This song is about actively
waiting: Waiting is hopeful, painful,
moving ahead, taking obedient steps, serving, not fainting, and running the
race. All while we wait.
The word “wait” in and of its self makes us think of doctor’s offices,
long lines at the amusement part, calls to customer service, sending off
results from your visit to the doctor’s office, sitting down at a nice, packed, popular
restaurant, booking a vacation months out, glancing at the clock on a workday
and hoping it says 5:00. As I read the
headlines each morning or watch the news, I find myself praying “Come Lord
Jesus”. That is our ultimate wait isn’t
it? Today I want to highlight a few
things we can do while we actively wait:
1. Trust in the Lord
Psalm 37:3-7 tells us: Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass…Rest in the Lord and wait patiently on Him.
Trust encompasses a wait. God is lining up all the players in your life just as He needs them to be and when the moment is right, He will initiate the victory lap. We tend to get rest-less rather than rest-full. Our lives today are so busy, we feel like we are forgetting something or we are lazy if we don't have at least 16 hours of the day completely overbooked and overflowing. Rest your mind and body and trust in what He has planned for you.
In a Blog, Daughter by Design (emphasis is mine, it speaks to me, I share):
He kept Moses in a desert for 40 years. Joseph in a prison cell for 10 years. Abraham without a child for 100 years. David on the run for 15 years. And maybe He is keeping you right where you are for the same reason he kept these men for so many years: To build your faith. To build your dependence on Him when you are empty. To see if He is truly all you desire and all you need. To see how well you will trust and serve Him when you are stuck in the background somewhere, doing something seemingly insignificant for Him. To build your trust in the storm and through the battle. Sometimes the waiting period of our lives is the most important time in our lives. This waiting time is the time to build spiritual muscle. To grow in faith. To learn to depend on Him. If He is making you wait, there is a good reason. You will have a greater testimony when He waits to help you be an overcomer tomorrow. He made some of the greatest men of faith wait, and He came through for them, just as He will come through for you.
And I am in awe of the eloquence of this simple statement by Elisabeth Elliot "Waiting on God
requires the willingness to bear uncertainty.
To carry within oneself the unanswered question, lifting the heart to
God about it whenever it intrudes upon our thoughts".
I have learned that to depend on God is by far the best choice when we are empty, when we are in the background, when we feel insignificant, when we bear the very heavy cup of uncertainty and unanswered questions. That is when God is doing the waiting...on us. He is just patiently waiting for us to get our act together. And as busy as we all think we are and pretend to be, we sure waste a lot of time by trying to do it ourselves and not depending on Him throughout our exhaustive days.
God is waiting... Joel 2:12-13 MSG – It is not too late – God’s personal message. Come back to me and really mean it! Come fasting, come weeping, sorry for your sins. Change your life, not just your clothes. Come back to God, your God, and here is why. God is kind and merciful. He takes a deep breath, puts up with a lot. This most patient God, extravagant in love, always ready to cancel catastrophe.
God wants everyone to turn to him, wants no one left behind 1 Timothy 2:4 Who desires ALL men to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth. God has a heart to save us. He never waivers – what varies is whether we are resting, trusting, depending, listening or not.
We are called to be bold! Jesus calls us to get uncomfortable and to live a life of risk and adventure in His name. And it is really hard for us because we want the credit for doing it. We want to say "Look at me! Did you see that thing I did? Man, that took courage but I did it!". Loyalty is proven when it is inconvenient. God will give us the means to walk his path, but we have to do the walking because it brings joy to us and in return Christ, not because we seek Kudos at the end of the day.
God does not call the qualified, but
qualifies the called (I have seen this five million times and have no idea who said it, but it has been said. Okay, more like four million times). That means in
order to qualify us, he is going to have to prepare us, and preparation usually
means we have work to do before we can carry out His great commission.
Trust in His timing. Rely on His
promises. Wait for His answers. Believe in His miracles. Rejoice in His
goodness. Rest in His presence.
Is 40:31 – But those who wait on 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.
Watch God work in His ways. Ask God about His purposes. Invite God to work on your heart. Trust God to fulfill His plans. Waiting on God doesn’t mean we are doing nothing. It’s about allowing God to do His thing. - Elisa PulliamIf you have been to our women's bible study (from this point forward WBS because I can), we talk about word vomit, and I feel like that is what I have messily accomplished here today - it is a little chunky and not completely sure that I chewed it all before I swallowed it. I know from recent devotions, and WBS conversation, it is time to trust in Him and be willing to mount up when it is time to ride. Can't hardly wait for God to do his "thang"!
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