Clearing the Stage: Waiting for What?

Well, today is the last day of our "Clearing the Stage" blog posts. Jimmy's record releases tomorrow and we are so thrilled! And what a better way to usher in a new record than by Jimmy and I actually seeking to live out the message of this record. I hope that you have been challenged to do some stage-clearing and idol-crushing in your own life. I also hope you will get yourself a copy of Jimmy's new record tomorrow, either on iTunes, jimmyneedham.com, or at your local Christian bookstore. I really believe that this record will minister to you, encourage you, challenge you, and give you something fun to dance around the house to. I have recently been studying through the Psalms and noticed the recurring phrase of "wait on the Lord." There are many promises for those who wait on the Lord and many psalmists who promise to be people who wait on Him. I've written about waiting before (see my blog, "What are you waiting on?"), and am always amazed at how little I wait on God. I usually find that I am waiting on many other circumstances in my life: waiting to graduate from college, waiting to be able to have a healthy baby, waiting to get to a more "financial stable" place, waiting for Jimmy to get home, waiting, waiting, waiting. It seems that I'm rarely content in my current circumstances. This also seems to be the trend in the lives of those around me: always waiting to arrive at some better situation. Whether it be waiting to not be single, waiting for a hard season to pass, or waiting for a spouse to change, we're rarely content where we are at. The problem with this is that the only thing the Bible commands us to wait on is Jesus! So is it wrong to want our situation to change? I don't think so. I think our problem is where we are placing our hope. I read a New American Standard Bible and many times when the word "wait" is used, there is a note in the margin that says "or hope in." Waiting is often synonymous with hoping. I don't often think of what I wait on as what I place my hope in, but I find it to be true in many circumstances. When I was a sophomore in high school, I had orchestra practice after school every Tuesday. As I didn't have a drivers license, I often found myself waiting outside the fine arts building for my mom to pick me up. I hated being at school longer than was absolutely necessary and was very anxious to get home. So I would sit outside watching the very farthest place that I knew I would see her car pull around to get me. Waiting for me was a very active thing as I kept my eyes focused and looking for my one hope to get home: my mom's car. In the same way, when I am waiting on a set of circumstances, it is usually because that is what I have placed my hope for peace and joy in. It is what I have my eyes and my heart fixed on. But even if I get to whatever place I'm hoping to be, I'll find something else I'm not satisfied with and create a new hope to wait on. How do you know what you are waiting on and hoping in? If you're like me, you'll find yourself thinking and saying things like: "When I (...fill in the blank...), then things will be better/great, or then I will be able to have peace/have a better walk with God." No matter how bad our circumstances, how undesirable our situation, Jesus is enough for us. Do we believe that? Usually the answer is no, but I think it is worth fighting to choose to believe this and walk it out. "Whatever I can't stop thinking of is an idol" - Lyric from "Clear the Stage" I pray that all of us, myself included, would begin to make Jesus the thing we can't stop thinking of. That we would be people who wait on Him and Him alone and truly begin to experience the reality that Jesus is enough for us, even if our situation never changes. May we being to wait on the Lord alone and keep our eyes on Him, for those who wait on Him will never be ashamed, their strength will be renewed and they will not grow weary. (Ps 25:3, Is 40:31). Check out Jimmy's last blog on his facebook page.