DeAnda

I believe that learning how to wait on the Lord is one of the hardest lessons to learn as a Christian.
To wait on the Lord we have to be willing to leave whatever request we have at his feet and trust
that our requests were heard, and we wait….

How do we wait on the Lord? One way to wait on the Lord is by praying continuously. Luke 18:1-5
tells the parable of the persistent widow. The widow keeps going to this judge asking him to grant
her justice against her enemy. The judge gets so tired of seeing this woman that he grants her
request. When we are persistent in our prayers it not only shows God how serious we are about our
prayer request, but it also keeps our focus on Him.

David was a great example of someone who kept their focus on God. His prayers in the Psalms show
how much he loved God and wanted to hear from God. Psalm 130:5 I wait for the Lord, my soul
waits and in his word I put my hope.

We not only find our hope in His word, but we find patience there also. Patience can come while we
are listening to hear from the Lord. James 1:19 encourages us to be quick to listen, slow to
speak, and slow to become angry. I love this scripture because the opposite of these words is
what happens when we don't wait on the Lord. I use to be a pretty impatient driver, and when that
impatience hit me I would begin to yell at the cars in front of me to drive faster and before I knew it
I was angry. Isn't that what happens when God doesn't answer our prayers in "our" time frame? We
stop listening and we start complaining about how He hasn't answered our prayers, and then we get
mad at Him. If we take the time to just listen; and we hear His voice, just maybe He will lead us to
the answer we have been waiting for.

Besides listening and reading His word, God wants us to do what the word says also. James 1:22:
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. (23) Anyone
who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a
mirror (24) and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks
like. (25) But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and
continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it-he will be blessed in
what he does.

I hope you caught the last part of that scripture; "he will be blessed in what he does!" God wants
to bless us, but we have to wait on Him by meeting with Him on a regular basis. Jeremiah
29:11-13 says: (11) For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to
prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (12) Then you will call
upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. (13) You will seek me and find
me when you seek me with all your heart. When life is unclear, know that our Lord is waiting for
you to meet with Him, and although the answer to those prayers may seem long overdue, His timing
is perfect.

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 can resign.

"You promised, dear Lord, that if we believe,
We need but to ask, and we shall receive.
And 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 you missed 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."