Waiting is Hard!

Most of the devotionals I've heard on Waiting on the LORD have been about a passive "waiting". There are MANY verses that mention waiting that do sound very passive, but look with me now at God's Word...at the Hebrew & Greek meaning of Wait, Waited, & WAITING.

I truly believe you'll see that waiting is meant to be a VERY ACTIVE process, not the "lah dee dah", twiddling-your-thumbs, biding-your-time type waiting the term itself brings to mind...

Wait.... Sounds simple, doesn't it? Think about it though...how many of us ENJOY "waiting"? Waiting for someone's plane to arrive at the airport. Waiting for that all-important letter to arrive in the mail. Waiting for Mr. Wonderful (or MRS. Wonderful, guys!) to come into your life. Waiting for your baby's DUE DATE to roll around...while you...ahem...roll around....or a phone call.....

No, waiting is neither simple nor NATURAL for the INSTA-MATIC, DRIVE-THRU mentality of today. So, how exactly are we SUPPOSED to "wait" according to Scripture?

Psalm 37:7 "Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him...."...hope, trust, wait carefully (patiently) PATIENTLY...oh dear! We all want PATIENCE...NOW...

Psalm 62:1 "Truly my soul waiteth upon God: from Him cometh my salvation." quiet, trust:--silence, silent, waiteth.

Psalm 62:5 "My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from Him." to be astonished, to stop; to forbear, hold peace, quiet self, rest, be silent, keep silence, be (stand) still, tarry QUIETLY, CALMLY, even SILENTLY. And I just love this next verse...our precious Heavenly Father is waiting for us.

Isaiah 30:18 "And therefore will the LORD wait, that He may be gracious unto you, and therefore will He be exalted, that He may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for Him." to adhere to, hence to await:--long, tarry, wait.

I find it interesting that one of the most often seen uses of "wait" in the Bible is used as "lie in wait", as in an ambush, ready to POUNCE! (35x!) To lurk.... Obviously, that is not what is meant by waiting on the LORD. Many of the uses of wait were in verses referring to the priests who waited on God in the temple (Numbers 3:10, 8:24; II Chronicles 13:10). To attend...serve.... Now we're getting somewhere! Do you remember all the particular things the priests had to do in the temple? THEY had to remember...or in some cases, they were struck dead for doing it wrong, with the wrong spirit!! WOW...makes you think.... They had to prepare themselves both physically, in their special priestly garments, and spiritually for waiting on God.

Micah 7:7 "Therefore I will look unto the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me." to wait...to be patient, hope....With His Word giving us HOPE: Psalm 130:5 "I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in His word do I hope." Isaiah 40:31 "But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength: they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." That when we look back, we will be GLAD we waited on Him.

So, I am waiting on the Lord today…If you are waiting on God, know you are not alone. There are several of us in the preparation waiting room. So, we will wait together. You know I love ya - Don