Episode 148- Waiting

Speaker 1:

It is time for a pause in your day. Welcome to a podcast where we press the pause button on our busy

lives for a few moments, and we focus on God’s word with Sharon and Nicole. We pray this is a time of

refreshing for you. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and

Sweet Selah Ministries.

Nicole:

Welcome to Sweet Selah Moments. We’re celebrating 10 seasons of sharing God’s word with you. And

this season is our Selah season. This is episode 148, Waiting. But first, because this is our Selah season,

we’re going to talk about our Selah word for the day, the tip we have to help us all practice pausing and

simply being with the God who loves us. So far, we’ve talked about Silence, going Slow, Solitude, Selah

days, Sleep, Scripture and Song. Sharon, what’s up next as we continue to study how to practice times

with God?

Sharon:

Well, I have to admit, today’s word is a bit of a stretch, but I think it’s important that we find the right

environment in which to spend time with God. We need to find our Space. I am very comfortable,

personally, taking myself to a restaurant, overlooking the ocean and eating alone there, and then

wandering into the lobby and with permission, continuing to sit and study. My personality is such that,

that doesn’t rock my world at all. Eating alone feels cool and demanding coffee in the lobby, like I’m a

registered guest, also works for me, and nobody’s ever called me out on it. They’re all fine with it. So, but

not everybody is, you know? I’m also able to block out the other people there, just enjoy the view and the

ability to be away from everyone who knows me, you know? (Right.) And wants my time. But for some

people, that kind of space doesn’t work at all. I’ve had people say to me, I can’t focus there. There are

other people walking around. It distracts me. Or eating alone makes me feel lonely. You know, that kind

of thing. We all come from different places, so I do think finding your space to be alone with God is

important. It doesn’t have to be mine, but to find a space (Yes.) that is kind of for you. So, we’re going to

just suggest some. We’ll go back and forth. And one of mine, and again, these don’t work for everybody.

(Right.) Some people, because I’m a terrible house cleaner this one works great for me: home. Some

people cannot sit in a home where everything is not perfected. (Yeah.) Sadly, for Ray and me, I can, and I

do, which is why (That’s amazing.) I actually hire my friend Robin to clean because someone has to clean.

Right? (Right.) So home is a space and for some people home is where they wanna be (Mm-hmm) when

no one else is there. Finding that time when no one else is there. So that is a space, there’s nothing wrong

with staying home. (Right.) You just have to be really careful about not getting distracted by doing things.

(Yes.) Right?

Nicole:

That is important. Well, and that kind of leads to mine. Home, but when you have a room to yourself. So I

find that you could either just find the tidiest part of your room if you are overwhelmed with your house

being a mess, or clean it up beforehand, knowing I’m having a Sweet Selah day tomorrow maybe I’ll tidy

a corner of the living room that I like, or a portion of the house that I don’t get to sit in very often. Like,

oh, my dining room’s kind of nice. Sometimes I’ll sit in there, but finding a space and preparing it for

Selah. Trying to clean a whole house for a Selah day at home is not fun. (Sharon: No!) But for me, being

distracted, I don’t need it to be perfect, but being distracted by the kids’ socks on the couch, or the dishes

in the sink, that’s really hard for me to focus on. So if I get an area of my house where I don’t see the rest

of the chaos, (Uh Huh) that for me works really well. (Oh, I like that) I clean a section or space in my

house.

Sharon:Yeah. Yeah. And then you’re also, you don’t walk outta that space. You discipline yourself to stay right

there and be alone with the Lord there.

Nicole:

Right. I bring my Selah bag right with me to that space. I bring my tea there, I get my little treat. I’m all

kind of in that area as my Selah space for the next few hours. (Sharon: Yeah.) I try not to leave it. So that

has worked for me.

Sharon:

I like that. (NIcole: Yeah.) That’s good. Another one is actually the public library. At our library in Dover

you can book a room.

Nicole:

Oh, that’s so nice.

Sharon:

well.

It’s so fun. And when Mary and the four kids were living with me, I was writing a book. It was not going

Nicole:

I can’t imagine why.

Sharon:

So I would book a room and,, pretty Dover Public Library, it is gorgeous.

Nicole:

So nice. Yeah.

Sharon:

And it was a pretty room, and I had it for a couple of hours.

Nicole:

Oh, that’s so nice.

Sharon:

So, and it was free. I was a member of the town and one of the privileges is the public library and booking

a room, so.

