Jeff Balsom, elder in the Chicago Church of Christ, was recently diagnosed with stage IV cancer. He is currently waiting to have a brain tumor and lung tumor removed. Jeff shares his thoughts on an inspiring blog. This messasge touches everyone who has or is waiting on the Lord.
Follow Jeff's blog at www.jeffbalsom.com
Isaiah 30:18 - 19
Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you;
he rises to show you compassion.
For the LORD is a God of justice.
Blessed are all who wait for him!
O people of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more.
How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you.
Lamentations 3:22 - 26
Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him."
The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;
it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the LORD.
Psalm 27:13 - 14
I am still confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living.
Wait for the LORD;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the LORD.
Don’t you just love waiting rooms? Have you ever enjoyed waiting for news or information that seems very important in your life? Waiting, for us, seems like a task that we would like to have done as soon as possible. I dislike waiting. I am a gardener and love to see things grow in my yard. When I plant something new or a new seed I feel like I watch it every day to see what is happening and it is a slow process. Waiting in traffic drives me crazy and I just want everyone to move ahead and get going. Waiting, is just something that is part of our life. For Christians, waiting is an important part of our life. God calls us to wait for Him.
Waiting on the Lord is not easier than waiting for other things. Most of the time, it is agonizing. However, God says, “It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.” “Blessed are those who wait for Him.” When I first went to University of Chicago and met with the neuro-surgeon he said that I would need surgery and that he was going on vacation soon. I said, “Then let’s get it going as soon as possible.” We scheduled the radiation surgery a squeezed it in before he left. God had other plans and here I am waiting for God and having surgery on His timetable.
Roberta and I were talking about this ‘waiting’ thing and reflecting back on our lives as Christians for thirty years and it is good to know that God has always worked on His timetable and it was always good for us to wait and be blessed by Him in ways that we could not imagine. We recounted, together, times when we wanted to take control and yet ended up waiting on God and how he blessed us. Real estate deals that fell through for a reason, Susan’s cancer and treatment, Roberta’s cancer and treatment, moving to Chicago in 1988, quitting a great corporate job to go into the ministry in 1992, spiritual struggles all along the way, financial challenges, and the health challenges and passing of our parents over the years.
I keep a list of the ways that we saw God move at the most difficult times of our life and it is almost annually that we found ourselves waiting on the Lord in, seemingly, monumental challenges in life. God always blesses even when things don’t come out the way that we would like or anticipated. The Bible reminds us, “The Lord longs to be gracious to you, he rises to show you compassion.” That is the nature of God. It is His desire to be gracious and compassionate. We are called simply to wait for Him and not try to take control of our life, but to surrender and wait.
It is good to be surrendered to the Lord. We are in safe hands when we decide to wait for God. We are in the hands of Him, who is capable of controlling anything that life can deal to us when we give it over to God and just wait. I feel very surrendered and could not be enjoying my life any more than I am right now and I just wanted to share this with you. My prayer is that we learn to wait and learn to enjoy waiting before the trials come our way.
After looking at the years, not days, I see the plants and trees that have grown in my yard. I see the healing that God provided for Susan and Roberta. I can look at things from a different perspective and see that I am in the right home and ministry that God has worked out for for me. I am now grateful for waiting and I am enjoying the wait, with great anticipation, longing see what the Lord will do in my life.