Waiting on The Lord

People do not find waiting easy. They naturally want more, like Eve in Eden. The commandment 'not to covet' indicates mankind wishes to 'keep up with the Jones' as the saying goes in this materialistic country. Modern day advertising feeds that desire by every type of media possible.

The scripture says "The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the person who searches for him. It is good to hope and wait patiently for the LORD's salvation." (Lam.3:25-26 ISV) The words recorded in Lamentations remind us that those who wait on our Heavenly Father, putting their full trust in his providence, will not be disappointed.

The Lord is good to those who wait for Him as the Psalmist writes "The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. The LORD is good to all, and His compassion is over all that He has made" (Psa.145:8-9 NRSV). He is good to all his creation but especially to those who wait on him.

At times it may appear that the troubles that Christian brethren experience, as well as the world, are being prolonged and that the deliverance has been delayed, and yet we are encouraged to wait patiently. Peter reminds us that "The Lord is not slow to fulfil His promise" (2 Pet.3.9 ESV) and that those who remain faithful will gain their reward in due time.

We have to wait for Him in faith, seeking His direction through prayer. We must make sure that our requests are in accordance with His plans and not just a request for what might be considered earthly pleasures. As James warns: "You ask for something but do not get it, because you ask for the wrong reason" (James 4:3 ISV). We have to have our hearts in the right condition, continually studying and searching the scriptures so as to grasp a better knowledge of our Lord and master and our Heavenly Father. Our seeking will help to keep us focussed on spiritual matters.

"It is good that he waits patiently" has more the thought that it is our duty to wait, and that through study and prayer we will be rewarded with the peace of God which passes all understanding and which helps guard our hearts and minds in Christ. At times the difficulties that we encounter on the narrow way can appear to be insurmountable; they are for a purpose, training us to patiently wait to do our Lord's work in the Millennial Age, remembering the words "Father, thy will be done".

The Holy Spirit

Can we make the same plea that the Psalmist David made "Make me know Your ways, O LORD; Teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation; For You I wait all day long" (Psalm 25:4-5 NRSV). We have the wonderful promise from Christ "But the Helper (comforter), the Holy Spirit, which the Father will send in My name; shall teach You all things, and remind you of all things which I said to you" (John 14:26 Diaglott). What a privilege we have to have that the Holy Spirit to open our eyes and to give us a greater understanding of the scriptures.

There are many wonderful helps giving us the Plan of God, showing us how all the aspects of God's love, wisdom, justice and power are met through his plan to bring as many of the human race that will respond during the Millennial Age back into harmony with Him and how this Christian era is for the calling out of the Church, those who will reign with his Son who paid the ransom price for all people. As well as dictionaries and concordances, which have been made available to Christians at this end of the Gospel Age (Christian era). We have the privilege of receiving the guidance of God's Holy Spirit, without which we would still be struggling to understand his plan and the reason why we have to wait for His time not our time.

Moses

One ancient worthy sticks out as an example to us, on why the Lord may have us to wait for His directions. That person was Moses who lived for 120 years. His life can be divided into three 40 year periods of waiting for the Lord's direction.

i. For 40 years Moses was considered to be an Egyptian

Stephen gives us a wonderful insight into this period of Moses' life when speaking before the High Priest. "At the time Moses was born, he was beautiful before God. For three months he was brought up in his father's house; and then he was abandoned, Pharaoh's daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. So Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in his words and deeds. 'When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his relatives, the Israelites. When he saw one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. He supposed that his kinsfolk would understand that God through him was rescuing them, but they did not understand'." (Acts 7:20-25 NRSV).

This period of his life gave Moses the training that he would need to turn a nation of slaves into a nation of free people with a set of laws and a religious system of worship provided by God. The last verse shows that Moses felt that the time was right for him to deliver the people and yet we were told they were not ready and it was not God's time for Israel's deliverance.

Moses had believed that the time had come for the deliverance of the Israelites from slavery. He knew of his miraculous preservation, and had the assurance of God's Promise that this signified that God had a special work for him to do. He was ready and anxious to begin that work. He did not know that he was not ready and that he would require forty years more of further education.

ii. For 40 years he wandered in the wilderness as a Shepherd.