Nicole:

That’s great.

Sharon:

Yeah.

Nicole:I love that.

Sharon:

So that’s another idea.

Nicole:

Another public idea that’s cheap and less formal than a restaurant, is the park, find a local park or, I like to

go to the lake. We have a couple, I live near the lake or the ocean. If you’re closer to the ocean (Sharon:

Uh Huh) find an off-season time, bring a chair, bring your Selah bag, and just find a nice little quiet

corner. (Yeah.) And it’s great. And you can, I love ‘Selah-ing’ in nature. It is beautiful to be outside.

Sharon:

Oh, it is.

Nicole:

Those are special Selah days for sure.

Sharon:

Yeah. And a place like a park, there’s enough people around that you’re not so isolated it might be scary.

Nicole:

Well, that is true.

Sharon:

You know, but it’s, it’s also, people probably won’t bother you.

Nicole:

Right, right. I like that.

Sharon:

Yeah. This is a weird one, but sometimes it’s all you’ve got, car. Just go to your car.

Nicole:

Right.

Sharon:

So park your car somewhere pretty. I’ll remember one time I was taking care of Dad Gamble when he was

still in his home in Massachusetts. And it was hard ’cause I was living away from Ray, but we didn’t have

the addition put on yet, and Dad couldn’t get out of bed without help so somebody had to be there. But it

was my Selah day. And so I had hired an aide to be there for the whole day, and I took off in the car. It

started to pour rain. (Oh no.) I know. And so I pulled up to an ocean-looking spot. I cried my brains out.

Because I was just so exhausted. I put the seat back in the car, hoped no one thought that, you know, I

was dead or something. And I went to sleep. And I could hear the waves. It was beautiful. So a car can be

a space.

Nicole:It can, and it works really well in certain seasons when you just can’t get somewhere. I have ‘Selah-ed’

right into my driveway. I’ve pulled in, cranked up the worship music and same thing, but the car back

closed my eyes and just had a moment.

Sharon:

Yes. Just had the moment.

Nicole:

Just had a moment with Jesus. Those absolutely count. Oh. Also trading houses with a friend. So my Aunt

Susie just recently got the house of their dreams. They got the cutest little log cabin. They’ve always

wanted one, and they found one fairly close to me, and she gave me permission to come over anytime

during the day, ’cause her and her husband both work (Sharon: Really? ) to have a Selah day in her home.

And I said, oh, my Auntie, I’ve been looking for a quiet place to have a Selah day. So, I’m so excited. So,

finding someone, asking someone, find someone in different season of life than you. If you have small

children in your home during the day, or my friend Jenny is right up the road, (Uh huh). And if we don’t

want to clean our house for our friend to come over and Selah in it, swap porches. Hey, Jenny, come sit

on my back porch. You can go in and use the bathroom. Don’t look at the kitchen. But there’s different

ways that you can find, talk to a friend who, you know, needs a Selah day too. (That’s beautiful.) Swap

houses with them.

Sharon:

Yeah. Especially if you’re inclined to want to to clean your house.

Nicole:

Right.

Sharon:

Yes. Yeah. Swap porches. That is adorable. Oh my goodness. Well, we’re gonna end with the weirdest

one of all. And I only know one person on the planet that thinks this is a good idea. But my friend Rhonda

likes to hang out in a cave. (Nicole: Oh!) I know. She lives in Arizona. She is fearless. (A cave.) I mean,

totally fearless. She’ll hike up a mountain by herself. (Wow.) She’s an incredible memorizer of scripture.

So, she’ll quote a book of the Bible (Oh my goodness.) on the way up to her cave, where there’s an

occasional snake, but they don’t bother her. She doesn’t bother them. (Wow.) I just about choked on

whatever I was drinking when she told me about the snakes in her cave. Yeah. (Wow.) But, she loves it.

She loves the loneliness of it. She figures there aren’t too many muggers climbing up mountains.

Nicole:

They’re not gonna risk the snakes.

Sharon:

And she loves that. So, so space is important. Find your space, no matter whether it’s a porch or a cave.

Right?

Nicole:

Oh, I love it. And I love that wherever you are, God is there. God is there. You know, whether it’s a fancy,

like a restaurant or cramped in the basement of your home where you’re hiding from your family for a bit,or the pantry or whatever. God can meet you as you carve out that space to be alone with him seeking his

direction and whispering, you can just sit there and whisper your love to him and he can whisper it back.

