WAITING ON THE LORD
But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength (Isaiah 40:31a)
What are you waiting for? Just wait? Wait for it! I can’t wait. I don’t want to wait. I hate waiting! Ok. I think we all have the picture and the feeling about waiting. Some people wait better than others and some just do not wait at all.
How we wait depends on what or who we are waiting for. Some people develop a reputation for being late; consequently, no one is surprised when they are late. Others might be so consistent with being on time that if they are late, we assume something must be wrong.
My family knows that I like to be early. Consequently, early is on time, on time is late, and late is inexcusable! No, I do not always get my way, but it is how I prefer!
Recently as I was singing a chorus about waiting on the Lord, I had a thought about waiting. The song is from Isaiah. You may be familiar with the verse and the song. It is the promise of God when we wait on the Lord. We will run and not grow weary. We will walk, and we will not faint. The Lord goes out before us, and His joy will be our strength.
When we wait, how we wait makes all the difference. If we are waiting for something and we allow the something to be the focus of our waiting; we will never be satisfied until whatever it is comes to pass. Not only that, but we will be disappointed if it does not come into being.
When we wait on the Lord, we are actually waiting with the Lord because the Lord is always present. Remember, even when we do not see Him or feel Him, we can be sure He is present. When we have the assurance that He is present, we can rest in Him.
We know that no matter what, we will be strengthened by Him. It can be well with our soul when we wait in His control.
There are times when we might tell a child to wait with someone while we go and do something. The child may not want to wait, but the person with them comforts and distracts them and soon they are just fine.
The Lord is that person that we can wait with as we wait for other things. The Lord is always trustworthy. He always comforts. He always strengthens. He always encourages and He never fails!
I was reading in the book of Hebrews about how Jesus entered with His own blood to forgive our sins. He was not hoping it would work, He knew it would. He knew that multiple billions of souls would be saved. He knew that when they called on God in His name, that blood would accomplish exactly what they had planned. To Him, we are worth the wait. We can be sure when we wait on the Lord.