Wait for the Lord

February 27

Leviticus 15

Psalm 27:7-14

Proverbs 6:23-26

Mark 5:1-20

Wait for the Lord

“I remain confident of this:  I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.  Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.”  Psalm 27:13-14

David began this Psalm talking about fear.  He was preaching to himself.  Sometimes it is necessary to recount to ourselves God’s faithfulness.  In moments of fear and anxiety the best thing we can do is remind ourselves of God’s promises and of all the times in our lives that He has been faithful.  Doing this gives us confidence to keep hoping and trusting that we will get through whatever we are facing.  He ends the Psalm by boldly proclaiming his confidence in God and declaring that he will wait for the Lord.  I’m going to state the obvious here.  Waiting is hard!  When we pray we want to get an answer right away.  We want God to pretty quickly give us what we want.  Honestly, we would often rather get a “no” than a “wait.”  At least then we could move on, but when we get a “wait” we are in limbo.  It is important to remember in those seasons of waiting that the process matters.  When God calls us to wait, it means that the timing isn’t right.  It doesn’t always mean that we are going to get what we want at some time in the future.  It may mean that what we want is not what is best for us but we are not in the place right now to hear that.  If that is the case God will do a work in our hearts and bring us to the place where we can accept that or He can bring about something better.  It may mean that we are going to get what we want but we are not ready, the circumstances aren’t right or the other people involved aren’t ready.  In that case God will continue to work to make everything fall into place at the right time. 

            So what do we do while we wait?  How do we wait in a way that honors God and cooperates with Him in the process?  The most important thing to consider when we are in a season of waiting is what we are waiting for.  Am I waiting for “the thing” I want or am I waiting for the Lord?  Placing my hope in getting “the thing” I want is dangerous because if I don’t get it I may become angry at God and disillusioned.  The Bible never tells us we are always going to get what we want.  Our hope should never be placed in getting anything.  We place our hope and faith in God and His goodness and love.  When we do that, we know that He will bring about the best result.  Waiting on God means that we place our faith and trust in everything we know about Him.  Waiting on God means that we recognize that we cannot see the future and therefore we cannot know what is best, but He does.  He is sovereign and is able to see the future and prepare me to walk into it.  Waiting means relinquishing control.  It means placing my trust in something beyond myself and like a little child, trusting my Father loves me and will do what is best for me. Wait for the Lord!  Be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord!