The start of a new year always brings a few things:
New Year's resolutions
New expectations
Reflection on the last year
A new sense of hope
And often disappointment with unfulfilled hopes from last year.
In my (Jenn) younger years, I was encouraged to take time at the start of every year to seek the Lord and find a word to cling to. A promise from Him, and a new sense of purpose, an anchor.
I admit, I've had difficulty finding that word this year. We are still fundraising. We are still unsure of our launch date to Asia. We still have no answers when our kids or our partners ask, so now what? Things still feel like they are in limbo.
This morning I was working through an overview of the books of Haggai and Zechariah. I was reminded of how the people of Judah returned to Jerusalem after exile to rebuild the temple of God and the city. But things were not easy for them. There were still challenges in the land and the new temple they built fell short of the glory of Solomon's temple. Many wept over it. They wept because they had seen the first temple's glory and lamented its loss. What it was replaced with underwhelmed their expectations as they were hopeful that God would finally bring forth his kingdom and he would send a Messiah to save his people and reign over them and the nations as promised by the early prophets. And yet things remained difficult and less than expected upon their return to Jerusalem.
They were very much in limbo.
The challenge put forth by Haggai and Zechariah then is, will the people of Judah remain faithful to God as they wait for the Messiah to be revealed? Will they continue to build the temple, even in its less-than-glorious state? Will they choose to follow God's laws and obey him? Will they continue to hope for the coming promises of God and his Messiah?
It was a good word for me this morning as we wait in limbo for God to finally take us to Thailand to begin the work we feel called to there. Waiting is not idleness or continuing in the motions of before. It requires my own faithful attendance, not just the tasks that will help us get ready to go, but also to my heart. It's easy to lose sight of where God is while in limbo. Yet he remains with us, and so we must look to him continually for strength, courage, guidance, and most of all, hope.
"Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful." Hebrews 10:23 - NIV
