10/17/06: Wait

This poem was included in a handout provided by Galadriel, who was teaching our Sunday School class for several weeks on the subject of fire baptism. I'm good friends with her and her husband Stewart. She said that they had been going through some things and this poem spoke to them. I can definitely say the same. The answer you may want to hear is not always the one that is best for you! I hope you get as much out of it as I did.

Wait

By Russell Kelfer

Desperately, helplessly, longingly I cried.

Quietly, patiently, lovingly, God replied.

I pleaded, and I wept for a clue to my fate,

and the Master so gently said, "Child, you must wait."

"Wait? You say wait?" my indignant reply.

"Lord, I need answers, I need to know why.

Is your hand shortened? Or have you not heard?

By faith I have asked, and I'm claiming Your word."

"My future, and all to which I can relate

hangs in the balance, and You tell me to wait?

I'm needing a yes, a go-ahead sign,

or even a 'no' to which I can resign."

"And Lord, You have promised that if we believe,

we need but to ask, and we shall receive.

And Lord, I've been asking, and this is my cry:

I'm weary of asking: I need a reply!"

Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate

As my master replied once again, "You must wait."

So I slumped in my chair; defeated and taut

And grumbled to God; "So I'm waiting for what?"

He seemed then to kneel and his eyes met with mine

and He tenderly said, "I could give you a sign.

I could shake the heavens, darken the sun,

Raise the dead, cause the mountains to run."

"All you seek, I could give, and pleased you would be.

You would have what you want, but you wouldn't know Me.

You'd not know the depth of my love for each saint;

You'd not know the power that I give to the faint."

"You'd not learn to see through clouds of despair;

You'd not learn to trust, just by knowing I'm there.

You'd not know the joy of resting in Me

when darkness and silence were all you could see."

"You would never experience that fullness of love

as the peace of My spirit descends like a dove.

You would know that I give, and I save for a start,

But you'd not know the depth of the beat of My heart."

"The glow of My comfort late in the night;

The faith that I give when you walk without sight;

The depth that's beyond getting just what you ask

of an infinite God, who makes what you have last."

"And you never would know, should your pain quickly flee,

What it means that 'My grace is sufficient for thee.

'Yes, your dreams for that loved one o'ernight could come true,

But the loss! If you lost what I'm doing in you."

"So be silent, my child, and in time you will see

that the greatest of gifts is to get to know Me.

And though oft' may My answers seem terribly late,

My most precious answer of all...is still...'Wait.' "

My response:Oh God, let me know the depth of the beat of Your heart! Even though I may want a certain answer, I pray that You will give me what I need, not what I want! I know that You know what is best for me better than I do. I trust You more than I trust myself. What loss indeed it would be if I lost what You are doing in me! I know that all things will work together for my good if I love You. Give me patience, Lord, to wait on You.