerusalem was in ruins and the people were in poverty. He longed to go to Jerusalem. In fact he WEPT over Jerusalem. He wanted to rebuild its walls so that his people could find a measure of protection from hostile neighbors. But since he was a slave, he had no means to put action to his desire.
The One Who Hears and Answers
Nehemiah turned to the only One who could do this impossible task. He prayed. He fasted. He planned what needed to be done. He continued to do his job as the king's cupbearer. Four long months passed with no apparent progress toward Nehemiah's goal. I'm sure he was tempted to give in to discouragement, but he never stopped praying and fasting. He clung fast to God's promises to answer prayer, because he knew that God is faithful.
Ps. 116:1,2 I love the Lord, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications. Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live.
Psalm 86:7 In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee: for thou wilt answer me.
Psalm 138:3 In the day when I cried thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul.There are many other verses I could quote, but they all have the same idea: God hears and answers.
The Impossible Becomes a Reality
The Persian king, Artaxerxes, was the only person who could grant Nehemiah permission to leave his current job to rebuild Jerusalem's walls. Not only that, but the king had halted that very work years earlier when Ezra took a group to do that same task. They didn't finish because the king said, "No more building." And Persian kings didn't change their minds. But God does impossible things magnificently! He softened the king's heart toward Nehemiah and graciously gave him what he requested! Because Nehemiah had been planning as he prayed and fasted, he could give the king an answer right away about what was needed and how long it would take. In a flash, what seemed out of reach was a reality.
We need to be more like Nehemiah. The length of our wait is irrelevant, because in God's time all things are done perfectly. Running ahead of Him to speed things up or find another way to get what we long for is counterproductive and will likely have some unintended/undesirable consequences. We must surrender to His way of doing things, even if we don't understand it because He wants to give us the BEST gifts. Often, we will settle for what we can get because we don't realize that there's something so much better waiting for us if we just let God work it all out. We need to remember to rely on His strength when we think we can't possibly wait any longer.
Isaiah 40:31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.We appreciate all your prayers for us as we walk this journey. We still need them!
4 comments:
Praying!
I will be praying for you as you wait for your child to be a part of your home. Wondering....How did you come to the road you are taking? Did you already rule out adopting from foster care? We had long been praying about adoption, and just had never considered foster to adopt, only because it had not really ever occurred to us, until God brought families into our life that adopted from foster care. I was just wondering if that is something you feel like the Lord has led you away from, or if it just never really occurred to you, like it was for us. just a note...the little boys we have done respite care for, had there last visit with their mom, they will have the good-bye visit in a week or two, then there will be a matching meeting. Please pray for them...sad. But God can take what was meant for evil and use it for their good, just like he did for Joseph.
Kelly
Kelly, we actually weren't even considering adoption until 3 years ago after Bill was hospitalized for a pulmonary embolism. The doctors told him that he could have died if he hadn't come in when he did. After he was released, he did some hard thinking and realized that I would have been left alone if he had gone to be with the Lord, which really bothered him. He was rather cold toward the idea of adoption previously, but then one day over dinner he told me what he had been thinking and that he wanted to adopt. It was an answer to MY prayer that God would either change Bill's mind about adoption or change my heart about wanting children.
We decided on newborn adoption for several reasons: 1) I really want to raise a child from birth, 2) Bill isn't very confident about how to respond to a child that likely has very difficult feelings about his/her birth parents, and 3) I don't know if I have the emotional strength to love a child as my own to (possibly) find out later that the birth parents will regain custody. I haven't felt a strong calling from the Lord to foster-adopt, either.
I will be praying for your foster kids. I can't imagine what pain they've been through already, and this parting will be a life-defining moment. I'm glad that you and Todd are in their lives to point them to Christ's perfect love and healing.
Looking forward to seeing what our awesome God is going to do in your family!
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