Sharon:

He sure can.

Nicole:

And it’s so worth the effort to find your space.

Sharon:

It is.

Nicole:

It’ll take some troubleshooting, but definitely worth it.

Sharon:

you.

It is. Yes. And if you go to SweetSelah.org and click on Selah Days, we have so many other ideas for

Nicole:

Mm, absolutely.

Sharon:

So just saying, just saying. Okay. So, let’s turn to our actual scripture now for the day. Today we’re gonna

look at Psalm 62, and it’s all about waiting. Waiting is hard. Nicole, what’s one of the hardest waits you

have ever had?

Nicole:

Hmm. So, honestly, it’s been recently, I feel like my life has become a life of waiting. I’ve been having

some weird medical issues and sitting and waiting for answers. Sitting and waiting for doctor’s

appointments that were, oh, we’ll get you right in. And then it’s a month or even a year out with some

offices.

Sharon:

Wow.

Nicole:

Waiting for answers is very frustrating. Waiting for healing while still in pain. That’s been hard. Waiting

to see if new changes with food or new supplements or new medication work. And then stopping and

trying again.

Sharon:

Yes.

Nicole:Just waiting to see what I can physically do each day. I’ve been very limited in certain things, so waking

up and going, what is my body gonna let me do today? So much waiting, waiting for healing. Just being

done with it.

Sharon:

Yes. Yes.

Nicole:

You know, waiting. So I feel like all I’ve been doing lately is waiting. Waiting for answers. So it’s been a

season of waiting and it’s hard. It’s very hard to wait.

Sharon:

It is. Especially when you’re not told how long the wait is going to be.

Nicole:

Yes. That is the worst part of it.

Sharon:

It is.

Nicole:

I feel like I’m a pretty hardy person. I can hold out like, oh, wait for a week, and you’re kind of looking

forward to something to the end of something painful or the beginning of something good. (Sharon:

Right.) But open-ended waiting with maybe the promise of it getting worse before it gets better or just

continually getting worse (Yeah) Is very difficult.

Sharon:

Yes. Absolutely. When Ray went to the Persian Gulf War, there was a long wait. And waiting every day

to hear the reports that he was still alive for starters, but not knowing how long he’d be gone, if he’d come

back, if he would come back whole (Nicole: Right.) or crippled by a bomb. So the same kind of idea in

there’s no definitive end to it. There’s no promise it will work out. (Yes.) So, okay. So how do we wait

well? We’re gonna study that today.

Nicole:

I think we need to.

Sharon:

I think we need to, this is going to resonate.

Nicole:

Yes.

Sharon:

So, as always, we’ll read until we come to a Selah or an interlude signal in the Psalm, and then we’ll stop

and discuss. So I’d like you to lead the way today, Nicole, so go for it.Nicole:

All right. We’re gonna read Psalm 62 today. And this again is a Psalm of David. He starts with, “I will

wait quietly before God for my victory comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my

fortress, where I will never be shaken. So many enemies against one man, all of them trying to kill me. To

them I’m just a broken down wall or a tottering fence. They plan to topple me from my high position.

They delight in telling lies about me. They praise me to my face, but curse me in their hearts. Selah.”

Whew. This is a heavy start to this one. (Sharon: It sure is.) Poor David. (Yes) So it can be incredibly

hard to wait quietly before God. I want to ask him a million questions. (Yes) I want to complain. I want to

rage and tell him now how I want him to fix things (Yes) how it would best to suit me. But remembering,

I love that he starts out with that. I will wait quietly before God for my victory comes from him. So even

before he starts to complain or rage or share his heart, he’s reminding himself, he’s kind of keeping

himself in check here (Yep) that my victory comes from him. So it’s not me that helps me to be quiet and

listen, but God that is going to be there to still my heart. (Mm-hmm) And he has the victory and the

answers. So that was a good way to kind of start this psalm, I think. And then as you continue reading,

David is not just having a bad day. He’s really in the thick of it too. (He is.) There’s no end to his troubles

either. He’s got threats of death. He’s got people just waiting to pounce on him and destroy him. (I know.

Yeah.) And that’s hard to live with again, that open-ended waiting of (Yes) I don’t know when they’re

actually gonna get at me. Are they gonna succeed in their threats of death and toppling me over?

