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Waiting upon God
Posted on: Sep 20, 2008
Pastor Carl H. Stevens Jr. |
There is never a time when we aren't waiting for something we want to happen. "There is always someone I want saved tomorrow"”I don't want to wait until next week." "There's somebody I want healed, I don't want to wait until next month." When someone promises us something, we want the promise now.
Such thinking can create frustration, worry and anxiety even in believers. Anxiety can be explained as the driving spirit that comes through disorientation to God's grace.
These things characterize some believers because they misunderstand the promise of 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."
The Christian who is not experiencing the law of faith is living in the law of fear described in Job 3:25, 26. W hen my life is governed by the lay of faith. I believe that it is written, so it shall be. Any area of my life where faith, through the grace of God with confidence in Jesus Christ, isn't functioning, fear will take over.
Many believers unknowingly live in the law of fear because they do not define it. They do not necessarily feel fear. But if a person does not believe with the right quality of faith in Christ, it is possible for anxiety, through human sequence, to produce the law of fear in our hearts.
Fear leaves one intellectualizing truth rather than internalizing it. He may hear messages, but he fails to appropriate the Word in practicality.
There are many Christians who do not live in overt sin, but live in the law of fear. They believe Christ as their Savior, but do not trust Him in categorical doctrine. They do not live by every Word of God (Matthew 4:4). Realize this: Life is made up of moments which reveal in whom we trust. Circumstances expose our frame of reference, whether it is the Cross of Calvary or self-orientation.
Anxiety, frustration, criticism, reaction, etc., reveal a soul dominated by self-orientation. In any situation, our frame of reference will either be the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16) or the mind of Adam, the old man.
God brings about situations that cause the believer to rely on Him. He wants to teach them how to live in His thoughts regardless of the circumstances.
The Psalmist cried out, "Hear me speedily" (Psalm 69:17). But that's not always God's way. If it were, our lives would be reduced to a formula. Our vocabulary and lifestyle would be established in conventional words, and we would never understand the progressive adventure of categorical faith (Romans 1:17).
Waiting is Expecting
Waiting upon the Lord is characterized by several things. To wait means to expect God's help. It never implies inactivity.
Suppose a farmer said, "I'm not going to farm this spring. I'll just wait upon the Lord and see what happens." He didn't plant. He said, "I'm just going to trust God for the crops to come up." When harvest time comes, he goes out to the field and there's nothing there. Why? He didn't sow, therefore he didn't reap (2 Corinthians 9:6). He waited, but he didn't expect.
Waiting upon God implies confidence and faith in His Word in spite of consequence. A Christian who patiently waits with expectancy manifests his faith in God's character.
By waiting, we exchange our mind for His thoughts. We are renewed. We are strengthened. As we are filled, we become more competent and reckless in our faith despite our human weaknesses.
The Word promises us rewards for waiting. In Acts 1:4, Jesus told His disciples to go to Jerusalem and "wait for the promise of the Father." They did as He told them to and in Acts 2:4, they received the Holy Spirit.
Psalm 91:1 says, "He that dwells in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." Abiding means waiting, resting with expectancy. "If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you" (John 15:7).
In Proverbs 27:18, we are told "He that waits upon his master shall receive honor."
Moses and the nation of Israel reached the Red Sea and God told him to "stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD" (Exodus 14:13).
Moses waiting upon God. He expected in confidence and God divided the waters to deliver the nation of Israel from Egypt.
Hide Yourself Before Showing Yourself
"Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook of Cherith, that is before Jordan" (1 Kings 17:3).
So many believers show themselves without hiding themselves first. They attempt God's work without private personal fellowship with Him.
Elijah was a man subject to the same passions as we are (James 5:17). He had troubles just like we do today.
In 1 Kings 17:3, Elijah hid himself from these passions. He spent time waiting on God. Then, in 1 Kings 18:1, God told him to show himself.
Later in Chapter 18 of 1 Kings, Elijah went up to Mt. Carmel and God used him mightily against the 450 prophets of Baal. The fire of the Lord came down to Elijah's sacrifice, and God was glorified.
