What images come to mind when we think of refreshment? Do you envision a cool drink on a warm summer day? Or that long awaited vacation on a tropical island?
The Scripture doesn't define the kingdom of God in the natural terms of drinking or eating. Paul writes in Romans 4:17 “for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”
When we seek our refreshment outside of God we will only become weary and discouraged. We are warned in Psalms 68:6 that the rebellious dwell in a dry land. A wilderness is arid, lacking water and doesn't provide shade from the heat. Such a land is similar to what the Israelites wander for 40 years when refusing to believe God could take them into the Promised Land.
True refreshment comes from waiting upon God. In fact, we are commanded to wait upon Him. The original meaning of wait in Hebrew means to bind by twisting. Before we can mount up like an eagle and soar, we must learn to be bound to Him.
There are two ways we are bound to God:
1. We bind ourselves to God’s word through patient enduring
2. We bind or twist ourselves together as body of believers - we share His word in fellowship, worship and communion.
Psalms 119:49-50 tells us God’s promises will quicken and refresh our bodies and spirits. When we pray we rehearse in His hearing the promises He spoke to us through His word. By doing so we are refreshed in His presence by remembering that He is a covenant keeping God who keeps His word.
God supplies us the grace to wait upon Him until He fulfills His promise (2 Corinthians 2:10). Anyone can wait but true waiting requires patience. Hebrews 10:35-36 warns us not cast away our confidence but we have a need for endurance or as in the original meaning, remaining behind, and patient enduring.
Sometimes the height of our freedom to soar is determined by the limitations set by a God who has no bounds. When we are bound to Him, only then are we truly free and at rest.
We want to refresh others by being a people marked by patience rather than being a people who are agitated, stirred and impatient.
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