Keep Calm and Wait on the Lord
Gods waiting room.
Take a moment and look around you. Do you realize where we sit? This planet is God's waiting room.
This week, I was in the waiting room with a young couple selling a home and waiting to move from Ada, while a single woman waited to sign papers on her first house. Whether it’s hospital, waiting for a baby, or doctors office, waiting for a report...we spend a lot of our time waiting . Average human spends 6 months of their lives waiting in line. 37 billion hours each year waiting somewhere .
We spend a lot of time Waiting on God to give, help, heal. Waiting on God to come.
We live in the land between prayer offered and prayer answered.
The land of waiting.
Are you in God's waiting room? If so, here is what you need to know:
While you wait, God works.
On the other side of the waiting room wall, God is working! In an unseen dimension...unrestricted by time and space, He works on your behalf.
"My Father is always at his work," Jesus said (John 5:17 NIV). God never twiddles his thumbs. He takes no vacations. He rested on the seventh day of creation but got back to work on the eighth and hasn't stopped since.
Just because you are idle, don't assume God is.
"Be still, and know that I am God" reads the sign on God's waiting room wall. You can be glad because God is good. You can be still because he is active. You can rest because he is busy.
Remember God's word through Moses to the Israelites? "Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD ... The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace" (Ex. 14:13–14). The Israelites saw the Red Sea ahead of them and heard the Egyptian soldiers thundering after them. Death on both sides. Stand still? Are you kidding?
But what the former slaves couldn't see was the hand of God at the bottom of the water, creating a path, loosening the lugnuts on the chariot wheels...and his breath from heaven, separating the waters. God was working for them.
God worked for Mary, the mother of Jesus. The angel told her that she would become pregnant. The announcement caused questions in her heart. How would she become pregnant? What would people think? What would Joseph say?
Yet God was working for her.
He sent a message to Joseph, her fiancé. God prompted Caesar to declare a census. God led the family to Bethlehem. "God is always at work for the good of everyone who loves him" (Rom. 8:28 CEV).
To wait, biblically speaking, is not to assume the worst, worry, fret, make demands, or take control. Nor is waiting inactivity.
Waiting is a sustained effort to stay focused on God through prayer and belief. To wait is to "rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him; ... not fret" (Ps. 37:7).
If you or someone you love has taken an unexpected tumble into a pit, like Joseph, all is not lost!
You are a candidate for the grace of God…He makes His grace available to those who humble themselves! James 4:6 NIV
Gen. 50:20 NASB “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.”
Joseph’s life offers this lesson: In God’s Hands intended evil becomes ultimate good!
As long as we are living in this flesh & blood world, bad things are going to happen to good people.
However, God specializes in turning scars into stars, and tragedy into triumph! He is at work in each of us!
He does not relish our sufferings, but He delights in our development!
“Our God is in the heavens, and he does as he wishes.” (Ps. 115:3 NLT)
“When the Lord All-Powerful makes a plan, no one can stop it.” (Is. 14:27 NCV)
“All the people of the earth are nothing compared to him. He does as he pleases among the angels of heaven and among the people of the earth. No one can stop him or say to him, `What do you mean by doing these things?'” (Dan. 4:35 NLT)
“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.” (Gen.50:20 NASB)
You wove evil, but God rewove it together for good. God the Master Weaver stretches the yarn and intertwines it with the velvet strings. Pain with pleasure, until a design emerges. Satan weaves; God reweaves.
It’s so easy to read about Bible characters in a few pages or paragraphs, and miss the fact that often years went by between prayers offered and prayers answered...
Noah waited 120 years for the predicted rains to come. Abraham waited 25 years for a promised son. Joseph waited 13 years from the promises dream until its fulfillment.
That’s 4,745 days hoping, waiting, trusting... 284,700 minutes to ponder the fact that his answered was delayed. God, where are you? When will I be vindicated? When is my deliverance going to come?
Delay does not mean denial!
Delay does not mean denial!
Job waited perhaps his whole life… 60-70 years for God’s justice.
What are you trusting The Master for today? Are you willing to wait on the Lord?
God prepares leaders in a slow-cooker, not a microwave. More important than the awaited goal is the work God does in us while we wait.
Waiting deepens and matures us. It levels our perspectives and broadens our understanding.
Remember, Isaiah 40:31 AMP “But those who wait for the Lord [ who expect, look for, and hope in Him] shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up [close to God] as eagles [mount up to the sun], they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint or become tired.”
Testing time is actually a season of preparation. Can you stick it out? Can you endure to the end? These times may seem unfruitful from the outside. However, James , “Let patience have her perfect work, that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” NIV James 1 :2-4
Tests also indicate whether we can recognize and seize opportunities which come our way.
Hebrews 12:1-3 NIV “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”
Don’t see your struggles as an interruption to life, but as preparation for life!
Deliverance is a main theme of the Bible--- It’s everywhere!
Out of the lion’s den for Daniel, the prison for Peter, the whale for Jonah. God gets us “through” stuff.
In fact, “through” is one of God’s favorite words—Through the Red Sea onto dry ground…Through the wilderness into a land flowing with milk and honey!…through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art WITH ME !
“The Lord was with Joseph” is a common theme in his life story! The Lord was with Gideon, with Samson, with David, with Moses, and He is with you!
“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you.” (Is. 43:2 NKJV)
Remember , today...whatever you’re going through...you’re going through!!