Time away...

I am late getting this post published for today because I am sitting on a flight heading west to a conference for several days with my husband. My children are at home being well taken care of by their grandparents. I had tried to post something last night in our hotel room, but I was having trouble with the wireless connection in our room. It was getting late so I decided to go to bed since we had an early morning flight to catch.

I have been looking forward to this time away for several weeks. We have only been gone for twenty four hours at this point and have already enjoyed the quiet moments of talking and sharing with one another. Over the next several days between meetings and other events, we hope to spend time resting, reading and reflecting on our life.

I just finished re-reading a small book by John Piper titled, “When the Darkness Will Not Lift”. The words he shares in chapter two page 35 spoke to my heart so powerfully as I sit here high above the earth looking out at the beautiful skies and the soft puffy clouds which seem to be carrying us through the air. I have pondered his words and the scripture he shares as I reflect on those places in my heart where I am waiting for the darkness to lift. So, I thought I would share them with you today:

“Then comes the king’s cry: “I waited patiently for the LORD; he inclined to me and heard my cry.” One of the reasons God loved David so much was that he cried so much. (Have you ever been there) “I am weary with my moaning; every night I flood my bed with tears; I drench my couch with my weeping.” (Psalm 6:6) “You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?” ( Psalm 56:8) Indeed they are! “Blessed are those who mourn” (yes, it says “blessed”) Matthew 5:4. It is a beautiful thing when a broken man genuinely cries out to God.

Then after the cry you wait. “I waited patiently for the LORD.” This is crucial to know: saints who cry to the Lord for deliverance from pits of darkness must learn to wait patiently for the Lord. There is no statement about how long David waited. I have known saints who walked through eight years of debilitating depression and came out into glorious light. Only God knows how long we must wait. The prophet Micah experienced prolonged and painful waiting. “I sit in darkness…until the Lord pleads my cause and…will bring me out to the light.” ( Micah 7:8-9). We can draw no deadlines for God. He hastens or he delays as he sees fit. And his timing is all-loving toward his children. Oh, that we might learn to be patient in the hour of darkness. I don’t mean that we make peace with darkness. We fight for joy. But we fight as those who are saved by grace and held by Christ.

What comfort I found in these words in confronting those places in my own life in which I am struggling in my fight for joy! I pray that they would bring comfort to you as well.


In Him...Chris

Visit Chris at her personal blog Come to the Table