Sharon:

Exactly. Yeah. Very different than waiting for Christmas. I mean, Christmas always comes. (Nicole:

Right.) So, man. Yeah. And I’m noticing that there’s a betrayal there too. They praise me to my face, but

curse me in their hearts. That poor David. I think something about being a king would bring out betrayal

in the sense that everybody wants to butter up the king. (Sure.) Because they’ve got the power. (Right.)

They’ve got the stuff. (Mm-hmm) So it almost makes you feel sorry for people that are very wealthy and

powerful, because how do they know who really likes them?

Nicole:

That is true. Hard to find genuineness.

Sharon:

It has nothing to do with waiting. But I just noticed it.

Nicole:

But we know that David’s having a really hard time here.

Sharon:

Yes, yes, yes, yes. And I do agree with you that the decision, I will wait quietly again, we have to decide

that we will do that because our natural flesh does not wanna wait quietly. We wanna rage. We really do.

Nicole:

Right. And that mind, that switching to, okay, I’m waiting before the Lord. It just helps, you know, it’s not

me that’s gonna do this, but it helps me to be quiet before him and listen to him.

Sharon:

Right, right. Okay. Next section, starting with verse five and going to verse eight. “Let”, oh, here we are. I

didn’t even know that when I said that. So look at how relevant this verse will be. “Let all that I am waitquietly before God. For my hope is in him. ” Not in a cure. Not if my husband comes home from war. It’s

in him. “He alone is my rock and my salvation. This is a repeat. He’s saying it twice. “My fortress where I

will not be shaken.” It says never up at the verse two. And it now says, “I will not be shaken.”

Nicole:

Yes.

Sharon:

“My victory and honor come from God alone. He is my refuge, a rock where no enemy can reach me. Oh,

my people trust in him at all times. Pour out your heart to him for God is our refuge. Selah.” This, “all that

I am, wait quietly,” I think of like my heart, my mind my body. There are three separate things, but it’s not

an easy task to do that. My heart is screaming and to not wanna get to the end, but to wait well in the

middle. To be a good waiter. You know, I always wanna, well, when’s it gonna be over? But I’ve gotta

live in the waiting. I can’t wait for life to begin when the waiting is over. (Right.) Especially when you

don’t know how it’s gonna end. You’ve gotta wait Well, in the midst of it. And that’s also mind. It’s your

mindset, all that I am. (Yes.) My heart has to still itself, my mind has to say ‘God has something for me in

this hard, messy time’. It’s not a waiting till it gets better. It’s so what does he want me to do now? So

thinking about that, and then even the body trying to calm my body down, because sometimes a panic

attack is beyond your control. (Right.) You know? But as we can, doing the things that calm our body,

breathing quietly, reciting scripture, calling a friend and begging them to pray for you, whatever. So, and

then I loved in verse six, “He alone is my rock and salvation”. He alone, you know, I’ve been reading in

Deuteronomy lately and the repetition of there’s no other gods. There’s no other thing to worship. There’s

no other thing to cling to, stop, stop, stop. God alone. And I think in times of trouble, God alone is more

stark. Because there isn’t anything else. (Yes.) You know, your earth can shake beneath your feet. Fire

can destroy your home. You know, you can be betrayed by somebody close to you. We can’t put our faith

in anything else. It’s him. It’s him, it’s him. And thankfully he’s there when we feel healthy and he’s there

when we feel sick. (Mm-hmm) He’s there when our husband is getting scud missiles dropped on his head.

Not literally or Ray would not have come home. But you know what I mean? (Yes.) God alone. So, so

good.

Nicole:

h I love that. I love that he repeats that too. The ‘I will wait quietly before God’. He says it again, ‘Let us

wait. Let all that I am’. So he kind of goes into a deeper part of the waiting quietly. (Sharon: Right.) I will

wait quietly before the Lord. And then he is like, ‘All that I am will wait quietly before the Lord’. (Yes.)

So he’s slowly going into that deeper, deeper place. (Yes.) It’s like you said, with his body, with his soul,

with his mind, with all that he is. (Mm-hmm) So there’s, we sometimes come to him and we might be

hard on ourselves ’cause we’re not all in, just sitting quietly before God. (That’s true.) But as we come to

him in our mess, he slowly untangles all that (Yes.) And gets us to calm down.

