from His dwelling place...

"I will remain quite, and I will look on from my dwelling place" Is. 18:4

"Assyria was marching against Ethiopia, the people of which are described as tall and smooth. And as the armies advance, God makes no effort to arrest them; it seems as though they will be allowed to work their will. He is still watching them from His dwelling place, the sun still shines on them; but before the harvest, the whole of the proud army of Assyria is smitten as easily as when sprigs are cut off by the pruning hook of the husbandman.

Is not this a marvelous conception of God--being still and watching? His silence is not to be confused with passive agreement or consent.  He is only biding His time, and will arise, in the most opportune moment, and when the designs of the wicked seem on the point of success, to overwhelm them with disaster. As we look out on the evil of the world; as we think of the apparent success of wrong-doing; as we wince beneath the oppression of those that hate us, let us remember these marvelous words about God being still and beholding.

There is another side to this. Jesus beheld His disciples toiling at the oars through the stormy night; and watched though unseen, the successive steps of the anguish of Bethany, when Lazarus slowly passed through the stages of mortal sickness, until he succumbed and was borne to the rocky tomb. Jesus was simply waiting for the perfect moment when He could intercede most effectively! 

Is the Lord being quite with your? Nevertheless, He is attentive and still sees everything. He has His finger on your pulse and is extermely sensitive to even the lightest change. And He will come to save you when the perfect moment has arrived.   

Whatever the Lord may ask of us or however slow He may seem to work, we can be absolutely sure He is never a confused and fearful Savior!"

"O troubled soul, beneath the rod,

Thy Father speaks, be still, be still;

Learn to be silent unto God,

And let Him mould thee to His will.

"O praying soul, be still, be still,

He cannot break His plighted Word;

Sink down into His blessed will,

And wait in patience on the Lord.

"O waiting soul, be still, be strong,

And though He tarry, trust and wait;

Doubt not, He will not wait too long,

Fear not, He will not come too late."

[streams in the desert - july 17.]

Ever feel like God has passed you up? Feel like He pays more attention to others situations and not yours? Healings and desires seem to come very easily to others?

I feel that way and have felt this way at times. I pray, spend time in the Word, worship, go to church, care for my man and do what I think are all the right things that God has asked me to do. Oh did I mention pray? I don't pray so much for healing because I don't want Ben's healing to be my idol, I want Ben's healing to be about God and who He is and what He has done.

I love the sentance above that states, "He has His finger on your pulse and is extermely sensitive to even the lightest change." Wowzers! Jesus has time to watch even my pulse! He knows when is changes for the better or for the worse...yours too! I remember taking pulses when I was working and how intricate a job it was to count the beats and be aware if anything unual was going on. But Jesus keeps His finger on our pulse and also knows whats going on in the intermost beings of our heart and soul!

This takes me to the very last line before the poem..."however slow He may seem to work." This one hits way to close to home! We are coming up on three years! Three years of our lives being forever changed and so not what we ever dreampt of, at all! Some days I just don't know how much slowness I can take. I literally can only put one foot in front of the other and that is as far as I get that day...one foot ahead! I see Ben doing things and struggling to do them. Like walking. He walks with his walker but his balance is so off, his hips are crooked and twisted, his head and shoulders are not aligned and his left foot is rolling in when he doesn't wear his brace...but he is walking. We both want him to desperatley walk on his own with none of these issues. He is getting so close but he seems to be stuck in a rut because of these things that hold him back. I know God sees this. I know God can fix it and yet we sit here and wait...oh how slowly this whole thing is. This is just one of the areas in which I feel God is slow in. Obvioulsy the biggest one is overall healing.

Yet, the rest of that sentance ends like this..."we can be absolutely sure He is never a confused and fearful Savior!" He doen't comfuse us with another sick person that needs just as much healing. God is not fearful in what He is able to do! God doens't need us telling him what to do. He is not confused and He is not fearful! He is amazing!!

Quiteness from the Lord doesn't mean that He is ignoring us. Quiteness from the Lord doesn't mean that He is not up to anything. Quiteness from the Lord means he is in his dwelling in His place and He is watching...you and me! Just in the right moment He will do what He does best...come to us...in the way that we need it most, in the moment we need it most.

I am sure I will have more days of wondering why, when, where, how and all of this healing in Ben adn I will take place but in those times I will just have to remind and trust Him that He "will arise in the most oportune moment" for Ben and I!