Wait on the Lord
by Marilyn Worley
This lesson is one all of you have no doubt read or studied about. Or like me, you know it backward and forward until the time comes to put it into practice. It goes like this. You have a real need. You go to the source, Jesus Christ, to get an answer. You pray with all your heart. You have faith to believe He hears you--the word says so! So you wait and wait for an answer. You pray some more.
The Bible says ask and keep asking, seek and keep seeking, knock & keep knocking and it shall be opened to you. You wait so long you begin to think “it’s not His will. Or, He’s gone to sleep. I’m not praying correctly, or maybe I just think I have faith. But, nothing. You wait so long you begin to work out your problem yourself. Your faith weakens. You quit asking & decide to give up. As Pastor Harris says, “We pray with the idea in mind that if God doesn’t answer, then we’ll go to Plan B.” No wonder He doesn’t answer.
Isaiah 40:29-31 “He gives power to the weak. And to those who have no might he increases strength. Even the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”
What is He talking about, wait on the Lord? How does our strength increase while we wait on the Lord? How does one mount up to high heights as the eagle does? How does waiting keep us from growing weary? He promises we will not faint--we will not grow weary--we will walk and not faint.
I’d like to approach the verse from the bottom up: start with walking.
First as babies we must learn to walk before we run. Fly like an eagle? Come on……….
WALKING WITH THE LORD
As new born Christians walking with the Lord, we have to practice walking. We stumble and fall down, and our parents help us start over. We get back up over and over, then become stronger. We are learning to WALK.
A. We will stumble: As new Christians, we will sin. We ask God and He forgives. He’s patient, long suffering and kind. The Lord knows our weaknesses. He knows how to put us back up on our feet. We start over.
B. As a baby we have to have food to survive. Same as a new Christian. Our food comes from the word of God. Read it daily. Study it. Learn what God says.
C. I Peter 2:2 says “As new born babes, desire the milk of the word, that you may grow thereby. 1. Are you just beginning your walk with the Lord - or trying to walk a walk worthy of His calling every day. Which ever, we begin slowly. All our lives, we continue our walk with the Lord, growing little by little, becoming stronger and stronger as we follow His ways.
2. As an 8 year old child I was taught the scriptures in Sunday School. One of the first ones I learned was “Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”
Psalms 16:11 “You show me the path of life: In Your presence is fullness of joyPsalms 27:11 David said, “Teach me Your way, O Lord, and lead me in a smooth path. We know that sometimes the path is anything but smooth.
D. He promises that if we walk with Him and wait on Him, we will not become faint. We won’t be apt to give up when the going gets tough.
1. Keep his laws and testimonies. We have to learn them first.
2. Seek Him with our whole heart!. Walk according to His commandments. Let Him direct our paths -- not think we can figure it all out on our own.
3. Prayer is important. “The Bible says to ask, seek and knock. He opens the door. We can for His wisdom. He delights to share His wisdom with us.
4. “Trust, (depend on, rely on) in the Lord with all your heart, lean not to your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your path.” Heb. For “ways”: A road, or a path. Heb. For “ acknowledge”
Observe or investigate. Investigate what? What is His written will for my life.
Galatians 5:16 "If we walk in the Spirit, we will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. Walking in the Spirit includes letting the Fruit of the Spirit become an every day part of your life. We should be growing regularly in love, forgiveness, longsuffering, patience , kindness, etc.
RUN AND NOT BE WEARY
A. As we grow we become able to Run. A child has so much energy he runs every where - no longer satisfied with just walking - holding Moms hand. He has a mind of his own. At this point, we can remember what we have learned, and mature, or decide we want our own will. But he Holy Spirit is there to encourage, teach and guide if you’ll listen. Philippines 2:12 - 16 Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; do all things without complaining; be blameless and harmless in the midst of a crooked world; Vs. 16...” hold fast the word of life, so I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain.”
Lesson here: Be very serious about how you go about your life (fear & trembling). Don’t come to the end and regret the way you ran.
B. We are running the Christian race of FAITH.
Hebrews 12:1 says, starting in the middle of a sentence…..let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Vs. 2 says, Jesus endured the cross. He knows how to help us endure the hardest of battles - He’s been there, done that. B. We are running the Christian race of Endurance.
1. We learn to endure the hostility of those who are not Christians. The word says to consider what Christ endured from sinners, so we don’t become weary. “Do not become weary in well-doing. We shall reap if we don’t faint.
