“Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.” Psalm 27:14
Dear Ones:
David, throughout his psalms, speaks again and again on the matter of waiting on God. It seems to be to him an integral part of his faith. Why? and What does it mean? The word “wait” means more than just being patient. What if one is in a storm, or under the great pressures of life? Is “waiting” just a matter of enduring the wind and the waves, and winds of opposition, without and within? There is certainly the concept of taking one’s stand, setting oneself, refusing to move with regard to a position taken. It is a willingness to “stand” regardless of the difficulty and hardship. However, waiting on God is a matter of far greater significance, and reward, as it concerns the person of Christ by His Spirit, and the realization of His will by His resources.
In Isaiah 40, we begin to see that “waiting” is an act of faith, one involving a resolute attitude towards God. “They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles.” (v.31) Here is an example of a believer’s calling to place all of his hope and expectation in the faithful, eternal God, to intervene in his life. True faith is centered only, and wholly, in God. The act and attitude of waiting on God is that quiet, but resolute expectancy, believing that God will certainly honor His word, and show forth His faithfulness.
David reveals to us the only Object of true waiting: “Truly my soul waits upon GOD: from Him comes my salvation.” (62:1) Another Psalmist, who is living in the expectation of God’s help, and intervention, writes: “My help comes from the Lord which made heaven and earth.” (Ps. 121:2) Waiting on God begins with the single object of Christ Himself.
A second essential quality of waiting on God has to do with the promise of reward. In Hebrews 11:6, the author writes: “…for he that comes to God must believe that He IS and that He IS a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” God is not only a personal God, who comes to the aid of the believer, intervenes in his life, but one that specifically rewards faith. God’s answers and intervention are as varied and original, as the differences of circumstances, and the individual’s need.
One last integral part of waiting on God has to do with time. Waiting on God is based on present obedience, with the expectation of God fulfilling His promise…in His time and way. When Moses was standing on the edge of the Red Sea, with Pharaoh and his army in pursuit, he told the people: “Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord which He will show you today.” (Ex. 14:13) Here is an obedient man, standing on the promises, and waiting on God. However, he is also a man who is in the process of learning to wait, for the Lord asks him: “Why are you crying unto Me?” Waiting involves taking a position of faith, resolutely waiting on God. It also involves “going forward” in one’s heart and mind. This is why the Lord tells Moses: “Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward.” (v.15) Waiting is not passivity, but actively “going forward” in faith.
Another example of God’s timing in waiting on Him is in the life of Abraham. We do not know exactly when God promised Abraham a “son of promise,” mentioned in Genesis 15, but we do know that the realization of that promise would only come about, at least thirteen years later. Why did God wait so long? God always brings us to the place in our hearts and minds where we realize that it is only BY Him, alone, that the promise can, and will, be realized.
Dear Father, teach us Your ways, Your way of waiting in expectation of Your certain intervention in our lives, and in those of others. Give us to understand that you will answer to faith, in Your time and way, for Your glory. We thank Thee in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Love, Dad