I live in Pennsylvania. This is the time of year when winter seems to drag on forever. It is cold and snowy. The trees are bare. There are days I pray that God will take His giant paintbrush and begin to color my world with green leaves, a blue sky, and then light it all up with sunshine. But, everything comes in due season. He whispers gentle words to my soul and says, “Soon enough I will make it new.” Before long, there will be new buds on the trees which will bloom into beautiful new life.
Every year we see new leaves but eventually they fall to the ground. Throughout the winter, the tree lives and stays nourished even without its beautiful adornment of green. And then, right when it seems we cannot take one more colorless day, God breathes. All is made new.
Sometimes our very lives can reflect those of trees in waiting. We are desperate for the rough season of life to end. We hold out hope, and we pray down on our knees until they are bruised. And then we wait some more.
Waiting is bitter-sweet. It is bitter because it usually hurts to wait. By and large, we are spending time waiting for things that are of great importance to us. I waited for another baby for 15 years. It hurt. However, throughout my season of waiting, I tasted the sweet. The bitter flavor definitely tried to suppress the sweet. But it could not overtake, because just like the tree in the winter, I would find nourishment in the soil. Even though things may have seemed lifeless on the outside, on the inside I was adorning my heart with the gospel. I found grace within the bitterness. You can’t truly appreciate the sweet until you’ve tasted the bitter.
Revelation 21:5
Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.” (N.K.J.V.)
When we reach our eternity with Him, all things will be made new. Even here on this earth He makes things new. It doesn’t necessarily mean we will get exactly what we are asking for, but He has a plan. Through His plan we will taste a new kind of sweet that will fill our souls with His peace.
Notice in Revelation 21:5 it says, “These words are true and faithful.”
We serve a true and faithful God. Adorn your heart with His promises and find the sweet within the bitter.
Are you waiting?
