Hosanna Restoration Church

I think it would be safe to say that we all hate to wait. Especially when it comes to things that we want. Even in the natural world there is the saying, “patience is a virtue.” You can often hear people saying things like, “God give me patience, and do it now!” Truly it does take an effort to learn to wait.

On the other hand, people are happy to wait when it comes to things they do not want, or they feel they do not need. For instance, it does not bother me much to wait to remodel the kitchen! Not that I do not want to make my wife happy, it is just not at the top of my list…though it is rapidly moving up! I think this sort of waiting falls more in the category of procrastinating. Many people procrastinate when it come to a relationship with the Lord. But that is not what this is about. This is about waiting.

The Lord showed me this as I was praying about a tooth ache that was taking over my head. I thought about Jesus when He was on the cross, and how he must have wanted the pain to cease, so I said, “Lord He only waited hours, this is headed for days.” And then I laughed. I enjoy talking with God. After several times of burying my head in the couch over a couple days and praying very intensely for everything in the world that I could think of(I always figure that when I reach out to others in prayer, mine will get answered) I said, Lord I just want you. God said to me, “that is it.” I said, “what is it?” “You need to wait on Me. People wait on healing, and provision, and the answers to their prayers, rather than waiting on Me. Then it began to come clear to me, as the scripture from Isaiah came into my spirit. Sure, they that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength…we get caught up in waiting for answers for our fulfillment, and God says just wait on Him. After all, He is the answer.

As long as we are focused on the answer, all the enemy has to do fight off the healing or provision or what ever we have asked for, it only takes a little delay to throw most of us off. When we are not getting what we want, we weaken, we begin to doubt, we begin to make excuses, and soon we are down and out. This is where people end up getting mad at God, and taking things into their own hands. This is where our fruit begins to rot and fall on the ground and make messes!

If we are waiting on an answer, it can seem like a long time. But think about it. If we are waiting on the Lord and spending our time in His presence, time passes according to His time clock. And with the Lord a day can be as a thousand years, and a thousand yeas as a day. It is like when you are really tired and lay down for a few minutes. Then you look at the clock and two hours has passed.

No wonder God said to wait on Him. No wonder He reminded us that He knows what we need before we ask. He did not want our focus on our answers, but rather on Him. If we are looking at Him, He says, “you’ve got it.” A word from Him, a look in His face, and our strength is renewed. We are ready run, or walk, or just sit down…it is all the same when He is the one we are waiting on.