oday, I am sitting at a restaurant that we frequent here in Pokhara, Nepal. I’m watching the hawks that are so common in this part of the world swoop and soar far above the trees along the banks of the breathtaking Fewa Lake.
As I watch them, I am moved by their grace. They may flap their wings here and there, but when soaring high, they do not. These amazing creatures catch the wind and ride it.
Fewa (Pewa) Lake in Pokhara, Nepal
How I want to be them. It makes me think of this verse.
31 but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
Isaiah 40:31 (ESV)
For more times in my life than I can confess, I have flapped my wings unto exhaustion. Unlike these amazing creatures, I have crashed into the lake, only to cry out to the Lord, and He has rescued me.
The Spirit of the Living God moves me. I am moved to cease my striving. There is nothing I can produce in the spirit while trusting in the flesh. There is nothing none of us can accomplish of eternal value without the wind of the Spirit.
Jesus Sat Down
When Jesus was on the cross, for the first time in His life, He spiritually thirsted. He then asked for something to drink, and those attending His crucifixion offered Him sour wine. The only comfort found when separated from God is sour, not satisfying. Then, he spoke some of His most well-known words.
30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
John 19:30 (ESV)
Three days later, Jesus was raised from the dead. Later, he ascended to heaven, where Scripture says he sat down at the right hand of God.
Hebrews 10:12-14 (ESV) 12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. 14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
Hebrews 10:12-14 (ESV)
By his SINGLE offering, Jesus perfected for all time those being sanctified. That single sentence contains libraries of books. Jesus completed all that is needed for our eternal perfection. When he had fully drunk of the bitter wrath of God, he declared that His work was finished (or accomplished). Later, when He ascended, He sat down at the right hand of God.
Jesus has done it all. He has fully provided, through His death and resurrection, all we need to be perfected. He sat down, finished with His work, until all of His enemies are put under His feet. We cannot and do not have to earn this salvation through our works. It is a gift provided and offered to whosoever will.
But even beyond that, the scriptures say that Jesus raised us up and sat us with Him in heavenly places.
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
Ephesians 2:4-6 (ESV)
He is not the only one seated in heaven. We, who have trusted Him, are seated with Him.
As I view the world, I see two ways to live.
The first is one of hard labor. This is how we live under the curse of the fall of man.
19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
Genesis 3:19 (ESV)
When we choose to live by our own strength and might, we find that the curse is active still in the earth. This is either trying to earn our salvation through works or bear fruit through the works and strength of the flesh.
If you have read the bible, you know that this is a major theme. This way of living is birthed of our sin and sinful independent nature from God.
The second and blessed way is to live according to inheritance. It is to live and work from a daily connection to God through Christ Jesus.
This. This is the way.
Jesus has promised us that the abundant fruitful life we all so desperately want will be found not in our might or power, but by being connected daily to Jesus. He is the vine, we are the branches. Cut off from Him, we can do nothing. But in Him, we will be truly fruitful in our personal lives and in the world.
5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
John 15:5 (ESV)
Oh, it seems too easy to be true. If only it were easy in the beginning. Our very nature tried to take the reigns from Jesus daily. We think He constantly needs our help. We are so arrogant to think that He needs us to lead the way to see His will done. We are called to follow Him, not the other way around!
We are so arrogant to think that He needs us to lead the way to see His will done. We are called to follow Him, not the other way around!
But the will of the Father is that we know and believe in the Son. The work is to never trust in our flesh and works in this life of sanctification and service. The temptation to overcome is to go it on your own.
God forbid. We can’t. We are miserable and fruitless, and everything we build that does not flow from Him crumbles. Our serving can never replace sitting with our Savior.
Our serving can never replace sitting with our Savior.
But He invites us. He invites me…
28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Matthew 11:28 (ESV)
Our loving Savior reminds in the story of Mary and Martha (Luke 10:38-42), that before we serve Him, we must be served by Him. Before we work, we must sit and adore His beauty, listen to His words, and connect with His heart.
He is our bridegroom. He desires us more than what we can do for Him.
But then, as we walk in our day-to-day lives of obedience, the Lord flows through us. We bear great fruit! We rejoice. And it all came from sitting at His feet.
Ambition will kill you. Striving will bury you. The Lord will raise you into a tree that provides shade and food for the nations.
If you have been like me at times, you know that it is time to sit down. You are running around anxious and worried about many things, but only one thing is needed. Like Mary, choose the better portion.
Jesus has in Him all you need for everything. You are not the author of life, He is. Whatever connects to Him brings forth life. Whatever is apart from Him dries out, withers, and dies.
Are you feeling dry? Come and drink of the Lord’s water and never thirst again. Do not come to strive to find a sermon or a social media post. Come. Sit. Listen. Be quiet and receive His love for yourself.
Returning to our opening verse, I want to show you something in the meaning of the word wait. When I looked it up in the original Hebrew language, this is what I discovered:
קָוָה qâwâ; a primitive root; to bind together (perhaps by twisting), i.e. collect; (figuratively) to expect: — gather (together), look, patiently, tarry, wait (for, on, upon).
The word indeed means to look for, wait for, put hope in, and expect God’s help. It is used figuratively here for that meaning, but if we understand the literal meaning of this figure of speech, we see HOW we wait.
The idea, as far as I can tell, is that we put our hope and expectation so much on the Lord that we are bound to Him, woven like a Nepalese basket, braided together like a cord.
We wait upon the Lord by daily joining ourselves to Him. We make Him the other cord that we are twisted together with. We are one cord, wrapped together. We sit with Him, we talk with Him, and we make an effort to live with the actuality of His omnipresence.
We become one with Him, trusting Him to strengthen us, to help us, to be with us.
In other words, we trust in His strength rather than our own. We stop running around wildly flailing our arms anxiously. We stop and listen. We trust Him. We follow Him. In turn, His strength flows through us.
Doesn’t that sound like rest? Doesn’t that sound light and easy?
My heart responds, YES! Yes, Lord. Help me be still and know that you are God (and I am not!).
It’s time, my friend, to sit down. Let’s sit with Him and let Him bring us alive.