Fearing for his life, Moses fled to the wilderness of Midian. It looked as though his loyalty and his forty years of education had gone to waste. He had supposed that he was being prepared to be a leader amongst God's people. In an hour his hopes were unfulfilled and he was a fugitive, fearing to be seen in the Egyptian palace or amongst his own blood family. In Midian Moses married one of Jethro's daughters, and became a humble shepherd for forty years. He did not at the time understand the Lord's providence in his affairs; however he was learning meekness and submitted.

iii. The 40 year journey through the wilderness to the Promised Land.

Moses needed all the lessons that he learnt through his first two 40 year periods to lead the fledgling nation to the Promised Land. Even with all the lessons he had learnt he still struggled with an obstinate people and, through disobedience to God's order, was denied access to the Promised Land. He would have to wait for the Millennial Age.

Another Biblical example of waiting

Elkanah had two wives Peninnah and Hannah. Peninnah had many sons and daughters but Hannah none. This grieved Hannah and Peninnah appears to have taken every opportunity to remind her of their differing situations. So Hannah in distress prayed for a child at Shiloh while Eli was sitting beside the doorpost of the Temple. How often he did this we do not know and it's not recorded why he sat there. Eli saw her and talked to her. Eli answered 'Go in peace, the God of Israel grant your petition'……her countenance was not sad any more‑hence Samuel was born to Hannah.

The primary example of waiting was shown by Hannah, who waited and prayed to the Lord. But the secondary example was Eli waiting in the right place at a good time and he was able to be of assistance and comfort to Hannah.

Waiting through Difficult Circumstances

Job is well-known for his patient endurance. God permitted that he would suffer through the death of his children, the loss of his material assets as well as losing his health while being falsely accused by his friends of sins he did not commit. He did have the hope of the resurrection of the dead (Job 14:14). Job seemed prepared to wait until the resurrection of the dead for him to be delivered from his trials, although to some degree, much was restored to him as the Lord gave Job twice as much as before and he had ten more children by the end of the book

What to do while we are waiting

Waiting does not necessarily imply inactivity. There may be opportunities to talk to others about our Christian faith which can be prepared for. As it says in 1 Peter 3:15 (NKJV) But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear. In Luke 19:13 we are told to "Occupy till I come" to put into use those pounds (talents) in the way our master would have us do. If a list were to be written of things useful in the Lord's service, it would be a very long one and even if some become impossible there would be others that could be a possibility.

The World

What about the rest of the world, are they waiting for anything? Paul tells us the world is waiting, if only it knew it, for the church to be complete (Rom.8.19-23).

When is waiting not necessary

Joshua and Caleb (Numbers 13 14) could see that waiting was not necessary and the twelve tribes could enter into Canaan, the promised land, as the land was good and the Lord, He was able to give it to them.

In the news (Daily Mail 5 March 2014) a Christian couple kept praying about the health of their sick baby son till he died. Common sense says with a free healthcare system provided by taxes paid that they should have availed themselves of the doctor or hospital, the Lord having already provided.

An example of not waiting on the Lord?

In Genesis 27 there is the account of Rebekah and Jacob deceiving Isaac to obtain the blessing. She already had the promise that her younger son would have precedence over her firstborn, Esau. When they found that Isaac was planning to give Esau the blessing they colluded to get Jacob to receive the blessing as if he was Esau. This naturally made Esau angry enough that Jacob was forced to flee to his mother's family in Haran hundreds of miles away. There is no record that mother and son ever met again, which given their close bond would have been sad for them. Did the Heavenly Father really need their help to fulfil his promise? Did they pay a price for not waiting on the Lord?

Conclusion

Waiting is not a mere concept but something Christian brethren do on a daily basis. But the scriptures tell us it is a good thing. It gives time to develop a spiritual life and an understanding of the word of God and time to apply it to their daily lives. The Bible gives many examples of waiting with good lessons for all who read the accounts. In due time there will be no more waiting when the kingdom is set up on earth in the Millennial age.