![]() ![]() “The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want. “Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the LORD!” Psalm 31:24įinally, think about one of the most oft-quoted verses in all of the Bible: “Wait for the LORD be strong, and let your heart take courage Wait for the LORD!” Psalm 27:14 “Our soul waits for the LORD he is our help and our shield.” Psalm 33:20 For example, consider these passages and notice the relationship between waiting on God and finding strength in God: In the Psalms we find a repository of prayers to God, many of them ask God for help. In God alone do we find the strength to tread life’s troubled waters. Our helplessness becomes especially obvious during times of calamity. “ Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.” Proverbs 3:5 3. We should not try to fix things on our own, but come to terms with our dependence upon our good and sovereign God Lord and trust him to help us. Our response to this reality should be to turn to the Lord in faith and wait upon him. “ You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.” 1 Corinthians 6:19 While it is true that all of God’s creation belongs to God and is dependent upon him, it is also true that those who have been adopted in Christ have a special belonging and dependence upon God as a Father. And as the Apostle Paul expressed in Romans 11:36, from God are all things. As Job rightly confessed, it is the Lord who gives and takes away (Job 1:21). But the truth is, we are all dependent upon God for even our next heartbeat. We want the freedom and independence to do whatever we want to do, when, where, and how we want to do it. ![]() ![]() It’s natural for us all to want to be individualists. Coming to terms with our dependence upon GodĬonnected to the doctrine of God’s sovereignty is the co-reality of our complete dependence upon him for all things. Sometimes the most difficult thing for us to do is to do nothing at all-nothing except wait upon the Lord. However, God will “fix” things in a much better way than we ever could. If it were up to us, we would make an even bigger mess of things. As much as we may want to “fix” this problem, we are first to wait upon the Lord by acknowledging his sovereign purpose in it. And we cannot straighten what God has made crooked. Yes, even our present predicament is of the Lord. “ Consider the work of God: who can make straight what he has made crooked? In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him.” Here’s what the wise king says in Ecclesiastes 7:13–14. In order to get good at waiting, we first need to acknowledge that God is sovereign and nothing we are presently experiencing is outside of his eternal decree and direct oversight. Acknowledging God’s sovereign control of all things Here are nine ways we can practice biblical waiting. Thus, waiting upon God is a spiritual discipline that we should seek to practice in our lives. Biblical waiting is not a passive activity, but is demonstrated by active dependence upon and obedience to God. When the Bible speaks of waiting, it’s an entirely different thing than what we do after we take a number at the motor vehicle department. Right now, most of the world is paralyzed as we all remain hunkered down in our homes waiting for this coronavirus plague to loosen its grip. Waiting is practically synonymous with doing nothing besides just sitting there fidgeting with our phones or staring at the ceiling expecting the clock’s second hand to keep on ticking. When we think of waiting, we often think of passivity. What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word, “Wait”? Trying to get into a popular restaurant on a Friday night? Rush hour traffic? Important test results, perhaps? ![]()
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