Wait on the Shepherd


Psalm 27:14   Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.

Psalm 37:34  Wait on the Lord, and keep His way, and He shall exalt you to inherit the land

Psalm 39:7  And now Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in You.; I will wait for the God of my salvation; My God will hear me.

Micah 7:7   Therefore I will look to the Lord

                                                                                                                                               

Sometimes God tells us to wait.  He wants to get things in order for us before we proceed; sometimes we need to grow in our walk with Him, or He wants to make our path easier, clear out the debris, “removes and destroys the Amelikites or other –ites in our path. I tend to have a hard time with “wait.”  I am learning that when I speed ahead, my stress increases, things do not seem to work as smoothly and I may not reach my goal anyway. 

I am learning to take a deep breath and wait.  And my surprise has been that a door opens and the “reward” is delivered sooner than I was led to believe.  Big things have happened twice when it looked like I was going to have a good while to wait…and I’ve gotten a phone call that I can come in earlier if convenient.  I encouraged myself to wait, and maybe things would work out, and I reminded myself God is in charge.  And things worked out.  I love the practicality of following His direction and seeing the benefits.  It helps me obey more patiently.

David, the shepherd, soldier, and finally king was a wonderful example of waiting. He had soldiers who wanted to kill Saul so David could become king as the Lord had promised. But David respected and was awed by God, and followed His decrees. And he waited, and insisted others wait. David knew that in God’s time, the kingship would be his, because God had promised it.

I know some people can wait. They tend to weigh the odds, and move ahead only when things feel right, or they have heard or felt the nudge from God.   Others jump ahead, eager for whatever they see, want that they believe will make them happy. They perhaps are envious for something they see someone else has, they are desiring the latest toy, electronic, clothing, vacation or whatever. Oftentimes, folks don’t take the time to wait before making a new purchase and dive head first into purchasing something when they don’t have the funds.  

Not waiting for God’s timing has caused many troubles for the people over time. Moses went up the mountain and had the commandments printed on stone tablets. However, those several days he was gone seems to have been too long for the people, including his brother Aaron, who was the chosen priest of God, to wait. They made a molten calf and were honoring and giving praise to it. Really?! After all God had done and shown them.

And of course, although David waited for the death of Saul and refused to kill him, waiting on God’s timing before he ascended the throne, he did not wait and ordered Bathsheba to be brought to him, so he could sleep with her. Not waiting this time, caused a pregnancy, hurt a valued friend who knew the king had slept with his wife and both had defiled him while he had been sleeping in fields and woods serving his king; and then David ordered his friend’s death. His refusal to wait and grab what he wanted (Bathsheba) caused a lot of pain and hurt throughout his kingdom. The couple lost the child; Uriah the Hittite, loyal soldier and friend to David, husband of Bathsheba, was killed. He acted on what he wanted without waiting and thinking of any consequences.  And he certainly had not sought God’s counsel in this matter

And there have been so many stories of those people who waited and succeeded. Jacob waited and worked for years in order to get the wife, Rebekah, whom he wanted. Joseph was sold into slavery and waited years in prison, and finally was elevated to a position of power, second only to the king of the land.  God rewards those who seek Him and wait on His command to move ahead.

Waiting is hard. We wonder if God truly hears us; is He ignoring us? Are there so many people better than me who are calling on Him and He is attending them?  We doubt, fuss, wonder and then begin to doubt our issue matters–although His word says it does. Everything about us matters to Him. So we must reassure ourselves with the Word, and wait. Perhaps it’s a test so we may prove that we are going to squelch the lies of Satan as he murmurs we have waited long enough….’if God really loved you, He’d at least acknowledge He’s heard you…there will be an outcome….eventually.’

It’s taken time and experience to learn, but I now choose to wait on hearing from Him before moving with any of “mybellaviews.”

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