In a word; yes! Waiting in this life is inescapable and whether we get it right or mess it up, it persistently remains. Now the best kind of waiting is when it’s a choice that our heart makes. This means the attitudes of our heart while we wait is critical. We can wait with our fists clenched and our stomachs in a knot or we can tarry with open palms and peaceful hearts-but we will all wait.
Of course most of us know we should wait on God but we are a “hurry-up” society. We want everything now. We have multiple drive-thru lanes because we don’t want to wait for our fast food and self-checkout machines to quickly purchase our groceries. There are instant kiosks at the airports, banks and theaters, all because we don’t want to wait.
We aren’t too keen on waiting on Papa either. How often have we been seeking God’s direction and then given up because we didn’t get the answer when we thought we should? But as Pastor Shawn shared in I Kings 18; Elijah prayed and waited on God extensively before the rain came. Waiting requires perseverance, so we need to keep our hearts listening.
And Isaiah 64:4 says that God “…acts on behalf of those who wait for Him.” His job is to act, ours is to wait. But what does that look like? In the original Hebrew, “wait” here means adhere to. So waiting is like getting attached to God. The 80’s jingle that comes to mind is; “I am stuck on Band-Aid and Band-Aid’s stuck on me.” Waiting “glues” us to God’s presence.
And Isaiah 40:31 promises “…They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles…” We all long to have our strength renewed and soar above the heights, but no one wants to wait. Perhaps we’ve envisioned waiting as isolation, but the original Hebrew defines wait here as “binding together by twisting”. So our strength is restored and our possibilities soar as we are twisted together with the Lord through waiting. And what could be closer than threads twisted together? And in mass production, a cord’s strength is relative to the twisting degree. More twisting produces greater strength and it’s the same in our relationship with God through the twists and turns of life! So waiting binds us with God and makes us stronger!
Many have great intentions to wait on God but after praying for a season discouragement displaces hope and we consider giving up. But waiting in hope requires an unshakable trust in God’s plan. His guidance or promise fulfillment may not come when or in the way we expected or envisioned it; but surely His plan is best and well worth the wait.
May we envision our waiting to be Papa’s interweaving embrace where our strength is renewed and we ascend to our God ordained pinnacles!
For the rest of this devotional click on http://hopeandlightforthejourney.blogspot.com
Sandy Anderson
Community Director