“Waiting On The Lord”

“Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable. ²⁹ He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless. ³⁰ Even youths will faint and be weary,
and the young will fall exhausted; ³¹ but those who wait for 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 40:28-31

“Some people are always in a hurry about things. If they want to do something or to have something, they can not wait, they must do it or have it at once. When they are compelled to wait, the time seems very long and their impatience grows with every delay. They can not quietly and patiently wait for anything. Such persons bring this same characteristic into their spiritual lives. When they pray, they want an immediate answer—they want God to hurry up. If the answer is delayed, they get all worked up about it. Sometimes they murmur against the Lord and feel very bad, like spoiled children. Sometimes they pray a few times for what they desire, and if the answer does not come they conclude that God does not mean to answer them; so they give up seeking for it and sometimes question God’s faithfulness.” (C.W. Naylor, “Heart Talks”, p. 117)

The tag line for the company Nike(TM) has been (for many years) the phrase “Just Do It”.  For our society, too many people live their lives with the motto “Do it now”. It is not always profitable for us to act first, and think about the consequences second. But, I am here to say that the Lord is neither under our control nor our schedule. We may expect the Lord to “do something now”, but the Lord usually has another time schedule in mind. When we pray, we are not supposed to give the Lord a long laundry list of things we want done and a schedule of when to do them. Yet, so often, this is what our prayers to G-d turn out to be. “Lord, I need this and this and this, and Lord I need them now.” That is not a prayer, my friends – that sounds more like extortion.

A relationship with G-d is one that should include patience and trust. As the text from Isaiah reminds us, “those who wait for 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.” As such, when we pray to the Lord, instead of saying “Lord I need you to do this now”, why not try, “Lord let your will be done, in your time, and in your wisdom.”

Pastor Dave