on deck or in the hole

tonight during my small group of dance leaders, my friend katherine read the devotional from "jesus calling" from march 26, the date that restoration happened this year. she read it to us because of the final line, "in My presence is the fullness of joy." this is cool because this part of psalm 16 was popping up all over the place. it was our "theme verse," if you will, for the tap piece meredith and i choreographed, and as leaders we really felt the Lord speaking His joy, a joy that is not defined by our circumstances but by the Lord's goodness and faithfulness, over the dancers and the audience.

but, surprisingly, this was not the part of the devotional that really stuck out to me. the majority of it was about waiting on the Lord. oh the ironies.

"I have promised many blessings to those who wait on Me: renewed strength, living above one's circumstances, resurgence of hope, awareness of My continual presence. waiting on Me enables you to glorify Me by living in deep dependence on Me, ready to do My will."

there was a similar topic in one of my favorite devotionals a few days prior. the text begins by mentioning the forty years that the israelites spent oppressed in egypt before God delivered them. sometimes, God waits. as the devotional says, "yet when God delays, He is not inactive. this is when He prepares His instruments and matures our strength. then at the appointed time we will rise up and be equal to our task. even Jesus of nazareth had thirty years of privacy, growing in wisdom before He began His work." (streams in the desert, march 22)

and further: "don't steal tomorrow from God's hands. give Him time to speak to you and reveal His will. He is never late - learn to wait."