“And it came to pass after ten days, that the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah.” (Jeremiah 42:7 KJV)
10 days. It’s amazing. God knows just how long it takes to give us enough time to see what is in our hearts. That’s all it took to draw out of the people what their heart’s desire was. It looks like there really is something to preparing your heart. As we seek him for answers in our time of trouble, we can either prepare our heart for obedience or devise our own plans in case his plan doesn’t match our projections.
Which brings out two dilemmas. First, are we willing to wait for him? Second, what is our resolve when his direction is apparent? I shared this first paragraph with a number of people, and several people sent me back verses that this brought to their minds. Psalm 27:14 and Isaiah 30:18 were two specifically. They have a common idea, “wait for him”. When I read passages like this I have always keyed in on the “wait” part of this. Yet, patience is not a seed. Patience is a fruit. I know, technically fruits have a seed in them, but fruits are a result of what has grown from a seed. So, as great a thing as it is to grow and strengthen patience, “wait” is not the primary thing here. “For Him” is. As we wait for him, even in a really urgent situation when we are scared of forthcoming consequences, we are being refined. Is it him that we are waiting for? Is it his direction that we really want to follow? Is it his voice, or even a message from his voice, that we really want to hear? Because if it’s not, then our waiting is only telling us that we are strengthening something virtuous in us while we are in a holding pattern for permission to do what we have already voted on as the solution. When his word comes, there is a sudden realization within us that it wasn’t “him” that we were waiting for. We may have been holding out for a solution to the problem, but waiting for “him”, longing for “him”, searching “him” out; that is what preparing your heart looks like!
“Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.” (Psalms 27:14 KJV)