WAIT ON THE LORD

When I was quite young, my father was watching me for the day, and had to attend a brief meeting in town.  Not knowing what else to do, he took me along and asked me to wait in the car until he came back.  He parked the car on the street near the building where he would be so that I could see where he was, and went to his meeting.  I'm certain that he was not gone for much more than 15-20 minutes, but to me it was an eternity.  As I waited for my father to return, I began to grow more and more frightened.  Before long, I convinced myself that I had been abandoned, and that my father had forgotten about me altogether.  In my desperation, I searched the car for a pen and a scrap of paper, and I scribbled out, "Help me!" on the paper, and placed it in a window.  Fortunately, or maybe not so fortunately for me, my dad returned before some stranger saw the sign and decided to act to save this poor abandoned boy.  Needless to say, my father was not very happy with me, and let me know that my actions were not appropriate.  At the same time, I think that he recognized that my terror was real, and that my tears were unfeigned, so he wasn't unreasonably harsh with me.  He never did leave me alone in a car again, though.

 

It is not unusual for God’s children to be in distress like I was as a child when they feel as though the Lord has left them momentarily.  They, too, may feel the need to cry out, “help me!”  To this day, waiting is one of the most difficult things for me to do.  I hate waiting at doctor's offices, the DMV, and waiting in lines at the grocery; yeah, I know, everyone does, but I begin to feel agitated and must fight to control my attitude.  I appreciate God's grace at such times!  Learning to wait is a crucial lesson that I must learn as a child of God, however.  I find, like so many other things in the Lord, that learning to wait is simply a matter of faith and trust. 

 

It is especially difficult to wait when the Lord seems to withdraw Himself for a time.  It is too easy to feel abandoned and left on my own even when I know that His eyes are still on me, and His ears are open to my cry.  It feels like when the disciples were in the storm at sea, and Jesus was asleep in the back of the ship.  Even though He was right there with them, they were still frantic because He wasn't awake, beside them, comforting them, and telling them that they had nothing to fear.  It is important to trust the Lord's grace and love even when we don't see or feel Him.

 

The prophet Jeremiah said, "It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD." (Lamentations 3:26).  In this quick-paced society in which we live, full of things that give us instant gratification and save us time, waiting for anything can seem alien to us.  Our life in Christ is all about waiting, though.  The picture is of a servant waiting upon his lord.  The servant can do nothing of himself: he serves at the pleasure of his master.  He must wait to see what his master does, and what his master commands, before he himself can act.  "Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon the LORD our God, until that He have mercy upon us." (Psalms 123:2).

 

We, as humans, are naturally hasty to act.  We will often do something just because no one else does.  We will often speak something just because no one else is.  Instead, we need to learn to "wait on our ministering." (Romans 12:7).  When the Israelites were wandering through the desert of Sinai on their way to the Promised Land, there was a pillar of cloud that would lead them where they were to go.  If the cloud stood still over the LORD’s Tabernacle, the Israelites waited, and did not go.  If the cloud began to move, however, then they followed where it led.  We, too, must learn to wait on the moving of the Holy Spirit in our lives. 

 

Acting outside of the Lord's direction can have serious consequences.  King Saul was told to wait at Gilgal for the Prophet Samuel to come to him and give him instructions from the LORD.  Instead, Saul took matters into his own hands and did not wait.  He had trouble trusting that the LORD would come through for him at the last minute.  He felt like he was on his own, and something needed to be done.  When Samuel appeared as he said he would, he rebuked Saul for his foolishness, and told him that the kingdom would be taken from him and given to "a man after His own heart."

 

"Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him.” (Psalm 37:7).  The secret to waiting patiently, I find, is learning to rest in God.  "For we which believe do enter into rest." (Hebrews 4:3a).  It took God six days in the beginning to set all things into motion, after which He sat down to rest.  He is not frantic about world events, or stock prices, or the price of gasoline - He knows all things are moving along just as He expects.  He is not worried when He sees the wicked spreading themselves as a “green bay tree”, He knows the end of the story.  God never loses sight of His precious children.  He knows when we are in need, and when we abound.  He knows when we are sick, and when we are in good health.  He sees when we are in distress, and when we know joy.  In all things He is maturing us to be His sons and daughters.  It is OUR expectations that we let get in the way, and shake us from our place of rest in Christ.  We must learn to place all of our expectations in our heavenly Father.  "My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from Him." (Psalm 62:5).  When our life is fully hid with Christ in God, then will we know rest; and when we know rest, we will learn to wait on the Lord.