Devotions Archive Archive: 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 Search Archive Print This Article Wait for the wine Saturday, December 9, 2006 Isaiah 30:19-21 How gracious He will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you. Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it." See what love the Father has for us ... he feeds us, gives us what we need to drink. Bread and water. Adversity. And affliction. Paul wrote, "Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face" (1 Cor 13). Now, writes Isaiah, my teacher IS hidden, there is no voice guiding me through the wilderness. Later, there shall be; as for now, I wait, I suffer, I cry out. THEN my cries will be heeded; now I feel alone and ignored. In verse 18 Isaiah wrote, "The Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all who wait for him." His justice does not come on my terms or in my time. His justice belongs only to him; I will only sometimes understand. But I can always wait. I can always trust him. Because I will always be fed by Him. Bread and water. Adversity and affliction. Not the menu of a five-star restaurant in this or any other city. If God gives me affliction, couldn't it at least be wine instead of water? I remember that Jesus came to Cana and turned wedding water into wedding wine. And he came to Golgotha and turned adversity and affliction into victory. Blood and tears poured out in the night, then joy came in the morning. Jesus, you are coming. Jesus, you are nearly here. Jesus, let me wait for you. "; Add      Edit    Delete