Have you ever been left behind? Has anyone ever made plans without you, or forgot to include you, and then wonder why you didn’t show up? How did that make you feel? Well, guess what? We do that to God. We leave him behind, make our plans without him, and forget to include him, then wonder why he doesn’t show up when things fall apart. How do you think that makes him feel?
It’s actually to our benefit to include and wait on God:
Wait on the Lord. Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord. (Psalm 27:14).
I don’t know about you, but I don’t wait well. Maybe that’s because that requires another attribute I don’t do very well, either: patience. Have you ever regretted making a hasty decision? I have and so did King Saul. The Philistines showed up for battle with 30,000 chariots, 6,000 horsemen, and soldiers like the sand is on the seashore in abundance. Saul was vastly outnumbered since he could only muster 6,000 warriors. He was supposed to wait seven days for the prophet Samuel to arrive and offer the sacrifice. When the seventh day came, Samuel was not in sight, so the king took the matter in his own hands. Samuel arrived as Saul was finishing the offering. That act of impatience cost him his kingdom
How many times have we taken matters in our own hands without waiting for God?
Isn’t it amazing that we will seek out advice from friends or experts or Google but fail to call on the one who not only knows what we should do but will give us the ability to get it done? Oh, we will pray for wisdom, but if we don’t hear something soon we just do what we think is best and expect God to bless our decision. But is that what it means to wait on God?
I don’t think waiting on the Lord to show up and serve us is quite what he has in mind. After all, isn’t the waiter supposed to be the server? A good server gets to know the preferences of her regulars. Just as a close friend knows what you like or dislike, we need to spend time with our Savior to get to know him intimately before we can expect to be able to please him.
Waiting on God is part of what is required to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow him. It’s more than waiting on him to catch up. It’s letting him lead. But how can we follow someone we can’t see or hear?
When we were kids we were told to be quiet and sit still. Even as adults we find that hard to do, don’t we? Some of us are more driven than others to stay busy, but most of us stay preoccupied with something, even if it’s just watching TV. Our waking hours are full of sounds, from the radio to the traffic. Some leave the TV on all the time, even when they sleep!
Have you ever missed something important because you were preoccupied with something else? Of course! We all have. Many of us are lousy listeners because we won’t let go of our own world long enough to tune into someone else’s. When we do let the other person get a word in, we use that time to think about what we’ll say next.
Waiting on God requires us to give him our undivided attention. We obviously can’t do that throughout most of our day, but we need to carve out some consistent, undistracted time to devote ourselves exclusively to seeking and listening to our creator.
My soul, wait in silence for God only; for my hope is in him. (Psalm 62:5).
We need to slow down enough to be quiet and still and clear our minds so we can hear the Holy Spirit speak to us as we spend unhurried time in the scriptures. If we can’t set aside a consistent routine to read a chapter out of a good spiritual book, read our Bible and pray, then we need to rearrange our schedule to fit God in! We always find time to do what’s most important to us. Any skill takes a lot of time to practice and master. If we want to get close to God and see him do amazing things in our lives, then we’ve got to make abiding in Christ a priority, not just during the morning watch, but throughout the entire day.
You might be thinking: this waiting and being still sounds too boring and lazy, especially for you type A’s who don’t feel worthy until you work to the point of exhaustion. But I can tell you I’m finding that this lifestyle is exciting and liberating and far from easy, since we must learn to use our spiritual senses to connect with the Lord and daily surrender our will to his. When he does give us a job to do, then we will give it our best.
Finally, waiting on God includes eagerly anticipating his promise of deliverance and joy, and ultimately, his return! I think trusting him this way pleases him.
Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40:31).
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