December 2: Waiting and Renewal
♫ Music:
Day 3—Tuesday, December 2
Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.
Isaiah 40: 31
But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall.
Malachi 4:2
WAITING AND RENEWAL
When my father came back from serving in the army during World War II he told my mother that there would be two changes in the family. He declared that a can of Spam would never enter the house and he would never wait in line again….and he never did. My dad really hated to wait. When I was growing up if there was a line either we just left, or everyone else stood in line while my dad wandered, or he found a way to avoid the line and move to the front. As a result, I also learned to dislike waiting. How funny is it then that one of the things that God often requires me to do is wait.
Waiting - all through Scripture we see that this is what God often requires of his children. Noah builds an ark while waiting for the flood; Moses cools his heels in the desert between fleeing Egypt and an encounter with a burning bush. Then there are the Israelites waiting to be freed from slavery only to wait and wander in the desert for 40 years before claiming the Promised Land. David waits for years before actually becoming king of Israel, Hosea waits for an errant wife to change her ways, and God’s people, while waiting for the Messiah, endure 400 years of silence on the subject.
One cannot avoid the topic during the holiday season because Christmas is also about waiting. Elizabeth waits for a baby, Mary stays with her as she waits for Joseph to decide what to do with her, the Shepherds overseeing their flocks are waiting for the long night to end so they can go home. Even Caesar is waiting for the results of a census that he believes is for his goal of taxation, having no understanding that God is the one directing the events for His ultimate plan and purpose. As I read each of these individual stories, I realize that waiting is a necessary part of walking with God – and I find that I often want to handle it much like my dad did.
It is so very hard to wait and yet it is often exactly what is needed for God to accomplish his work and continual transformation of our hearts and ultimately our lives. Which brings me full circle back to my own dad’s aversion to waiting and how he coped: running away, avoidance, or pushing his way to the front to circumvent the entire process. As I remember what he did, I realize that it is a perfect picture of believers – of me.
Yet God, who loves me with an everlasting love combined with infinite patience, continues to challenge me to wait. In the silence that often accompanies waiting I am forced back to Him and when I finally turn my eyes upward I see what the prophets promised – that the sun of righteousness will rise every morning and in its wings will be strength, healing and renewal.
Father, thank you that you care so very much for us that you will not allow us to stay the way we are. Thank you for the sun rising every morning like a beautiful bird that carries within its wings healing and renewal. Thank you that in your infinite wisdom you challenge us to experience the discipline of waiting, combining it with the promise that it will yield strength and the ability to run once again with joy.
Amen!
Lori Shanebeck, Executive Producer of Biola Youth Theatre
The Red Kite
Walton Ford
Watercolor
About the Artist and Art
American artist Walton Ford (b. 1960) paints large-scale watercolors that celebrate while also criticizing naturalist John James Audubon. His intensely realistic, detail-oriented illustrations of birds are full of symbols and text from colonial eras. Ford uses these symbols and text, along with the composition of his pieces, to address issues that came along with colonialism: the continuing impact of social oppression and the human impact on the environment due to industrialism are key themes to his work. While honoring Audubon’s style with paintings like The Red Kite, Ford also addresses the harmful effects of naturalists of Audubon’s era and the constant changes that occur to the natural order all around us.
About the Music (Piece 1)
Flyin’ Like an Eagle Lyrics
Like an eagle flyin'
Like an eagle
Flyin' like an eagle
Running and not being weary
Walking and not fainting at all
Flyin like an eagle
Running and not being weary
He who saves you will not let you fall
When your days go by at a crazy pace
And your life feels so like a frantic race
And you sometimes think you just can’t stand the strain
When a trifle threatens to blow your mind
And relief is something you cannot find
And you cannot get yourself together again
You better stop
Let it all go for a while
Do you need your strength to be restored?
Close your eyes and see the vision in His word
For everyone who waits upon the lord
It’s a vision of flyin’ like an eagle
Running and not being weary
Walking and not fainting at all
Flyin like an eagle
Running and not being weary
He who saves you will not let you fall
When the aspirin that you took last night
Doesn't really help you feel all right
And there’s just no use in tryin’ anymore
When the world has torn your defense away
And you cannot make it another day
And your life lies bruised and broken on the floor
You better stop
Let it all go for a while
Do you need your strength to be restored
Close your eyes and see the vision in his word
For everyone who waits upon the lord
It’s a vision of flyin’ like an eagle
Running and not being weary
Walking and not fainting at all
Flyin’ like an eagle
Running and not being weary
He who saves you will not let you fall
Like an eagle flyin'
About the Performer
Though blind from birth, Ken Medema (b. 1943) has been writing, performing, and recording his music since 1973. He originally began performing as a music therapist, and he now writes many of his songs through the use of improvisation in performance. He has released most of his 26 albums through his own independent recording company, Brier Patch Music.
http://kenmedema.com/
About the Music (Piece 2)
Wings of an Eagle Lyrics
Adapted from Isaiah 40:31
As we hope in the Lord
We will gain our strength
We will run for miles
We will stand up straight
We will not grow weary
We will not grow faint
On the wings of an eagle we will rise
On the wings of an eagle we will rise
On the wings of an eagle we will rise
For our hope is found
In the power of God
On the wings of an eagle we will rise
On the wings of an eagle we will rise
For the Lord who is God
Takes His people home
Not to be afraid
As we journey the road
Hand in hand we’ll be walking
With the Lord our God
On the wings of an eagle we will rise
About the Performer
Steve Bell (b. 1960) learned to play the guitar as a child in Drumheller Penitentiary in Alberta, Canada, where his father was a chaplain. He was a part of several different bands and acts throughout the ‘70s and ‘80s until 1989, when he released his first solo gospel album. He is now an acclaimed musician throughout Canada, and has received several awards for his music there.
http://stevebell.com