Verse of the day: Psalm 27:14 Wait on the Lord; Be of good
courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord!
One of the
most difficult things to do in our walk with the Lord is waiting. We have
become a society of people who want instant gratification. I remember a day
when calling someone meant waiting until they arrived home because they might
be at work and did not have an answering machine. If I wanted to make a phone
call, I would either have to wait until I got back home or find a pay phone. If
someone left a message on my voicemail, I, and they, would have to wait until I
got back home and listened to the voicemail, before I could return the call. In
an age of cell phones, text messages, and all this instant communication
technology, we have become a people who want what we want “yesterday”. If we
want a meal, we want it within a couple of minutes, because who wants to wait
to cook, heat up or reheat a meal the old fashion way. Sadly, as born again
believers, we too have allowed this mindset to permeate our thinking and the
way we respond to God and interact with the Lord. The result is, quite often,
that we get ahead of God in His plan for our lives, and we mess things up.
Abraham and Sarah got ahead of God and created a mess, the results of which are
being felt even today (Gen 16). King Saul, because of his lack of patience and lack
of faith to wait on the Lord, lost his throne and kingdom (1 Sam 13:9-13). We,
as God’s children, must never forget that our timing and our ways are not the
Lord’s timing or ways (Is 55:8; 2 Pt 3:8). We must trust that His timing is
ALWAYS perfect. God is never late. He knows exactly what we need, and when we
need it, even before we ask (Mt 6:8). He will always do things, and bring
resolutions to our circumstances at precisely the right time for our good and
His glory (Rm 8:28). When Lazarus died, Jesus had the opportunity to arrive
prior to his death. However, He chose to wait. Any one of us would have been
distraught at the thought that God was going to intentionally allow a family
member to die. Yet, Jesus allowed this because what He would do in response to
the circumstances would bring greater glory to God; a resurrection was far more
miraculous than if He had done what He was already doing in healing the sick
(Jn 11). The bottom line is that waiting on the Lord is a great test of our
faith (Rm 8:25). When the Lord allows us to be in a position to have to wait
for Him, it is an opportunity on our part to grow in our faith and who we are
in the Lord. While we wait, we should not do so idly; but instead be busy about
the Lord’s work. We may be praying about a particular need or experiencing a
troubling situation that we are waiting on the Lord to resolve. Be patient! The
Lord has not forgotten, and He sees every detail of what He has allowed into
our lives. Imagine how we would have felt had we been part of the population of
Israelites that we slaves in Egypt. For four hundred years they did not hear
from the Lord (Ex 12:40). Today, we get impatient if He does not answer us in a
day or two. King David was a teenager when he found out he would someday be
king. God did not allow this to be realized until he was thirty years old, and
during much of that time he had to run for his life because King Saul sought
his death (2 Sam 5:4). James 1:2-4 tells us that trial that test our faith
produces patience, which leads to maturity for us, and we will lack nothing. We
must use care not to get ahead of God and further delay what He wants to
accomplish in our lives. The thing that we wait for may require great faith,
and the only way to endure what He has in store for our future may only be
realized once we have grown in our relationship with Him; that growth will take
place during that time period that He is wanting us to patiently wait for Him.
Joseph had to suffer much and wait many years before he was ready, by God’s
standard, to be used as the second in command in Egypt (Gen 41). God is well
aware of how much time each of us has on earth before going home to be with
Him. Let us not delay His plans for our lives by taking steps that He does not
want us to take, simply because we lack the faith to wait on Him. We must pray
and not lose heart (Luke 18), knowing that God is faithful and will never fail
us. His timing is ALWAYS perfect because He is perfect.
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