Waiting and Praying

This is a new thing for me, and outside of writing on paper and dropping an old online journal with no interest in it all, I have come back to the Internet for a bit of writing. I can only hope that what I have to say is relevent and purpose-oriented; with a mind to write and to serve the LORD in this way, I have no real interest in reader turnout. Although I have established a site here for open display and criticism, I write here primarily as a second wind for accountability and studying the Word. I am like most young men, I need guidance and growth as I find myself in the world, but I mostly need to remain steady and patient as I step out there. In time, I will write here with news of things around Washington State, and hopely with some words which will find relations with anyone who may stumble upon them.

Isaiah 30:18 has become increasingly important in my day-to-day experiences, with hope we read:

"And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you,
and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you:
for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him." (KJV)

In the midst of the many threats upon Israel and the armies which march toward Jerusalem from Assyria (compliments of King Sennacherib), and the soon-to-be captivity, God repeatedly reveals by His own words and through the words of His servant Isaiah that there is mercy and blessing coming. And in this time, in the 700s B.C. (I'm no scholar, but I generalize) the words of this prophet declared to his countrymen the purpose of the Almighty. I will go off the topic at this time, feeling that I ought to lay some words on my mind out. Anyone who has read some part of the Word, believer or not, will have come upon the telling of God's judgement and mercy, two balancing factors in His love. I am aware that God is love but love is not God--God created love in man's image, thus love is part of Him, but the mysticism of the idea of love is certainly not the Father Himself. The words in the Prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekial, Daniel and the Minor Prophets remind me consistantly in any part, that God is love, calling out in love, sometimes in wrath and sometimes in tenderness. The words about God's calling, His patience for the follower, are tender in that they show the Lord as the merciful Judge. He waits in on high and we wait below. He is exalted, and His mercy comes forth in blessings to come.

Israel is called God's "servant"--sometimes deaf and blind--but always His servant. It's the everlasting covenant between God and all mankind (through Abraham's offspring) which comes into play here. God promised to bring salvation to all nations (a "blessing" for the Gentiles) by the coming in the form of a man, to blot out our hideous sins at the sacrificial death at the cross and the awesome rising from the tomb three days later. He was exalted here, and so mercy has fallen on this dark world. Be filled with hope!