Sharon:

Yeah. I love that repetition. (Nicole: Yeah.) You are right. Because it also kind of is reassuring. So you

said it and you’re not calm. (Right.) Okay. Morning, noon and night from our last podcast. You do it

again. (Yes.) And you do it again. (You keep doing it.) And each time you go a little deeper. It’s a

discipline that waiting can hone in us. (Yes.) Because it gives us lots of practice.

Nicole:

Doesn’t it though?

Sharon:Fun times. Okay.

Nicole:

Next section, so verse nine, “Common people are as worthless as a puff of wind. And the powerful are not

what they appear to be. If you weigh them on the scales together, they are lighter than a breath of air.

Don’t make your living by extortion or put your hope in stealing. And if your wealth increases, don’t make

it the center of your life. God has spoken plainly, and I have heard it many times, power, Oh God, belongs

to you. Unfailing love, Oh Lord is yours. Surely you will repay all people according to what they have

done”. So the beginning of this is kind of just humbling, you know, it just reminds me of that life is but a

vapor, whether you are common person or a powerful person. All our lives are just kind of short. We’re

all just puffs of wind in the grand scheme of everything.

Sharon:

Yes. Yes. When a big powerful man scares you think to yourself, you are but a puff of wind.

Sharon:

I love it. It’s a puff. A puff. It is very humbling. So this part I think is just a really good warning. And just

kind of get us to remember that we can’t get power from earthly things. That not to put our hope on things

that we see around us. (Sharon: Yes.) On the powerful, on the wealth. (I like that.) Because I think

sometimes when we don’t wanna put our bodies into that waiting quietly, we wanna do something. (We

do.) What can I do? We look around for something to do. (Yeah.) Well, if I have more power or more

money, if I do this, I’ll make it come about. But all of this won’t get us where we wanna be. (No.) So I just

think it’s a good reminder. He’s like, Hey, let’s remember what we need to be focusing on. Not the stuff

around us.

Sharon:

It is so good in a waiting psalm to be reminded what you shouldn’t be looking for. Right? (Nicole: Right.)

And even if you get wealthy, it doesn’t say that’s wrong, if your wealth increases, but don’t make it the

center of your life.

Nicole:

Right. And think, oh, I’m good now, ’cause we are so easily distracted by things in our own power.

Sharon:

No kidding.

Nicole:

Once I think I can do it on my own, I’m like, Oh, I got it, God, thanks. I needed you for that but I’m here

now, so I’m good. And he’s like, there you go again, running ahead of me.

Sharon:

Yes.

Nicole:

You’re gonna trip soon.

Sharon:Yes. Yes. Stay in today.

Nicole:

Yes. Yeah. And just continually walk with him.

Sharon:

I think waiting teaches us that, to stay in today. We don’t know what tomorrow will bring. So you just

kind of settle down and you’re like, well, here I am today. I’m breathing and my fingers move. You know,

whatever.

Nicole:

Right. There’s an acceptance of the present of what is actually you’re able to do. What you can control,

which is very little. (Sharon: Yes.) Very little in waiting. But there is, I have found a deeper stillness and a

peace in waiting. (Yeah.) Once I got through the initial kicking and screaming, and (Of course) I would

like an answer, and I would like this to be gone. (Of course, yes. Yes.) But there is something that does

come from that. Of this lack of trying to grasp for control again. (Right.) Of accepting, there is nothing I

can do to get out of this quickly, God. (Right.) So I do daily wake up and say, okay, what’s for today,

God? What are you allowing for me to do? What can I do? And can you help me through it? Help me

accept the things I cannot do. (Right.) And help me to do the very best things in that moment, (Yeah.

Yeah.) in the waiting. (Yeah.) So there’s definitely refinement in it. It’s not always fun.

Sharon:

No. No one signs up to be refined.

Nicole:

Like, am I refined enough yet, God? I think I’m good. I feel better. Is this good?

Sharon:

Yep, yep, can, can you get me out of the fire now?

Nicole:

Right. It’s getting a little hot in here.

Sharon:

Oh my word. Okay. Well, we’ve kind of almost started answering these questions, but what did we learn

about dealing with waiting and how can we apply it? So anything else that you wanna share about that?

Nicole:

Yeah. Waiting quietly. So just sitting.

Sharon:

That’s the thing.

