All the single ladies!

Lately, Psalm 37 has been my go-to scripture. I have it taped to the cupboard in the kitchen. I marvel at the clarity of it, and I love the commands at the beginning of each sentence: dwell, trust, rest. We can't say that we don't know what to do until God acts, or what to do until He makes the next step clear. He tells us exactly how to behave in our times of waiting.

Do not fret because of evildoers, Be not envious toward wrongdoers.
For they will wither quickly like the grass and fade like the green herb.
TRUST in the Lord and do good; DWELL in the land and cultivate faithfulness.
DELIGHT yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart.
COMMIT  your way to the Lord, TRUST also in Him, and HE will do it.
HE will make your innocence radiate like the dawn,
and the justice of your cause will shine like the noonday sun.
BE STILL in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for Him to act.

Psalm 37:1-7 (NASB and NLT versions)

Although it appears that most of the above verbs are passive (resting, waiting)...I beg to differ. You see,  I have experienced the fight against my flesh and my thoughts to be rather active, involved, and trying. We often try to blame Satan, and surely he tries to distract us.  But this verse helps me remember that many times the source of the problem is within me: Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away (James 1:14 NLT).

So, while desires for a husband, children, etc are natural and often placed by the Lord for His own purpose...if not deliberately given into God's hands, these desires can allow us to get enticed and dragged away. Putting them into God's hands takes work- prayer, scripture knowledge, and self-control (which is a fruit of the Spirit). Otherwise the daydreams in our  heads can take over and really make things nuts!

Tonight I was hitting the Nyquil before bed (best part about having a cold!) and was listening to Brooke Fraser. Her song, "Love is Waiting" was playing. I love it- mostly because it's a very good storytelling song about fall! And right now, I want fall...

But I finally understood- she wasn't saying Love is waiting...like here, I put this love on a shelf and it's waiting for you. I think it is similar to the "love is patient, love is kind" verse. Love is waiting. If I really loved my future husband...I would wait patiently and not rush things. One line says "I can't force the sun to rise, or hasten summer's start...neither should I rush my way into your heart." I love that.

When we are in our periods of waiting, much like the Saturday between the crucifixion and resurrection, that is when God is doing His finest work. He's working on the behind the scenes stuff that transforms everything!

So like Brooke says, slow the pace, hold on if you can. BE PATIENT! He says in Psalm 37 that He will do it! So trust Him. Instead of putting your efforts into looking for that special man of God...put all your efforts into earnestly seeking the Son of God...and allowing Him to transform you into the woman He created you to be. This world is so short...you can do this!