grain and wine

“You have put gladness in my heart, more than in the season that their grain and wine increased.” Psalms 4:7

The joy of the Lord is something we all desire, it’s something we all earn with no effort, it’s too abundant, we never run out. As David is saying in this Psalm,

the joy of God’s presence is more than anything that the world has to offer. 

But what about the times when we wait? The times when we can’t seem to find joy. Where all hope seems lost and waiting a day feels like 40 years. 

It’s still there - more than ever. “Count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patient.” (James 1:2-3) Waiting simply just grows our desire to want to be like Jesus. The reason waiting is so hard is because we are vulnerable during those moments. We are searching for something more, whereas what fills our waiting is not a physical, obtainable, worldly source, but it’s growing our deepest desire for God to consume our lives and with time, shape us into his image. Shape us into people of love. People of patience. 

Times of patience for me are times when I have realized I have come to the end of myself. I’ve done all I can do. I’ve reached my human limits, and now I’m waiting for God to finish my plan. But we’re not the only ones waiting, go back into scripture and see all the different characters we see in a season of waiting, there’s always one thing in common - their response.

Notice that the most powerful stories in scripture come from the ones who worship in the waiting and delight in the Lord even during the hardest times. 

As followers of Jesus, our end goal is not to have the highest paying job, nor to be known by the world, it’s not to be the richest, the funniest, or the most fashionable. It is to be the most love-loving, to show endless joy, to express pure patience. 

And the exciting part is that it’s so obtainable, it’s so simple. All we must do is arrange our days so that we are experiencing deep contentment, joy, and confidence in our everyday life with God. Even in the waiting, because the Lord sees our perseverance, He rewards us in abundance with more than grain and wine, but with His never-ending joy. 

“After all; sometimes you must lie down in the dirt to stare at the stars.” - Benjamin Hastings

-n0tbycayden