Nicole:

Yep. I think, and remembering, remembering is huge. And that’s a word that he’s kind of been bouncing

in my brain. (Sharon: Oh.) Remembering who he is. (Uh huh) Remembering what he’s done for us in thepast, and then remembering his promises for the future. (Yeah.) So God is the same God of yesterday,

today, and my future. (Yes.) But when things feel big, we forget. So when I sit and just like what David

did, remembering what he’s done before. Oh, you did. You helped me through this hard time when I

thought I was gonna die waiting for this. (Yes. Yes.) You’ve helped me through this hardship and God,

you’re going to help me in the future. So I can trust him in that. (I love it.) So I think remembering, you

know?

Sharon:

Yep. I think that’s great. I wrote, I learned, not that I didn’t already know it, the waiting is hard, and that

God often asks us to do it. So there’s your reality. Waiting’s hard and we’re often asked to do it. (Nicole:

Mm-hmm) Cool.

Nicole:

That’s good. But it’s true though.

Sharon:

But you know what? We can get that out of the way, right?

Nicole:

Yes.

Sharon:

Yeah. And all of us are gonna have to wait. (Nicole: Yes.) It’s just life. (Yep.) Second, waiting requires a

disciplining of heart, mind, and body. (Ooh. Yeah.) All of myself. And that’s a disciplining. It doesn’t

happen overnight, it takes time. (Mm-hmm) It just does. And third, waiting builds what I call our trust

muscle. (Oh.) God has got us no matter what, you know. And we’ve been studying in online Bible study,

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (Oh yeah.) and the fiery furnace and their comment to King

Nebuchadnezzar, God’s gonna save us. But even if he doesn’t, he’s still, God.

Nicole:

That’s such a powerful statement.

Sharon:

That verse, unbelievable. (Nicole: Yep.) You know, even if he doesn’t (Mm-hmm) he’s still God, he’s still

good. He builds a trust muscle. (Yeah.) And it’s not fun because we think we can’t survive unless God

fixes it.

Nicole:

Oh, that’s so true.

Sharon:

Right? (Nicole: Yeah. So true.) Aye, aye, aye. Okay. All right. Well, what was my favorite verse and

why? Psalm 62:8. “Oh, my people trust him at all times. Pour out your heart to him for God is our refuge.

Selah.” Best advice ever. (Mm-hmm) He’s there in the furnace. And he actually unties our hands there.

This is something I’d never picked up before from Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, (Oh) they go into

the furnace bound. (Yeah.) Right. But when Nebuchadnezzar sees them walking around with nothingburned or singed and all the clothes are fine, they’re also unbound. (Oh wow.) Sometimes it takes a

furnace to take off some bindings that we’ve put on ourselves.

Nicole:

Oh my goodness. Wow.

Sharon:

Isn’t that cool?

Nicole:

That’s profound. Yeah. Hmm.

Sharon:

So that was my verse. How about you?

Nicole:

Of course my verse was the same verse. We don’t plan this, I promise, we don’t plan this.

Sharon:

We do not! That is so fun.

Nicole:

Verse eight. So, I love the word refuge there. It just sounds extra safe and secure, you know? It’s not only

safe, but a place to recover as well, because we can go hide behind a bush and we’re hidden and we’re

kind of, you know, but we’re not safe. We’re not fully rested. But with that concept of refuge and being

safe with God, we can heal, we can exhale. We can rest in him.

Sharon:

Yeah.

Nicole:

We can kind of start to work through it. It’s so much more than just a place to hide from our troubles.

(Sharon: Right.) Or escape for just a moment. Like he is keeping the things at bay so we can sit in that

refuge with him. And that just, oh, that spoke to my soul. (Yeah.) That he is my refuge.

Sharon:

A beautiful word. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) I love that word. Beautiful. Okay. And Nicole, what did you learn

about God other than that He’s a refuge from this passage?

Nicole:

He is powerful and has unfailing love. I love seeing the unfailing love. I think it’s beautiful. And then in

verse, I think it says 12 (I can’t see my handwriting) “God will right all wrongs.” So that’s a good thing to

keep in my head. Eventually, maybe not this side of heaven, but all things will be righted. And then he’s

our rock. He’s our fortress and he’s our salvation and that victory and honor come from him. There’s so

much about God in this psalm. There’s a bunch of it.Sharon:

So much. Yes. So David’s actually practicing what he’s preaching. He’s saying when you’re at a waiting

time and things are bad, look to God. Look to God, look to God. And part of looking to God is actually

naming his attributes. Right? (Nicole: Right. Yep.) Refuge, you know, a Savior. (Yes.) All the things that

we need and someone we can cry out to. I picture him in the furnace with us. And that to me is so cool.

