Waiting...Still

Have you ever had to wait on something for a long time?Or maybe it seemed like a long time, but was really a short time?Maybe it’s when that person just won’t move when the light turns green, or the long checkout line, or the doctor’s office. But then, there are those times when the minutes turn into hours, the hours into days, then weeks, and perhaps, yes, even years.We can wait sometimes for a long, long time for something. Maybe it’s to finish school, or a new job, or a spouse. Maybe it’s waiting on God to fulfill His call on your life. We wait on countless things. There are those times, the hardest of times, when you feel like God doesn’t hear you.Ever feel like you’ve been put on the shelf?Ever feel like God has forgotten you?Ever feel like it’s time to do things yourself?53 times in the Bible we are commanded to wait on God.We must wait on God with a trusting heart because He always keeps His promises. Waiting on God is not saying, “I’m waiting on Him,” when you really need to come to terms with the hard reality of what’s going on. We make the mistake of believing that to wait on God is to sit around doing nothing.Waiting on the Lord is the practice of being disciplined, expectant and active in our waiting, though at times the waiting may be painful. Waiting on God is being able to say to Him, "God, I choose to trust you and I will obey you regardless of how things seem or what may (or may not) happen.”A. B. Simpson wrote, "There are some spiritual conditions that cannot be accomplished in a moment. The breaking up of the fallow ground takes time. The frosts of winter are as necessary as the rains of spring to prepare the soil for fertility. God has to break our hearts to pieces by the slow process of His discipline, and grind every particle to power, and then to mellow us and saturate us with His blessed Spirit, until we are open for the blessing He has to give us. Oh, let us wait upon the Lord with brokenness of heart, with openness of soul, with willingness of spirit, to hear what God the Lord will say!"God does not grow weary, nor is He ignorant of things (Is. 40:27,28). When we operate on our own power, we will fail…terribly. But He supplies strength for those who wait upon Him.Far too often, because of impatience, we sacrifice the “best” yet to come and settle for the “good enough” now. We seek to gratify the flesh instead of glorifying Christ. Why? Because we refuse to wait on God’s best.In Experiencing God, Henry Blackaby writes..."While you wait, continue doing the last thing God told you to do. In waiting, you are shifting the responsibility of the outcome to God--where it belongs. Then, when God gives you specific guidance, He will do more through you in days and weeks than you could ever accomplish in years of labor. Waiting for Him is always worth it. His timing and His ways are always right. You must depend on Him to guide you to accomplish His will."  Remember the words of David: "Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord." -- Psalm 27:14He is more faithful to His work in you than you are.