How many
times have you wondered, “How long, Lord, must I wait?” If we are all honest, I think we could say
that we have either thought or wondered this more times than we can count. Our flesh’s chief desire is to GET THE WAIT
OVER WITH. The longer the wait, the more
questions that arise in our soul, “Lord, what am I missing? Have I not learned the lesson you had for
me? Why am I waiting when _______ seems
to get all the things I’ve prayed for?
Haven’t I been sanctified enough?
Oh Lord, how long must I wait?”
These become the cry of our heart.
Have you ever stopped to think that it doesn’t really matter WHAT we are
waiting on, it’s just the fact that we have to wait that drives us crazy? We can all relate to waiting, because we are
all always doing it! Can you think of a time in your life when you were waiting
on absolutely nothing? I certainly
cannot…not for one single season, as far back as I can remember. The desires
have changed and gotten far more intricate and complex, but the wait…never seems
to go away.
The first
thing we wait on in our minds is circumstances,
i.e. finances to be on stable ground, a godly spouse, children, a job
opportunity, a relational issue with a spouse, reconciliation for a marriage,
family unity, salvation of a loved one, a prodigal to return, and the list goes
on and on.
Then we have
the spiritual side of our wait (although
it all leads back to the spiritual, I separate them for clarity’s sake). We may
find ourselves “waiting for” the Lord to awaken our hearts to His Word; God to
speak to us in the midst of pain; God to clarify His will, teach us, and grant us
a love for prayer; the Lord Jesus to return for His Bride; and once again, the
list goes on, doesn’t it? That begs yet
another question, “Are we missing something?”
I think we’ll find more than not, the answer is indeed - yes, we are.
For the sake
of being on the same page, let’s be overly simplistic. God is IN the wait. This is why we will forever be waiting on
something. He wants us longing,
desiring, and anticipating what is to come, for one sole purpose…He wants us to
seek intimacy and relationship. Waiting
is one of the keys the Lord uses to keep us in communion with Him, and when we
step away or ignore that communion…the wait loses purpose, meaning, and
value…it loses Love. Believe it or not,
I believe the romance of God’s ways is in the gentle whisper of the wait. Whether the wait resides in our
circumstances, relationships, or in the spiritual realm, it is all one to Him.
He isn’t overly concerned about the “what”
we are waiting on, as much as He is concerned about “if” we continually run to Him as our soul waits. Does this mean we will be jumping up and down
24/7 about our waiting process? No, and
I don’t think the Lord expects us to. Unlike
us, He fully knows and embraces that we are in the process of working out our
salvation (Phil 2:12), as well as having to contend with our human nature (the flesh- choosing to walk after sin since our "old man" has been nailed to the cross). This is one more way He shows us that we
cannot do it alone - not with the help of a 1,000 books, a church of believers,
or friends at our side…it simply will not be enough. Down to the marrow of our being we must cry
out, “I am nothing without You, Lord Jesus, and I need You (by the power of
Your Holy Spirit) to do this great work of waiting through me.” He knows that our flesh buffets the Spirit
and that no part of our flesh desires to wait. Therefore, often our own desire
to wait on the Lord simply won’t be present much of the time. Jesus Christ desires our hearts to be
awakened to the simple Truth that waiting has nothing to do with our emotions,
and everything
to do with obedience, through
the reliance of the Holy Spirit placed within us at the moment of our
salvation. God will require sacrifice
from us. The very meaning of that word
can draw pain in our hearts. But the pain becomes worthwhile when we are living
stones offering up spiritual sacrifices (1 Peter 2:5) out of the overflow of
love and relationship that is built when we wait upon the Lord, and place all
our hope in the person of Jesus Christ.
“Therefore
the Lord longs to be gracious to
you, And therefore He waits on high to have compassion on
you. For the Lord is
a God of justice; How blessed are all
those who long for Him” (Isaiah
30:18, NASB, emphasis mine).
Scripture
taken from the New American Standard
Bible, © Copyright 1960, 1962,
1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used
by permission.
