Sometimes waiting is part of God’s plan. Romans 8:25 HCSB states: “But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with patience.” Sometimes waiting involves courage in not giving into discouragement.
The word “wait” occurs 85 times in the ESV. In the Bible we find many people who had to “wait on the Lord,” just as we as believers have to wait on Christ’s return. We can learn lessons of accepting and tolerating delays in life from some of these Bible “waiters:”
- Abraham and Sarah had to wait for the fulfillment of God’s promise of a child to be born. God waits until it was impossible and then makes the impossible happen. His name was Isaac. Genesis 17:16.
- Moses didn’t lead the Exodus until he was 80. Exodus 7:7.
- Moses had to go up to a mountain and wait for God to give him the ten tablets of stone with the law and commandments, which God had written for Moses to teach and give instruction to the people regarding God’s laws. Exodus 24:12.
- Noah, being warned by God, constructed the ark for the saving of his family. Noah waited 120 years for rain. When the flood came, and they were all in the ark, they all had to wait for the rain to stop for many months, before they could leave the ark and live on dry land. Genesis 7-8; Hebrews 11:7.
- Job learned the lesson of waiting for God’s restoration and blessings from his many trials. He learned to know God more deeply through it all: Job 42:1: “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.” God restored all that Job lost, as it says in Job 42:12: “And the LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning.”
- David waited on God alone throughout the book of Psalms for safety and deliverance from various enemies. One example is Psalm 62:1: “For God alone, my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation.”
- David showed steadfastness in waiting on God as it says in Psalm 130:5: “I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope.”
Listen for the Holy Spirit’s prompting in bringing to memory verses you have read and stored in your heart while you are “in the wait.” It will grip you. Ask God to make His word fresh to you. I will sometimes ask Him to make what I am reading in my Bible zing in my heart, so I get it.
WAIT on the Lord.
LOOK FOR His guidance and provision with expectation and anticipation.
HOPE – Psalm 42:5: “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.”
Throughout Psalm 62. David talks about waiting on God alone. He declares God is his fortress, his rock, his salvation, his refuge. He says His hope is from God alone and is reliable.
“. . . when you trust the Lord God to give you the next step, when you wait in humility upon Him, He will open the doors or close them, and you’ll get to relax until He says ‘Go.” Chuck Swindoll.
What are you waiting on God for this week? Write it down and date it on your prayer list.
What verse gives you hope and courage in working through a struggle of an unanswered burden or circumstance? Write the date next to the verse in your Bible. Scripture is the primary means for God to speak. Ask God to help you to be spiritually alert and aware of His presence and movements. Remember, God is with you everywhere and at all times.
Wait for the LORD. Look for His astounding provision. Hebrews 11:23: “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.”
“God’s plans for your life far exceed the circumstances of your day.” Louie Giglio.
Listen to Danny Gokey – “Hope in Front of Me.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KIhYZQ_ovw