When you Have to Wait

Isaiah 30:15-18 ~ 

This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it. 

You said, 'No, we will flee on horses.'  Therefore you will flee! You said, 'We will ride off on swift horses.'  Therefore your pursuers will be swift! 

A thousand will flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you will all flee away, till you are left like a flagstaff on a mountaintop, like a banner on a hill." 

Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!

I'm sure you have heard of the expression, "Good things come to those who wait." I never liked that expression because I really hate waiting. I don't like the unknown and it leaves me feeling unsettled and anxious. I want OUT of whatever is causing the stress. And yet, the place of waiting is the very place where I often see the most spiritual growth in my life. 

God often calls us to wait on Him and his timing, but how often do we run ahead of the Lord and demand our own way?  I love these verses because they are such an excellent reminder of what NOT waiting will bring.

God tells us that the rescue from our circumstances comes in resting in His promises and our strength comes through quietly waiting on Him. He wants us to trust Him and let things work out in His timing.  However, so many of us struggle with that and often we insist on doing things our own way and in our own time. We want immediate relief from our problems.  

I am apt to wait for a bit and then get impatient or panicky and take matters in my own hands. There have been times in my life when I have manipulated the circumstances to have the outcome that I want.  And just like the Israelites in these verses, who find themselves standing out to their enemies, I get into a tremendous amount of trouble and really make matters worse.  

Every single time I've run ahead of God I have made a huge mess of things and I end up bearing the consequences of those decisions.  At times, it has taken years to get out from under those consequences. I'm settling for "okay" when I could have had God's "best."

When I actually do what God asks and wait for His timing, my life is peaceful and restful and things fall together in a way that only He can orchestrate. When I trust that He knows what He is doing and wait those are the times I experience the biggest blessings and growth. 

God loves us so much. He is gracious and compassionate to us.  He wants good things for us.  If we wait for Him our lives will be rich and overflowing. Our lives will be full of peace and we will have strength. But that requires trusting in Him and believing that His timing is best. Let Him work out the circumstances and the details. 

Waiting is hard and I certainly know I don't like it. Our normal response to stress or problems is fight or flight so we do everything we can to get out from under the stress. However, as we wait on Him we will see one more thing mentioned in the last verse. God is a just God and will work things out. 

We are told that when we wait for the Lord, we will be blessed. He is on our side and will not leave us hanging. Many times as I have learned to wait I see the most growth in my life. 

His timing is perfect.