Waiting on God

Psalm 53:2 (ESV) “God looks down from heaven on the children of man to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God.”

If I were limited to only one thought that I could share with you, this would be what I would say: Seek God with your whole heart! Deuteronomy 4:29 (ESV) “…you will seek the Lord your God and you will find Him, if you search after Him with all your heart and all your soul.” The Bible has many promises of what will happen if we seek Him. But by far the greatest promise is that we will find Him. Seeking God is the beginning of waiting on God. We must first learn to seek before we can learn to wait. When you open the Scriptures are you seeking God? It is the beginning of wisdom. All these things are tide in together. We must use our free will to seek. As God begins to reveal Himself to us we must use our free will to listen and follow. But He will always check us so we can see how serious we are. And one of those checks is for us to learn to wait on Him.

So let’s say you are a seeker and now it’s time to wait on Him. What does that even mean? Do we ever wait for anything or anyone anymore? It seems that the modern Christian just bulls his or her way forward without much thought to it. Or sits back and does nothing because the work of the cross has cleared them of their sins and there is nothing left to do. Neither of these are good ways to live. Why? Both are out of touch with the spiritual reality of life. Have we become too focused on ourselves instead of God?

What do I mean when I say the spiritual reality of life? Sadly many of us live shallow lives spiritually. We never venture towards the deep waters. We seem too content splashing about and making waves with our arms in the shallows when instead we should be making strong strokes out into the depths of Christ. We huddle together and tell each other all is well and good. But aren’t we really cowards when it comes to living the true-life Christ wants us to live? Are we not falling short of the real glory of the Christian life? If we will wait on God then He will show us a better way.

Instead we make excuses for ourselves in order to keep things light and moving. One excuse might be that we have been convinced the “Great Commission” far exceeds any other commands by Christ. We must go and make disciples no matter the cost, right? And therein lies one of the errors of our way. What kind of disciples are we making? Out there on our own without the guidance and direction of the Spirit we will fail. He is the one who convicts. He is the one who exposes the sinner’s nature. We are only to be available and obedient. We cannot do that unless we are waiting on God. Another excuse might be because we tell ourselves jumping ahead shows God our faith. We leap towards being busy instead of waiting in prayer. I’m not promoting laziness. But I am recommending prayer and listening. I believe King David understood this better than all because his Psalms talk of waiting. Patiently waiting. Intently waiting. Silently waiting. But waiting for God none the less. Why?

First of all, we will never know the intricacies of life better than God. We are completely unable to perceive the scope of the dynamics in which God commands His ways and measures our steps. We are fortunate to see the truth of this if we will read the Book of Job and see God’s way with Job. Although Job was righteous, he was not righteous enough to question or instruct God. We are allowed to ask questions about God, or His design for us, or what He wants us to change in ourselves, but never think we could ever instruct Him on anything.

Our time frame never seems to match up with God’s either. Quite frankly, we think God most times is too slow! Admit it. We get a little bit of knowledge on a matter and off we run. You might say, “No we don’t!” but I bet you answered too quickly. We must learn to slow down and open our eyes and unplug our ears.

God might want us to wait because we do not understand His timing. To us, our thoughts and plans might call for immediate decisive action on our part. We might even tell ourselves, “Is God not able to get with the program?” So we do what almost the entire population of the world does, we blunder ahead and force our way through. We all know someone who is blundering their way through life, and we shake our heads thinking, “If only they would listen to God.” But isn’t that me and you also?  (Another reason not to judge.) We also might throw our hands up in the air and give up on God, proclaiming that He does not care. We cannot possibly guess the many options that are going to cross our paths. Yet our heavenly Father knows every single one set before us. Inwardly we are tempted to go ahead with our own decisions. We think this challenge will not wait! The only results for us by rushing ahead is failure or delay or both. We must train ourselves to stop and listen for His whispers. He will never lead us astray.

But it is not our nature to rely on anyone. Our trust levels are low, especially for the unseen God. We cannot touch, smell, taste, or see Him. Are we also presently teaching ourselves an inferior perception of God? Some of us even think He can make a mistake( remember Job). So how can we expect to place our faith in Him if we think He might be wrong? But in His infinite perfection this is what He requires of us. He never has to prove Himself to us. To wait is to show faith. To show faith is to please God. And to please God is to place us in the center of His will and the safety of His arms!

So, when we pray we are not to give God a list of our instructions or wants for they should never be answered. The Father detests spiritual mooches. If we don’t pray correctly we will never learn to wait. We are to quiet our spirits, rest the worries of our minds, and patiently place our will in His hands. In this kind of trust and faith we will find perfect peace.

Remember, use your free will well!