TO CHEW ON: "For since the beginning of the world
Men have not heard nor perceived by the ear,
Nor has the eye seen any God besides You,
Who acts for the one who waits for Him." Isaiah 64:5
Do you like to be kept waiting? I don't! But God, whose wisdom trumps our likes and dislikes, may often keep us waiting.
[Wait means 1) To stay or remain in expectation as of an anticipated action or event. 2) To be or remain in readiness. 3) To remain temporarily neglected or undone.]
Isn't that third definition apt? For when we are kept waiting, neglected is just how we feel.
The Bible is full of people who God kept waiting.
- Abraham and Sarah waited for an heir. When they got impatient and tried to achieve this their own way (through Abraham having Ishmael by Sarah's maid Hagar) they brought trouble into their lives.
- Samuel told King Saul to wait for him to offer a sacrifice before he (Saul) went to war. When members of his army started slipping away, Saul grew impatient and offered the sacrifice himself. Samuel arrived at the end of the ceremony and told Saul that because of his disobedience, the kingship would be taken from his family (1 Samuel 13:1-15).
- The disciples, on the other hand, waited in Jerusalem as Jesus had told them to, until the Holy Spirit descended. Then, indwelt with God's power, they "turned the world upside down" (Acts 17:6).
Are you waiting for something today? Take heart from today's verse and words like David's in Psalm 37 as you stay the waiting course:
"Commit your way to the Lord
Trust also in Him
And He shall bring it to pass...
Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him
Do not fret..." (Psalm 37:5-7).
PRAYER: Dear God, please help me to commit my way to You and wait for You to "bring it to pass" and "act" for me. Amen
PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 120
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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
