The Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him! (Isaiah 30:18)
The Bible is filled with stories of men and women who wished they had waited on the Lord. Abraham and Sarah got impatient and tried to fulfill God’s promise for a son according to their own timetable. Moses got impatient and tried to fulfill God’s promise to deliver His people from bondage in Egypt in his way and in his timing. The entire Israelite nation grew increasingly impatient regarding God’s promise of inheriting the Promised Land, and they rumbled, stumbled, and grumbled through the wilderness for 40 long years. Saul, the first king of Israel, suffered dearly for his impatience and haste, refusing to wait on God’s timing on several occasions. And then, of course, you have the apostle Peter, impetuously impatient by nature, who must have wondered frequently why he hadn’t sought the Lord before he opened his mouth.
I believe we all can relate to these stories! We are faced with two choices in life every day: We can wait on the Lord in our assigned place . . . or forge ahead at our own pace. The first choice is an example of faithfulness to follow wherever and whenever God leads; the second choice is an example of unbelief. When the plans we have made for the day are disrupted, the unbelief of impatience will push us to respond poorly; if we lapse into this impatience we will either take our eyes off the Lord and abandon the path He has set before us, or we will make impulsive countermoves against the obstacles blocking our way.
As I’ve already indicated, the key to waiting on the Lord is to keep our focus on Jesus and to walk by faith and not by sight. To be sure, we will engage in an ongoing battle deep within our hearts to maintain that focus, but it is a battle that can be won if we fight in the strength of the Almighty.
God’s plans are better than our plans. God’s timing is better than our timing. That is why we must stay anchored in the Word of God. The Bible is the weapon of wisdom we must take up if we are to live according to God’s will, rather than our own will.
Regardless of where this message finds you today, never forget that there is indeed something worse than the challenge of waiting on the Lord, as difficult as that can be at times, and that is wishing you had! Keep this encouragement from Isaiah in the forefront of your thoughts: “Blessed are all who wait for him!”
This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!
Grace for the Race 