Wait On the Lord

“Wait on the Lord, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land: when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it” (Psm. 37:34). “Say not thou, I will recompense evil; but wait on the Lord, and he shall save thee” (Prov. 20:22). I have just a few words today about waiting on the Lord. Most of us should know that waiting on the Lord doesn’t mean that we just kick back, do nothing, and expect him to do everything for us. What it does mean however is that we do not turn to sin or to trusting in someone or something else to get something done for us. God may use someone or something else to get things done for us, but it won’t do us much good if our trust is in another source other than him. As our text verses say, “keeping his way,” and not “recompensing evil” to someone who has wronged us is a big part of waiting on the Lord to come through for us in things that we ourselves can’t control. Sometimes we can get painted really deep into a corner with some trying circumstances, and there will probably be some temptation to do something that isn’t right, in order to get ourselves off the hook so to speak. Giving into that temptation is the opposite of waiting on the Lord, and the end result of that decision will not be good. Waiting on God is not always the quickest way to resolve our problems, but it is always the ONLY GOOD WAY! It also is the only way that produces the right, long term results in a matter. Sin is always a sure way of getting exactly the opposite of what we need to happen for us, though it may at first appear to be a nice option.

As the saying goes, “things aren’t always what they appear to be.” Waiting on God requires us to really trust that he has our best interest in mind, and that he will not fail us. It may sometimes appear that people who are doing wickedly are the ones coming out on top, but we should remember that our first text verse says otherwise. The scripture tells us, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8:28). I have to say that is a really solid promise to consider and believe. The scripture goes on to say shortly after the last verse cited, “What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? … He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? … Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? … Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:31,32,35,37-40). These are the things that our faith must be anchored to if we expect to be able to wait on the Lord for our help, rather than trust another source or turn to sin.

Jesus left heaven to pay the highest price that could possibly be paid in order to redeem us from our sins and our troubles, and to gain our ultimate trust. No greater cost can be offered than what he has already paid, and the cross of Calvary clearly tells us that we can trust and believe in all of these verses that are quoted above. There is no need for us to even think about trusting in another source, regardless of how powerful that source may seem to be. Neither is there any reason whatsoever to think that sin will bail us out, because just the opposite has been proven continually since the garden of Eden. In fact It isn’t even possible for any circumstance to NOT work out for our good if we are steadfastly determined to stay the course of doing what we know to be right, and trusting completely in Jesus to come through for us. I say it often, but the greatest of all the promises of God has to be, “for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Heb. 13:5). If God stays with us and we stay with him, we are in effect invincible whether we live or die. Jesus has won the war my friend, and he owns the victory to every single battle that any of us have, could, or will ever face. If we have his Spirit dwelling within us then we have the witness of that reality in us (I Jn. 5:6,10). Look no further than the old rugged cross to be always assured that he is for us, and that he will come through for us. We can wait on him with that assurance, and we can “keep his way” while we wait. God bless.