Wait. . . Wait . . . Wait on the Lord
Genesis 49:18 I wait for your salvation, O LORD
Psalm 27:14 Wait on the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage, wait for the LORD.
Psalm 33:20-22 Our soul waits for the LORD; he is our help and our shield. For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name. Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you.
Psalm 37:7,9 Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; fret not over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!” . . . For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the LORD shall inherit the land.
Psalm 37:34 Wait for the LORD and keep his way, and he will exalt you to inherit the land; you will look on when the wicked are cut off.
Psalm 62:5 For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him
Psalm 130:5 I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.
Proverbs 20:22 Do not say, “I will repay evil”; wait for the LORD, and he will deliver you
Isaiah 30:18 Therefore the LORD waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the LORD is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.
Isaiah 40:31 But they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
Lamentations 3:25 The Lord is food to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.
Romans 8:25 But if we wait for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.
Romans 12:12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.
Hebrews 6:11-12 And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
James 5:7-8 Therefore, be patient brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.
1 Peter 5:6-7 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.
I do not like being late, and occasionally I wait until close to the last minute, to go wherever I have made plans to be. But if traffic is heavier than I prefer (and prayed against), I can feel my anxiety rise. Then as I get more self condemning, the anger pokes at me. “Why did I not leave the 10 minutes earlier? If I had gone as I planned, I would be on time and not in this dither.” But I read an article the other day, about being late, getting irritated with it, then reading about the number of folks who were not in the Towers when they were attacked and collapsed–because had to pick up laundry, one’s turn to drop child off at daycare, and other reasons for not being in those buildings on that horrific day. Maybe, God has delayed me to prevent some horrific experience.
Waiting is not sitting around. It is an active process of prayer, believing, seeking God, thanking God–even in the midst of waiting. We must remain faithful, grateful and prayerful. If our prayers are not answered in the manner we had hoped for, wished to see, He can understand our anger, our hurt. Yet we need to remember that He always has our best will in mind. I have certainly questioned that at times. How is it to my best that my husband died so young? That he never got to retire and we did not have the travel time we wanted? Do I wish he had lived and been able to meet our wonderful grand children? Absolutely. But, in time, my anger, hurt, loss, and grief receded. Certainly, I would not have wanted him to suffer any longer than he did; all of our children were young adults, married except for our daughter but she had spent much of those last weeks telling him her plans for the wedding which was later that year. She kept him informed so he could share that event, knowing he would not be there with us.
We can’t just trust Him when we are in good seasons and things are all going smoothly for us. During the difficult times, we still need to trust, to pray, remember the promise that He has good plans for us. We pray, we thank Him for all the good we have and the fact that He has promised good, He has promised us He will be with us during the difficult times, and that He will give us comfort and support. So, during those difficult days, praying for something that is important to happen and change, we pray, we trust, we give our grief to Him, and we wait. And we get impatient, think we are undeserving of rough times, stressful incidents, and since we consider ourselves, “good people” we don’t deserve any bad events…But that is so not true.
God uses stressful events to strengthen our trust in Him and build our faith. He also tests our faith in him. Do we get discouraged and doubt his presence in our life? Are we so arrogant and selfish that we decide we We move US away from God–He does not move away from can handle our own troubles, begin to ebb away from God, and find our own solutions for handling whatever stressful time we are in. That is NOT ever what God wants. The more difficult our life seems, the more we try to develop plans to fix our lives. But once we move away from God, there is a gap in our relationship with our Creator. And of course, that behavior hurts him. He wants a RELATIONSHIP with us. He created mankind for a relationship. He loves us.
But we have to wait at times for what we ask God for. He may say “no,” yes, but later,” or not choose to answer for awhile. He wants us to wait for His answers, for His gifts, His answers, and we tend to be impatient. ‘God, aren’t You going to answer? How long do I have to wait?’ (Please remember Abram and Sarai waited 25 years for the birth of Isaac.) Waiting. Elizabeth and Zechariah had to wait months for Zechariah to be able to speak again. Job had to wait quite a while for his suffering could stop, be reassured by God that he would have another family and all his riches would be added to and beyond restored. Jonah had to wait to see Nineveh was not destroyed, just as he had feared, Hezekiah had to wait to see the Assyrian army was killed an Jerusalem was saved even though the Assyrians stood at the gates and taunted….
We all have to wait. Wait for a diagnosis, wait for a love one’s healing, wait for the death of a loved one who has been suffering and finally is released from pain, waiting impatiently to get your license, be old enough for that first date, and wait for college acceptance and so many things we wait for, for finding the right life-mate, waiting for the birth of arrival of children.
Waiting is not always easy. But in life we all have to wait. And in waiting, we learn patience, and have the pleasure of finally reaching that “magic” age, or time period, when what we have yearned for can now be delivered or granted to us. We are old enough to get that learner’s permit and can have parents take us out on the initial few outings when we get to be responsible for driving and navigating–maintaining speed, maintaining staying within the lines of the road, learning to pass pedestrians or bicyclists, and understanding it is a responsibility to be able to drive and keep self and others safe. We are a country used to getting things as soon as we want them–even to upgrade a cell phone that we have had for a couple of years–a new model is out and we want it NOW. The price is of little deterrent to us.
But waiting is a part of growth–and not just physically aging, but maturing, learning, acquiring patience, kindness, and understanding. God has us wait for dreams and goals until He has refined us in the direction He wants us to go to achieve the things He has designed us to conquer for Him. He gets the glory but He has led us, taught us, how to go about working for His Kingdom, and leading others to Him. He wants no one to perish. Therefore, He wants to provide everyone repeated opportunities to have those who are not believers, to hear the message, to feel His grace and forgiveness which is totally unearned. If an unbeliever finally reaches out and believes and repents, God accepts the person with rejoicing. So God waits, placing others in the lives of non-believers, so they will take the promise, accept Jesus as their Savior.
We wait for the second coming of Jesus, for the eternal Kingdom to come. Lord, I am so thankful that in my waiting, I found You and have been blessed with all You have done for me and ‘mybellaviews.’
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