What is it to wait upon the Lord?
What are you waiting for? Think deeply on this? What are you really waiting for? Are you waiting for the next bad thing to happen? Are you waiting on life to give you a break? .........What are you really waiting for?
When we pray what are we praying for? For an end to trials? For an end to pain? What is our agenda? I have discovered that I often have an agenda when I pray. And more importantly I have sadly discovered that often my prayers do not reveal a satisfaction in God, nor a trust in His character, but a dissatisfaction with Him and a fear of what might happen next.
When I give in to fear, or to anger, I am crying out with a loud voice that His grace is not sufficient, that His purposes in my life are not right. When I pray for things to change, plead for Him to do what I want done right now, I am saying that the place where He has me is not the right place.
As Christians we were made to soar like eagles. Above the fear, above the worry, above the sorrow and sin and destruction. Regardless of what may be going on, we are to know our God and to trust that all that He brings into our life is right and is as it should be. It has a purpose. He has not promised us an easy life here on this earth, but if we pray to really know Him, pray to really trust Him, pray to be more like Him, we will soar above it all. Even our tears, and our suffering will not drag us down.
He lives brothers and sisters!
"“Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord”. Psalm 27:14
“Be of good courage.” Alas, how can one be so when all sense and feeling dishearten the mind and deject the soul? Lively frames in duty, sweet enlargements of heart, heavenly transports of joy, delightful ecstasies of faith, rapturous tastes of love, all, all like Noah’s dove have taken their flight; and I fear says the drooping soul, never, never more to return. Truly like Hezekiah, “I mourn as a dove, mine eyes fail with looking upward: O Lord I am oppressed, undertake for me,” Isaiah 38:14.
Still, saith the Comforter by his word, “Be of good courage”. Remember thy calling. It is to live by faith, honour thy Lord, and be obedient to his word. Thou hast the sentence of death in thyself that thou should not trust in thyself lest thy heart depart from thy Lord. Not frames and feelings, but God’s love and promises in Christ to sinners are the foundation of hope. These are abundantly sufficient to inspire the soul with courage, yea, with good courage to go on in the ways of the Lord.
Steadfast faith cleaves to Jesus, abides by the truth, and perseveres in dutiful obedience. Shall these ever be suspended for want of lively frames and joyful feelings? How would this prove that we walk by faith and that our eye is single to Christ’s glory? Nay, we should then only serve him according to the changes of sense and passion rather than by the uniform, consistent obedience of faith.
The Lord’s word is our rule of duty; his promises are our support. His grace is sufficient for us; his strength is made perfect in our weakness. If our hearts are weak that we cannot run with eagerness the ways of God’s commandments as we desire, so much more reason have we to wait on the Lord for “the times of refreshing from his presence”. For “he giveth power to the faint and to them that have no might he increaseth strength” Isaiah 40:29.
“Wait I say on the Lord.” David repeats the command with a holy fervour to his own soul and others. God has promised: expect fulfillment. Here is the exercise of faith: trust in the Lord Christ for what we stand in need of; of hope, expecting to receive all from him; of patience, waiting continually upon him.
Most precious promise! “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, walk and not faint. Isaiah 40: 31."
by William Mason
http://www.rcnz.org/meditation.htmlHow do we wait upon the Lord?
In this busy world we are conditioned to believe that doing nothing is a bad thing. To sit quietly and simply listen, to simply be, is not encouraged in our society and yet it is a wonderful method of learning to wait upon the Lord.
Our spirits today are loud, they shout and scream a lot. This often hinders our prayers. We stop for brief moments and pour out our request, our petitions, we beg God to change our situations and then we jump up and do everything in our power to fix whatever situation we are in. We do not do a lot of waiting. I am very guilty of this.
Let us sit before Him, be silent before Him, He knows our situations, He knows the desires of our heart, He knows our suffering. Let us focus on who He is, let our fervent work be spent in knowing Him more, in seeing Him more clearly, in being more like Him. That is where we will find the miracles we seek.
Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.
Psalms 27:14
Wait on the LORD, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land: when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see [it].
Psalms 37:34
Say not thou, I will recompense evil; [but] wait on the LORD, and he shall save thee.
Proverbs 20:22