1641 God Has Been Waiting

BIG Life Devotional | Daily Devotional for Women

Who could you become? What could you do? You’ve been given this one life to figure that out and give it all you’ve got.

Honey, if cauliflower can become pizza and chickpeas can become pasta, you my friend, can do anything! Nothing in your past can hold you back from your future. You have been set free to move forward. Today is a step in your journey towards the life of your future, make sure you’re stepping in the right direction.

Where you are today is a result of steps you took in the past. Maybe you walked out of something behind you, or maybe you walked into something right now. Recognize, it was your choice one step at a time. Understand God never expected you to wander blindly through this life. He has promised to be your guide. He has promised to direct your steps. He is always available to show you the best way.

Will you simply seek him here? Will you surrender your way to seek his way?

In the New Living Translation of the Bible, Isaiah 30: 18-21 is titled “Blessings For the Lord’s People”. With a title like that, understand this is for you. Don’t excuse yourself from this blessing. YOU are God’s girl. You are his prized creation. You are here seeking him and he is responding to you personally. Verse 18 says:

So the Lord must wait for you to come to him
so he can show you his love and compassion.
For the Lord is a faithful God.
Blessed are those who wait for his help.

Woah … God has been waiting for YOU. Waiting for you to come to him so he can show you love and compassion. That’s what has always been waiting for you. As you ran. As you tried everything on your own. As you failed. As you made a mess. God has been waiting. Not waiting with punishment. Not waiting with judging eyes and condemnation. No, waiting with love and compassion specifically for you. All this time he has wanted to bless you, but you have to come to him.

I have this image of God leaning over his mighty throne in heaven, looking down on us with his loving eye, hopeful that today will be the day we let his love catch us. Hoping today will be the day he gets to show us his goodness.

Won’t you let him catch you today? Won’t you come to him and receive that love and compassion? Won’t you let his blessings pour over you now? Won’t you let him help you? He can and he will if you will come to him.

For the past 5 years I’ve been in a personal season of understanding God’s waiting on a deeper level. We’ve been waiting on one of our own who has left our family, believed the lies of the enemy and stepped into his plan of danger and destruction. She imagines I wait with judgment, but truthfully I wait with a hope she will return to the goodness that was always here for her. The goodness of a family who found her, fought for her, adopted her, and called her their own. A goodness she can’t dismiss. A goodness that will still be waiting 30 years from now if that’s how long it takes.

And even more so, God waits for each of us to come to him to receive the goodness he has always had for us. He waits and he hopes today will be that day. Why wouldn’t today be that day? Why not take that step today? It’s not condemnation that awaits us, it’s redemption. It’s a life far better than we have ever dared to dream of.

If you can imagine me awaiting the return of my daughter, imagine your heavenly father awaiting the return of his girl. Yeah, it’s like that! Condemnation doesn’t await you upon return, love, forgiveness, healing and restoration await you! But honey, you have to accept it and turn to it.

Verse 19 & 20 say:
He will be gracious if you ask for help.
He will surely respond to the sound of your cries.
Though the Lord gave you adversity for food
and suffering for drink,
he will still be with you to teach you.

God knows his children and he knows we learn best in hardship. We grow when we are stretched. We are strengthened when we are stressed. He will teach you through all of this. He will use everything that has ever happened to you, along with all that never happened for you, to guide you to that better life.

Our God is gracious to always respond to our requests. When we call, he answers. When we ask, he moves. But when we don’t ask, he waits. He waits for us to come to him. He waits for us to surrender to him. He waits with all his power to move on our behalf and make a way where there has been no way. But understand, he’s waiting on YOU.

As a mother, there’s nothing more I can do, so I wait. But God, there’s nothing he can’t do, but he won’t force it on you. So he waits on you to turn to him for his unlimited power in your life.

This thing that burdens you … this thing that worries you … this uncertain situation … this painful truth, have you truly asked God for help with it? Have you laid this at his feet? Have you asked God to change it?

That’s the easy part. The harder part is have you asked God to change YOU?

I now understand God isn’t interested in changing my circumstances nearly as much as he is interested in changing me. My life changes when I do. So God starts with me. He lets my circumstances fall to crap so I come to the realization change is necessary within me. God, teach me to be better. Teach me to become more. Teach me to be who you created me to be. I know my current circumstances are the environment you’ve chosen for molding me. I know this is where you’re working on me. I’m ready now.

In the past 5 years of waiting in a situation I would have never chosen, God has changed me. Have you noticed that’s what he’s done for you too? You might not have created this mess, but God has graciously chosen to work on you in it!

In verse 21, we’re given a promise of guidance. Receive this today.

Your own ears will hear him.
Right behind you a voice will say,
“This is the way you should go,”
whether to the right or to the left.

Here you are at this crossroads. Do you believe God will guide you in the best direction? Do you believe he has gone before you and made a way? It’s easy to believe God speaks to other people but dismiss his voice in your own life.

God does speak to you. He guides you with his Spirit. He shows you things and works in the details. All your life he has been guiding you, so it’s easy to dismiss it as normal. It’s easy to override his guidance with your feelings.

Begin listening again. This is the way you should go.

Begin seeking again. Look, there is a path before you.

And this path is not a straight stretch of paved highway with clearly marked exits for easy travel. Easy travel through life creates self-sufficient human beings without the need for a gracious God. God isn’t interested in your easy travel, he’s interested in you becoming all he created you to be.

So the path is windy to keep you focused on him instead of the 10 steps ahead. The path is hard to keep you coming to him for your daily supply of strength and courage. The path is always available to you, no matter how far you may have wandered and how long you’ve been away.

Just come back today. Back to the God who has been waiting on you. Waiting on you with love and compassion. Goodness awaits you.

There’s no shame in the return. It’s what you were created for. A continual return to the path. A continual return to who you were created to be. A continual return to your creator for his blessing and guidance.

This one life you have been given is a journey of figuring out who you are and all you can do. Take the limits off. Your God is limitless. There’s nothing he can’t do here and nothing he wouldn’t do for you, his precious girl. But, he waits for you to come to him. He waits for you to seek his guidance. He waits for you to ask for his help.

Your first step is that humble step right towards God. God, I need you. I surrender my way to seek your way. Change me.

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