seeking renewal; pursuing peace

waiting for renewal

You’d think by now that I would have acclimated to the reality that God does not work according to my timeline. Apparently, I am still learning! I had somewhat naively expected that, with the simple turn of the calendar from one year to the next, I would immediately experience that sense of freshness and anticipation that comes with a new beginning. Instead, like so many of us, I found myself limping into the new year: recovering from illness, worn out with personal stresses and worries, and battle-weary from the now-familiar crush of political and cultural drama that shades our days.

Some weeks into the new year, I find myself still beseeching the Lord to lift from me this spirit of heaviness, this impression that all the world’s burdens rest on my shoulders, that hope lies thin on the ground ahead. In the midst of the struggle, I know God promises His mercies are new every morning. So every morning, I find myself rising in the dark, stepping out into the cold, and again reminding myself, “I waited patiently for the Lord. He turned to me and heard my cry …” (Psalm 40:1 NIV).

He hears me.

Though nothing has changed, though nothing is easy, I am heard; I am seen. I have not been left to walk this winding road alone. It feels small and yet, it is everything.

Even as I write this, I am gently reminded that hope and wait mean the same thing. For in this well-known Scripture of renewal, I find them both.

But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength …

Isaiah 40:31a NIV

Yet those who wait for the Lord
Will gain new strength …

Isaiah 40:31a NASB

Perhaps renewal does not come according to my timeline, but it is no less a promise from God. He who makes all things new will come to do the same for me; I must simply wait in hope.

renewing minds and hearts

And as I wait, I must attend to my thoughts. Such power they wield over me! Is it any wonder the enemy seeks to poison our minds and so control our souls and actions? And has it ever been more important to take these words of Paul’s to heart?

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

Romans 12:2 NIV

Who among us has not been tempted to despair at “the pattern of this world” so clearly displayed in these latter days? Focusing on it, conforming to it, being swayed by it … all this leads to death. But we have been offered a higher way: be transformed by the renewing of your mind. God, how I long for this!

A renewed mind, a fresh perspective, brings such life, such hope. And I see this is a command: be transformed. So how do I position myself to accomplish this? Again, the answer comes, as simply as if I had always known it …

dwell on these things

Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

Philippians 4:8-9 NASB

So much of what we see and hear these days is NOT true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, or praiseworthy. I cannot close my eyes, clamp my hands over my ears, and avoid all awareness of the ever-present evil around me, but I do have the ability to choose what I will DWELL upon.

• How have I contributed to my own sense of anxiety or distress with what I’ve chosen to take in?
• Where can I replace damaging patterns of thought with something true and pure and honorable?
• What good and lovely things have I been neglecting?
  
  

As a new year begins, I want to make it a practice to fill my mind and heart with all the things I have “learned and received and heard and seen” through the Word of God and through His faithful ministers. For we have been promised that if we “practice these things … the God of peace will be with [us].” Peace is such a rare and precious gift these days, as is knowing His constant presence. What a blessing, to step into this reality! And beyond that, to understand that we are being transformed by the renewing of our minds.

Renewal might not be delivered instantly at the turn of a clock or a calendar page, but if we submit ourselves to the faithful One, we can trust Him to accomplish our transformation right on time.