The old song tells us that “sorry” seems to be the hardest word; I’m not so sure. In our culture, I think it’s “wait.”
These days, if people want to update their house, they don’t spend years saving aside; they seek to borrow money they don’t have.
It’s the same in ministry, I think. People want answers, but they want them now, not next week or next year. People are fine waiting on God’s timing, only so long as God’s timing fits their own schedule. One of the biggest problems 21st-century believers in the US have is understanding the concept of waiting on God.
I have actually heard people express the sentiment that they’d rather hear God give them a “no” now than wait a few years to hear a “yes.” Is that Biblical? Is that our model for waiting on the L-RD?
Not exactly. When Moses was around 40, he had become aware of his Jewish heritage even though he’d been raised in Pharaoh’s household, and he knew there was a call of God on his life.
Then, Moses got impatient and instead of waiting on God, he took matters into his own hands, slaying an Egyptian guard who was mistreating a Hebrew slave. Was that following God’s plan or waiting on Him?
No. Moses’ actions there were ultimately selfish, taking matters into his own hands by stopping one isolated instance of injustice; had he waited for God’s timing, Moses might have been able to bring all the injustices of the Egyptians against the Israelites to an end much sooner.
Did God still want to use Moses to end those injustices? Sure. But how long did Moses have to wait on God after that act of impatience and murder? Forty years! Most of us don’t even want to wait through a 40-minute sermon to hear from God. What do we know, really, about waiting on Him?
Here’s lesson one, though: you’ll like the results a lot better when you DO wait on him.
Tags: waiting, waiting on God
Excellent and encouraging reminder, Craig. It is well to wait on the Lord, but not a passive waiting, but a seeking waiting. I discovered that a time of waiting becomes a time of preparation and deep teaching when we seek God’s will instead of our own…