Waiting Endure for a Season...

Sometimes the best things in life 

take a long time to materialize. 

~

A Little Nugget of Gold

Courtship consists in a number of quiet attentions, 

not so pointed as to alarm, nor so vague as not to be understood.

Laurence Sterne

But because the Lord loved you,...the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you.  

Deut 7:8

I was struck today by the gentleness, yet powerful purposefulness of our God.  When I read this quote on courtship, it reminded me of the quiet ways God works in our lives: "a number of quiet attentions, not so pointed as to alarm, nor so vague as to not be understood."   We tend to notice the big changes, traumatic events, whirlwind changes, failures, successes, and big miracles, but do we notice unobtrusive guidence, the gentle guidance?   The next time your life seems to be stuck, not moving, unchanged, uneventful, maybe even just boring, look at it as "a number of quiet attentions."

Don't That Sound Like Heaven

(I realize that verse two isn't exactly accurate, but I love this song - it sounds familiar.)

"Oh! That...." The 10 "O thats" of Job

*There are at least 3 more such exclamations listed in the book of Job in the KJV, but none of those 3 are of the same Hebrew word.

O that God...

The Hebrew word מי , pronounced "me", used in direct exclamation is found 10 times in the book of Job. Athough this is often an interrogative pronoun, asking who, it is also a by oblique construction, a colloquial idom meaning "Would to God!..." Commonly phrased as "Oh that..."

The deepest yearnings of our soul are known only to God and are kept by Him.

Dare we entrust our yearnings to God, which knoweth the hearts?

The 10"O thats"of Job

1. Oh that I might have my request

2. Oh that God might speak

3. Oh that ye would hold thy peace

4. Oh that Thou wouldest hid me

5. Oh that my words were written

6. Oh that my words were printed in a book

7. Oh that I knew

8. Oh that I were

9. Oh that we had

10. Oh that One would hear

Do any of these sound familiar to you? Oh too familiar to me.

"I wish I had, God speak to me, everyone else be quiet, hide me o God, if only my words were written, if only what i had to say mattered, if only i knew, i wish i was ..., if only we had, oh that some ONE would listen"

The 10 "O that"s of Job. Job wasn't wrong to question, but he was genuinely longing for God to answer. Are we longing for God's answer, or are our exclamations really just exaggerated complaints?

Can we trust God to satisfy our need? Do we trust Him?

Job 6:8 Oh that I might have my request; and that God would grant me the thing that I long for!

Job 11:5 But oh that God would speak, and open his lips against thee;

Job 13:5 O that ye would altogether hold your peace! and it should be your wisdom.

Job 14:13 O that thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me!

Job 19:23a Oh that my words were now written!

Job 19:23b Oh that they were printed in a book!

Job 23:3 Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat!

Job 29:2 Oh that I were as in months past, as in the days when God preserved me;

Job 31:31 If the men of my tabernacle said not, Oh that we had of his flesh! we cannot be satisfied.

Job 31:35 Oh that one would hear me! behold, my desire is, that the Almighty would answer me, and that mine adversary had written a book.

A letter

Sometimes I wonder what the purpose of life really is, what the is point, the purpose, the divine plan of life? As more of life that passes, the more I realize that life just doesn’t make sense. Nor perhaps is it meant to. The creation of Life is a mystery, the sustaining of Life can be a mystery –Life is a mystery.

Does a mother look at her child and wonder ‘how can this child be?’ Or a man with his bride wonder ‘how can this be?’ Maybe, no one else wonders these things ….But I wonder….not that I have every been a mother

(nor a man for that matter) but I wonder “How?”. For life, it does not make sense. Oh, it follows the typical patterns, and in many ways it can be so predictable, but close study defines nothing. Life defies being understood, I think.

There are a few things in Life which I find immensely satisfying. One of which is to bury my hands in Tobijah’s fur, his warm, soft, clean fur. It feels so deep, like you could lose your hands in his fur.

I clench my hands in his furry mien and for that moment--I am satisfied.

I sit on the porch swing as the cross breeze plays with my hair and faint cooing from mourning doves mingle with chickadee twitters.

Our porch swing is very satisfying. Or sitting close with a friend: I love the warmth – the comradeship, friendship, and the deeper sense of peace. Even more, spending time with the Lord, in the quiet of my room, listening.

I understand now why they say that dogs are good for children, since dogs love unconditionally. Tobijah doesn't mind when I grab handfuls of warm fur, he sits smiling his doggy smile.

Another thing: children. Children are so very satisfactory. Last weekend, I held my friends 7 week old baby. He lay in my lap, cooing, talking. Everytime I said "Hi", he would repeat the sound back to me. (Imagine how trilled I was.) Babies may be my weakness... so lovable. Warm. Soft. And little children are so trusting. Trusting, faithful, loving: character traits we should really be practicing. I think perhaps the fact little child pose no threat, and happy puppy dogs either is what makes us love them so. I enjoyed these verses, these verses gave a sense of purpose and comfort.

Isaiah 14:26 says "This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth: and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the. For the LORD of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?

Ecclesiastes 5:18 Behold that which I have seen:it is good and comely for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labour that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life, which God giveth him: for it is his portion.

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for

this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be

good, or whether it be evil.

These are my contemplations for the day, I have drawn no new conclusions.

Sincerely,

Ashley