The Weight of the Wait
A plumber rang the doorbell.
When a woman answered the door, He greeted, “Good morning, ma’am, I’m the plumber. I’ve come to fix the pipe.”
“But I didn’t call a plumber.”
“You didn’t? Aren’t you Mrs. Foster?”
“No, she moved away a year ago.”
“How do you like that? They call a plumber, claiming it’s an emergency, and then they move away!”
How often have we felt like we are in a crisis and we call out to the Lord and we get no response. Christians sometimes feel like they need an answer from God and they need it now!
Some of us are burdened for our children: we are concerned about our grandchildren and their walk with the Lord in this evil world. We have God-honoring uneasiness about the strength of their faith. From the Scriptures we are exhorted to trust the Lord and calm our souls.
We need to remember, each of our children are on a spiritual pilgrimage. Everyone’s journey is different. Some of our earnest prayers for our family will not be answered till long after we are with the Lord.
At the age of 85, Abraham received the promise from God that he would have a child. At 99, he was still waiting. As a matter of fact, when he and Sarah became impatient they messed up the clear promise of God. Remember Sarah’s handmaid was impregnated by Abraham. Something disastrous like this usually what happens when we take things into our own hands, short-circuiting God’s pure plan.
David prayed something like this many times in the book of the Psalms; “Make me to know Your ways, O Lord; teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; for You I wait all the day” (Psalm 25:4, 5). These words remind us what we can do as we wait on the Lord:
- Anticipate His leading, pursue the sovereign ways He revealed Himself in His Word. Study the paths He has demonstrated in the lives of other biblical believers.
- Track the truths of God’s character disclosed in His Word. A study of the attributes of God will help us understand why we can trust Him.
- Embrace the Lord in every activity of your life as you look forward to His direction. Don’t sit and fold your hands. God’s people continued moving as the Lord directed them in the Bible. It is much easier to direct a moving object.
Warren Wiersbe makes the observation, “The ability to calm your soul and wait before God is one of the most difficult things in the Christian life. Our old nature is restless…the world around us is frantically in a hurry. But a restless heart usually leads to a reckless life.” … “Men’s Life”, Spring, 1998
So as you wait on the Lord, trust Him and “calm your soul”.