(Mm-hmm) And he’s the one, you know, in the form of Jesus that even though he knew he was gonna

raise Lazarus from the dead, wept (Mm-hmm) with Mary and Martha. (Yes.) And the word wept in that

section of John is a groaning, screaming anguish. So God not only is in the furnace with us, He hurts with

us. (Mm-hmm.) Why? How? I mean, he chooses to do that. It’s just so amazing to me. So even part of his

refuge-ness when it’s furnace time and that doesn’t feel like a refuge at all, is the fact that he’s got his arm

around your shoulder and he’s crying with you. He hates it too. (Yeah.) I mean, he made Eden for crying

out loud. We’re the ones that messed it up. It wasn’t his plan, initially, that we would go through

everything we go through because we live in such a terrible, broken world. You know, I’m teaching a

‘Loving Your Husband’ course right now. And we were talking about the famous Adam and Eve and the

serpent thing, (Yes.) in the garden and everything. And I was kind of looking at the curses that come in a

little bit of a different way in my brain. You know, God’s telling them what’s gonna happen because they

sinned and the earth is broken. It’s almost like he’s saying, and now instead of farming happily now you’re

gonna get weeds. (Yes.) Not so much you bad person, I’m gonna give you weeds. It’s almost more like,

and here’s the consequence. (Right.) What a shame that you’ve done that. Right.

Nicole:

It’s not what I wanted for you. Yes.

Sharon:

Right? And when Jesus weeps over Jerusalem and is like, I want to gather you and you won’t let me. The

big heart of God is often, he allows it to be broken for us. And that’s part of who our God is. So he listens

when we pour out our hearts, he feels with us. He’s not, he’s not a robot. He’s a person. I mean different

from us. He’s Spirit. He’s bigger. You know, I mean, he is only a person in Christ. I don’t wanna say bad

theology here, but you know what I mean. He’s a being. He’s not a thing.

Nicole:

Yes.

Sharon:

He’s a being and he chooses to feel. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) He’s stable. (Mm-hmm) He’s the one that’s not

shaken. If we stay close to him, no matter what’s going on, we’re not shaken. And he alone can save.

That’s our God.

Nicole:

And if we come to him and we list all those things, we get our eyes off of the fire. (Sharon: Yes.) The

waves.(Yes.) If you look back in scripture, all those big moments when he did show up with David in the

lion’s den. (Yes.) With David and Goliath. (Yes.) Or Daniel, not David, in the lions den. Daniel in the

lions den. And with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fire. If we get our eyes off of the scariness

around us, ’cause they’re real, they’re real things.

Sharon:

They are real things.Nicole:

Peter was going to drown ’cause he stopped looking at Jesus on those waves.

Sharon:

Right, right.

Nicole:

But if we get our eyes back on him, the other stuff just falls away.

Sharon:

It does. It does.

Nicole:

We’re still in it. (Sharon: Right.) It doesn’t magically go away, but (Yeah, yeah.) the lions aren’t eating us.

(Yeah.) The water’s not drowning us. (Yeah.) Because he’s there with us.

Sharon:

And the fire’s not burning us.

Nicole:

Right.

Sharon:

Whoa. (Nicole: Mm-hmm.) Okay, well..

Nicole:

That’s something, feels like another whole thing.

Sharon:

I think we need to praise in the prayer.

Nicole:

Yes. Yes.

Sharon:

So I will, Lord, I wanna praise you for being our safe place. I praise you for being a God whose love is so

deep that you died for us, that you weep with us, that you always tell us to come near no matter how

broken we are. Holy, holy, holy God. There is no one like you. Help us to put no other God ahead of you.

You alone are a place of refuge. We worship you, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Speaker 2:

We are so glad you joined us today as we wrestled with the trials and blessings that come when we have

to wait. If you have a story about a time when you had to wait, we would love to hear from you if you

care to share. You can find us at sweetselah.org/podcast. Or you can email us at sharon@sweetselah.org.

Join our podcast family by donating and becoming a podcast partner by going tosweetselah.org/donations. Hearing from our listeners or reading a review makes our day. Please consider

helping us out. In any case we hope that you’ll be back next time for episode 149 Testimony. Thanks so

much for listening and have a great week.

Speaker 1:

We are so glad you stopped for a while with us. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative

production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries. More information about this podcast can be

found@sweetselah.org. Thank you for joining us.