Monday, July 5: Wait on the Lord

Most married couples are on slightly different schedules when it comes to going somewhere. Typically, women take longer to get ready, which probably has more to do with their appearance, though getting the children ready also can add a huge variable to the equation. I know that it takes longer for any woman to fix her hair than it does for a bald man like me! Yet there are marriages where the men do the dilly-dallying, and the women do the waiting. I am not going to mention any names (well, okay then, Mark)! One of my most rigid personality traits is timeliness, and I find myself arriving most places way in advance of the appointed hour just to ensure that I am not late. In 20 years of teaching tennis, I have been late for two lessons, and though it was out of my control, it panicked me.


Maybe that is part of the reason that the Lord stretches me in that regard. God’s time is certainly different than ours, as we are told that to Him, a thousand years are like a day and a day is like a thousand years (2 Peter 3:8 and Psalm 90:4). But we know that the omniscient God cannot act too early or too late. He only can be perfectly on time, and accomplish the perfect task. In the meantime, God requires us to wait on Him. He is not doing His hair; but mostly, He is getting His children ready! I love this verse written by King David:


1  I waited patiently for the LORD; And He inclined to me,
And heard my cry.
2  He also brought me up out of a horrible pit,
Out of the miry clay,
And set my feet upon a rock,
And established my steps.
Psalm 40:1-2


Ten years ago, many aspects of my life seemed to be so much easier than they are today. My financial future seemed solid, I seemed to have many friends, I was attending parties regularly but I didn’t have a Savior, and didn't know how badly I needed one. Certainly, the apparent happiness was accomplished with smoke and mirrors, as my feet were planted on shifting sand. But God took control of my life and placed my feet on Christ, the solid Rock, my foundation and salvation. This week seemed to contain another financial setback, but the reminder is to wait on the Lord. Last night, I re-read “The Wait Poem,” by Russell Kelfer. I hope it blesses you as much as it did me:

Desperately, helplessly, longingly, I cried;
Quietly, patiently, lovingly, God replied.
I pled and I wept for a clue to my fate...
and the Master so gently said, "Wait."


"Wait? You say wait?" (my indignant reply).
"Lord, I need answers, I need to know why!
Is your hand shortened? Or have you not heard?
By faith I have asked, and I'm claiming your Word.


My future and all to which I relate
Hangs in the balance and you tell me to wait?"
I'm needing a 'yes', a go-ahead sign
Or even a 'no,' to which I'll resign.


You promised, dear Lord, that if we believe,
We need but to ask, and we shall receive.
Lord, I've been asking, and this is my cry:
I'm weary of asking! I need a reply.”


Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate
as my Master replied again, "Wait."
So I slumped in my chair, defeated and taut,
and grumbled to God, "So, I'm waiting...for what?"


He seemed then to kneel, and His eyes met with mine...
and He tenderly said, "I could give you a sign.
I could shake the heavens and darken the sun.
I could raise the dead and cause mountains to run.


I could give all you seek and pleased you would be.
You'd have what you want, but you wouldn't know Me.
You'd not know the depth of My love for each saint.
You'd not know the power that I give to the faint.


You'd not learn to see through clouds of despair;
You'd not learn to trust just by knowing I'm there.
You'd not know the joy of resting in Me
when darkness and silence are all you can see.


You'd never experience the fullness of love
when the peace of My spirit descends like a dove.
You would know that I give, and I save, for a start,
But you'd not know the depth of the beat of My heart,


The glow of My comfort late into the night,
the faith that I give when you walk without sight.
The depth that's beyond getting just what you ask
From an infinite God who makes what you have last.


You'd never know should your pain quickly flee,
what it means that My grace is sufficient for thee.
Yes, your dearest dreams overnight would come true,
but oh, the loss if I lost what I'm doing in you.


So, be silent, my child, and in time you will see
that the greatest of gifts is to truly know me.
And though oft My answers seem terribly late,
My most precious answer of all is still "WAIT".


Are there difficulties facing you right now? Have you spent many hours talking to the Lord on your knees, but felt like He is not listening, or not answering? He always hears and always answers, either yes, no or not now. Trust Him. He provides all that we need. God fed the Jews manna in the wilderness for 40 years. They did not miss a meal!  Not one sandal or garment wore out on that journey, as God doesn’t just provide, but provides miraculously. As the wonderful poem reminds us, God wants us to rely on Him!


And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 2 Corinthians 12:9