Pilgrimage by Lynn Austin Read Free Book Online Page A

wrongdoing or rebellion” (1 Samuel 24:11). David took a huge risk. He and his men would be trapped in the cave with no way out if Saul ordered his superior forcesto climb up and fight. Instead, Saul recognized that David, his supposed enemy, had shown him mercy. Saul stopped chasing him and went home.
    David did not go home. Nothing changed for him. He remained in the wilderness with a pack of disgruntled misfits as he continued to wait to be crowned king. And as he had feared, Saul later relapsed into paranoia and started pursuing him all over again.
    How did David know to wait and not fight? I’m a planner, a worrier. I need to figure everything out and take action, not sit still. But time and again God has tumbled this Scripture verse from Isaiah into my path like a car-sized boulder: “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint” (40:31 KJV ). The first time I encountered this promise from God was more than thirty years ago as I struggled to get pregnant. I already had one child and desperately longed for a second, but after four years of waiting, my prayers continued to go unanswered. I drifted so far into the waters of self-pity that I could no longer walk down the diaper aisle in the grocery store or share my friends’ joy when they became pregnant.
    Then came what I thought was a God-given opportunity to adopt a baby. I learned of an unmarried girl with an unplanned pregnancy who was about to have an abortion. Without taking time to pray or seek God’s wisdom, I sprang into action, halting the abortion with promises to pay all of the young woman’s medical expenses and adopt her child. But all of my hopes and plans—the decorated nursery, the new crib, the drawers full of sweet baby clothes—had to be abandoned when she decided to keep her baby. I could havesaved myself endless heartache if I had consulted God first instead of taking matters into my own hands.
    God continued to speak His promise to me: “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.” And I did wait—a total of seven and a half years, feeling much like David as he waited in this cave. But in God’s perfect timing, David did become Israel’s king. And when my time of waiting came to an end, God blessed me with not one more child, but with two.
    Isaiah says of Christ: “He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears” (11:3). As we surrender control of our lives and become more like Christ, we’ll also grow in discernment—and in patience. David had these qualities; Lot’s daughters didn’t. I need them. I can’t follow my own instincts and emotions or use human reasoning to know which opportunities are from God and which are not. My eyes often deceive me. From down below, standing on the shore of the Dead Sea, I never would have guessed there was an oasis like this one in the barren wilderness.
    When we take the time to seek God’s wisdom for our dilemmas, He enables us to see things His way and wait for His perfect timing. Through the eyes of faith, we’ll see that Goliath can be slain—and that Saul shouldn’t be harmed. Lot’s daughters, living in the corrosive atmosphere of Sodom, had lost their ability to see.
    David did the right thing—and did God instantly reward him? No. He continued to live in the wilderness. He continued to wait—as I continue to wait for many of my prayers to be answered. But like David, I know that “they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength . . . they shall run, and not be weary.”
    As I leave the Engedi oasis, following the trail downhill to the bus, the distant mountains of Moab glow in the desert sun, tinted the soft pink color of seashells. I take time to pray as I descend, asking God to help me be content where I am, with the provisions and the companions He has given me. Content to wait for