I admit, I’m not the most patient person in the world. As a result, I’ve never been a successful birdwatcher.
And so it was that when a fellow Nugget author invited me to go birdwatching, I wasn’t holding on to much hope. Especially when she offered me a handful of seed and suggested that they might come to feed from my hand…
I dutifully started out, seed in hand; but as anticipated, there was … nothing. My companion kept stopping to look and listen, so I duly did as well. Nothing. Oh, there were birds singing high up in the trees, but they were too far to see, let alone identify…
It took me awhile, but eventually the calm and patience of my birdwatching friend began to rub off on me. “Shhh,” she said, holding out her hand towards a nearby bush. I raised my hand too, and imagine my surprise when a black-capped chickadee flew out of the bush, perched on my fingers, and carefully chose a sunflower seed!
We probably spent an hour at least on that trail, and before we finished, my hand had been honored by the feathery steps of black-capped and boreal chickadees, red-breasted nuthatches, and a Downy Woodpecker! A white-breasted nuthatch even came close to landing. Wow!
I tend to be impatient in other parts of my life as well. We’ll just say that waiting upon the Lord is also not one of my strengths. I learned something that day as I bird watched with my new friend. I learned that perhaps my problems seeing birds and my problems seeing God in my trials are one and the same! I’m too impatient! I am not willing to sit and wait upon the Lord!
The Prophet Jeremiah teaches us this: “The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, To the person who seeks Him.” (Lamentations 3:25 NASB95). Thus said, if I were more willing to put “my” agenda aside and seek Him in the midst of the chaos, God promises to be good to me!
And what about this promise? “Therefore the LORD longs to be gracious to you, And therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you. For the LORD is a God of justice; How blessed are all those who long for Him.” (Isaiah 30:15 NASB95). God is actually waiting on us! He longs to be gracious to us, and when we long for Him the way He longs for us, we are promised blessings!
So just how does one “wait upon the Lord”?
We need look no further than my birdwatching session. To see the birds, I had to be still. I had to be watching. I had to be listening. I also had to know what I was listening and watching for, and I thank my writer friend for teaching me this. I also came bearing gifts. I had seed in my hand for the little guys.
When we wait upon the Lord, we need to be still. We need to submit our problems to Him and then we need to watch and see where He is at work. But we also need to come bearing gifts. Our “birdseed” is our praise: “Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.” (Hebrews 13:15 NASB95)
What are you waiting upon the Lord for? Why not surrender the problem to Him … all of it! … Then sit back and watch to see where He is at work, all the while praising Him for what He is doing that you can’t see! You’ll be amazed at the difference!
Oh, and I discovered something else that day: Even though birds don’t come with name tags, birdwatching with an expert is the next best thing for identification purposes…
In His love,
Lyn
Lynona Gordon Chaffart
Author, Moderator, Answers2Prayer Ministries