It was a beautiful victory. But it is interesting that in 1 Kings 19, Elijah got the message that Jezebel was pursuing him. This time, instead of hiding himself and waiting on God, he ran to the juniper tree and requested his own death (1 Kings 19:4).
He didn't wait upon the Lord, so he couldn't run and not be weary. He couldn't walk and not faint.
How many Christians do not wait upon the Lord for their marriage?
How many did not wait for God to send them a perfect partner?
They didn't wait, and now they can't run and not be weary in their marriages. They can't walk and not faint.
Be firm, be consistent in your mental attitude, and wait steadily for the Lord to decide when it's time for you to marry. Let Him determine the time of fulfillment.
Waiting Is Training
"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he shall not depart from it" (Proverbs 22:6).
We are God's children and it is His responsibility to train us. He had to train impulsive, emotional Peter, and He must do the same with us.
Waiting on God teaches us to trust Him implicitly, expressively, and without anxiety or frustration. We wait, and we "shall renew our strength" Isaiah 40:31 tells us. It means God destroys our reliance on the old and gives a new energy source. He takes us from one state of strength to another.
God abolishes the mental weariness of Adam. He eliminates the attitude of negativity in the old man. The faint spirit of the flesh is erased by waiting as He builds us up through Words of life (Philippians 2:16) and grace (Acts 20:32). In the end we are quickened, renewed and revived with life from above.
How often do you get bored with your life? Children get bored while they wait.
Do you show yourself before hiding yourself? Do you answer before thinking? Talk without faith? Move without grace? Evaluate without discernment?
God trains us through waiting so we won't be bored. He wants to give us renewed strength to speak, to think, to act and to endure.
The word "strength" is KOWACH in the Hebrew. It refers to strength not only in the emotions, but in the physical body as well.
God imparts special energy straight from His presence through His governmental doctrine to "they that wait."
Mounting Up As Eagles
The eagle described in Isaiah 40:32, is a very important illustration. "To mount up with wings as eagles" means the Christian who waits upon God will ascend. He will excel.
The eagle makes its nest in inaccessible places. It dwells in the cliffs (Job 39:28). Proverbs 30:19 states that its way is in the air. It flies without effort. It soars without exerting any energy at all.
The eagle is the only bird that can look directly in the sun and not injure its eyes.
The application is this: God wants us to be as the eagle. He wants us to wait in the inaccessible places. He wants us to hide ourselves with Him, away from the world.
Then, He will enable us to mount up. We will soar effortlessly above extreme trials and difficulties. We will be faith-rest Christians who will not have to swear in our minds and emotions.
This kind of believer can look straight at the Son of God and live in pure faith, soaring high and flying far above the world system with its details.
A Christian can experience this renewal when he feeds on categories of doctrine, makes decisions through God's grace, and enjoys grace as it is revealed in His Word.
In Matthew 14:23, Jesus departed to a mountain and prayed in a solitary place. The Son Himself went to wait upon God the Father. He said that the words He gives are from the Father (John 17:8).
Jesus, in His humanity, went to the quiet place to wait on the Lord, receive the Father's thoughts and be renewed. Mark 1:35 tells that He arose long before daybreak to meet God.
Paul spent three years in Arabia. He didn't confer with flesh or blood for three years (Galatians 1:15-18). Why? Because he needed to learn how to wait on God.
If we really want to have abundant lives, then God much teach us how to wait upon Him.
The Four Strengths
There are four specific kinds of strength the believer receives as he waits upon God, according to Isaiah 40:31.
He is given inward strength through God's process of renewal. He can "run and not be weary" refers to outward strength. He mounts up with "wings as eagles" speaks of upward strength. And, the fact that he can "walk and not faint" means the now has onward strength.
The Christian can be perfected in each of these areas of strength by simply waiting on Him.
No one who learns to wait upon God every gets frustrated with His grace. No one who waits on Him feels unloved, because he receives love as he waits.
No one who learns how to wait upon the Lord will feel empty, because he is filled with His fellowship as he waits.
No matter what sin you've committed in the past, no matter how guilty you feel"”you can wait upon God and receive inward, outward, upward and onward strength.
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