The Pitfalls of Waiting - Isaiah 30:18 Part V

The Pitfall of Waiting – Isaiah 30:18 – Part V

Admittedly, it is most difficult to trust someone whom one does not really know well.  Business, ministry, politics, education and other types of collaboration are fundamentally accomplished through mutually beneficial relationships between people who trust each other.  It is rare that people will entrust their finances, secrets, private affairs, etc. to someone whom they do not consider to be trustworthy.  Likewise, we trust God as the Lord of our lives to the degree that we have gotten to know His character, faithfulness, lovingkindness and unfailing love for us.  Periods of waiting enable us to establish a greater bond with the Lord.  As we more greatly learn His divine attributes, we will inevitably learn to trust Him.

Often, I find myself being anxious when I am unsure about a plan of action.  The problems in and of themselves do not cause unease on my behalf.  A lack of clarity about how I will resolve most definitely makes me afraid that I will be victimized by some foreboding danger without the ability to avoid or prevent it.  In a very human way, I resort to my alternative set of plans.  Instead, I must remember to follow the dictates of scripture which directs me to trust in the Lord with all my might; lean not to my own understanding; realizing that in all my ways, God will direct my steps.  Accordingly, seasons of waiting lend themselves exclusively to the spiritual development of learning to seek the “good, pleasing and perfect will of God.”  I must wait for the revelation of the godly ordained plans for my life.

The last benefit to waiting on the Lord is the surprises that we receive when we are patient and allow the will of Almighty God to unfold in our lives.  Ephesians 3:20 assures us that God is able “to do exceedingly abundantly more than we can ask or imagine of Him, according to His power that is at work within us.”  Oftentimes, God requires that we wait as He transforms the dire conditions in our lives into unimaginable blessings.  God meets us at the point of our greatest defeat and He does the unimaginable!  That is the promise of the resurrection.  Instead of a grave, we find an empty tomb.  Instead of death and defeat, we discover new life and victory.  Like Joseph, we recognized that God takes the evil of others and changes it into a blessing for us.  However, as Joseph waited and lingered within prison unjustly, we must marinate in the sauces of situation until God has done with unimaginable.

Finally, I remind us of the way in which the psalmist encourages himself at the end of the twenty-seventh psalm.  He says to his soul, “Be of good courage and wait on the Lord.  Wait, I say on the Lord!”