2. We grow by enduring the chastening of the Lord. If we are to become strong and over-comers, then know that God deals with us as sons. He corrects us because He loves us and wants us to succeed and grow. It may be painful but it produces the peaceable fruit of righteousness.
HOW DOES THE EAGLE FLY ? How do we mount up with wings as eagles? The eagles have the God given strength of wind under their wings. They are powerful. They have keen eyes so they can see a long distance. We have the wind of God in the power of the Holy Spirit who dwells within us and we can through His power - no power of our own - be not only an over-comer for Christ, but we can do be all God wants us to be, and do all He wants us to do.
We can accomplish so much more than we ever imagined we could do - for His kingdom and for His glory! That’s why we’re here in the first place: to glorify God in our whole being.
STRENGTH; He renews our strength. How? We wait on Him. Example of waiting: Abraham and Sarah - waiting on the promise of a son. He decided to believe God’ word.
It was not an easy thing for Abraham & Sarah. As Abraham waited for God’s answer, his
Faith probably wavered many times--but he never gave up believing God’s promises would come to pass. Ps.37:39 He is their strength in the time of trouble because they trust in Him. Ps. 27:14 Wait on the Lord, be of good courage and He will strengthen your heart. Wait I say on the Lord.
Be of good courage. He will strengthen your heart !
WAITING ON THE LORD Do you get weary of waiting on God to answer your prayers?
Ps. 37:7 Rest in the Lord, wait patiently for Him; Rest, Wait patiently.
Ps. 25:2 & 3 O my God, I trust in You; Let me not be ashamed; Let not my enemies triumph over me. Indeed, let no one who waits on You be ashamed. (Ashamed meaning: Embarrassed or disappointed). Verse 5: Lead me in Your truth and teach me for You are the God of my salvation. On You I wait all the day.
We should never be disappointed with God’s answer. He will lead us in truth.
Ps. 40:1 I waited patiently for the Lord and He inclined to me. And in verse 2, He established my steps. Wait patiently. He will direct our path.
Lamentations 3:25, 26 The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should hope and wait quietly. HOW?
Seek the Lord. Hope in His word to come to pass, and wait quietly. The Lord is good to these Hebrew: Wait: Quavah (kah-vah) To look for, expect, hope. It expresses the idea of waiting hopefully. (Not just waiting).
Hebrew: Hope: Hosea 2:15 Hebrew (tiqvah) Yearning for something. Another definition for Hope is: (elpis) Not in the sense or optimistic outlook or wishful thinking without a foundation to base your hope on. Confident expectation with a sure basis.
WHAT IS THE SURE BASIS WE CAN PLACE OUR EXPECTATION FOR AN ANSWER ON? Wait for Him; Seek the Lord. Hope and wait quietly. Have a confident expectation based on the promises of the Word of God. His Word is sure. It will not return void. Trust in God’s word only. Man will fail you.
Waiting on the Lord also conveys the idea of Service to Him. Think of a waiter in a restaurant. Their desire is to fulfill your needs. God needs, love, obedience, faithfulness, service, fellowship etc. And above, He wants us to believe His word. Are we waiting on Him or wanting Him to wait on us?
While waiting on God, rehearse the things God has promised in His word. Read His word out loud. Every morning Earl & I each read a scripture from Ruth Graham’s box scriptures. We have repeated reading the box many times and each time the word becomes richer, and you begin to know them by heart. Meditate on his Word.
Faith looks forward to what God says He will do. It also looks backward at what God already done for you. Praise and thank Him for the answer before you ever see it. (This is trusting His word--not naming it to claim it.) Talk to Him, and He will talk back to you through the avenue of His Word and His Holy Spirit. It’s a WIN-WIN.
God wants our praise. That is an important part of waiting on the Lord. Psalms is full of ways to express your praise to Him. And He in habit’s (dwells among) the praises of His people. In true praise, His presence is all around us.
So waiting on the Lord (which renews our strength) is an exercise in not only waiting for answers we need--but mostly concentrating on what God wants from us. And trusting Him and expecting His word to come to pass. The word says He desires to give us good things. This takes time and our whole, dedicated desire to be all we can be for Him. To sum it all up: Walk His path; it’s straight & narrow but His power makes it possible. Run with patience; Endure the hardships; Keep the goal ahead of you in mind. Soar like an Eagle above all adversity. See the BIG picture.
Above all, wait on His with praise and expectation in His Word.
We grow from glory to glory. We don’t set aside any phase of our journey, we just keep adding to it as God matures us.
