Tag: wait on the Lord

Restoration in God’s Time

Old Testament: Job 19-21

Poetry: Psalm 40

New Testament: John 20

There is an expression about starting a family that has passed down from one generation to the next that goes something like this: “If you wait to start having children until you’re ready, you will never have them.”  There is much truth in this.  While you can prepare for being a parent by accumulating wealth, knowledge, and supplies, no one can really be prepared to take care of a tiny, fragile human 24 hours a day without on-the-job training.  Being that my wife and I’s first experience of inexperience was with twins, we felt conservatively confident that we could manage it when we found out child three was going to be a singleton birth.  However, I wasn’t ready for what would happen prior to Violet being born.

As I mentioned in the first blog in this series, my health spiraled out of control a couple months ago, which culminated in a scary visit to the ER.  Out of all the doubts and worries that penetrated my mind, I wondered how I would be an effective father when my heart was beating rapidly and I couldn’t catch my breath putting my children in their car seats. God, why now? My Heavenly Father and I talked a lot about it, and He gave me peace in my restlessness. How I see it now.  He placed me there to deliver me.  He broke me then to prepare me for my present. He worked through the people around me to heal me for my growing family. His timing is always perfect, and I wish I always saw it this clearly.

“I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God.” – Psalm 40:1,3

Throughout the course of this week, we have focused on Trusting God’s plan. He will most certainly take us where we need to go to align our steps closer to His.  It is possible we need to spend time in the desert to clearly focus on what God is calling us to. Sometimes, we need a season of mourning to remember His promise of the life to come. It could be that we need our possessions removed to see every good and perfect gift. God makes it clear He will deliver us, but He sets the schedule. He does not hang healing over our heads so we learn a lesson.  He helps us to see Him more clearly, and He uses both our struggle and restoration as a testimony to Him.  The words of Job ring true with this when he states, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end He will stand on the earth. Yet in my flesh I will see God.” (Job 19:25-27)  While this speaks of a promise to come, literal restored men and women being with their God, we can also see God as He works in us in the seasons of feast and famine.

“‘Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?’… Jesus said to her, ‘Mary.’ She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, ‘Rabboni!'” – John 20: 11, 16

God has promised to hear our cry, so why are we bemoaning? Why are we crying?  We don’t grieve like those who have no hope.  There is nothing that can be taken away that God cannot restore one-hundred-fold. Our Rabboni, Jesus Christ, is the firstfruits, and we will be restored like Him at the hour the Father has set.  We cannot accumulate enough wealth, knowledge, or supplies to be prepared  for every downfall or pitfall set before us, but in our dire circumstances, we can wait on the Lord for He will renew our strength in his perfect time.

-Aaron Winner

Reflection Questions

  1. As part of your personal testimony, can you tell of a time God has used both your struggle and your restoration to draw you closer to Him?
  2. What does waiting patiently on the Lord look and sound like?
  3. From God’s word and/or from your own life, what have you learned about God’s timing?
  4. What has God shown you about Himself in your Bible reading today?
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Wait on You

Psalm 129-131

Today, we will be reading Psalm 129-131. I immediately resonated with Psalm 129 where the author expresses being attacked for their youth. All of us understand the feeling of being underestimated. It’s humiliating. Assumptions are made before you have the opportunity to be heard. We are placed into boxes before we get the chance to prove ourselves. Honestly, it’s frustrating. 

Isn’t it amazing that God values young minds? He is righteous. This makes him just. He is able to cut through every stereotype and see the man or woman that you are made to be. 

However, being a young mind myself, I have a tendency to be impatient. This idea takes us to Psalm 130. 

If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,

    Lord, who could stand?

But there is forgiveness with you,

    so that you may be revered.     Psalm 130:3 

While we are bogged down by our own shortcomings and societal stereotypes, God stands for us and forgives. Instead of trying to rush my life to measure up to the world, shouldn’t I wait on the LORD? 

That is so much easier said than done. This author of Psalms says “My soul waits, and in his word I hope”. Our souls should be steady in God. As we eagerly hope for the Kingdom to come, we should have settled patience now. 

But, in this waiting, should we sit with our hands behind our backs doing absolutely nothing? Of course not. Waiting on the LORD means trusting and relying upon his wisdom in our lives, and understanding that he knows what is best for us. 

In this waiting, you can hear his voice more clearly. You can see him move in your life with clarity. Resting your heart on God means that you will be more available for him to intercede on your behalf. 

But I have calmed and quieted my soul,

    like a weaned child with its mother;

    my soul is like the weaned child that is with me.  Psalm 131:2 

Allowing yourself to be filled with peace is what leads to spiritual maturity and growth. It places you one step ahead of the people who underestimate you unjustly. 

Today’s song is Wait on You by Maverick City Music. Listen to all 9 minutes and 24 seconds. It’s worth it. 

Those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength… that’s what happens when you wait! 

-Leslie Jones

Read or listen to today’s Bible reading plan passages at BibleGateway.com here – Psalm 129-131 and Ezekiel 41-42

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Receive Salvation not Wrath

Isaiah 31-32 and 1 Thessalonians 5

There is so much Paul still wants to say as he is wrapping up his first (recorded) letter to the Thessalonians. Perhaps the mailman is standing at the door ready to take the letter as Paul is finishing up. His writing style is often long winding sentences with many phrases linked together in what English teachers would now call run-on sentences. But he doesn’t have time for that today. He switches to short powerful sentences. “Be joyful always. Pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). He has a lot to pack into his final instructions. Many of them deal with specifics on how to please God and how to love others (our two categories from the previous chapter that we are to do more and more). So, read them carefully and take note of how you are doing in these categories.

Paul also takes a final opportunity to remind them/us of the coming day of the Lord. Paul says this day will bring surprise destruction for many. It also becomes a great time to teach a bit on God’s character. Paul writes, “For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.” This reminds me of a beautiful passage from our reading in Isaiah yesterday, “Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!” (Isaiah 30:18). God longs to see His people saved from the coming destruction. In the time of Isaiah. In the time of Paul. And, in our time. God longs to see His people saved from the coming destruction, but that does not mean that there won’t be a coming destruction for those who have turned their backs on Him, rejecting Him and His Son.

In Isaiah 31 we read of trouble and God’s judgment coming to the wicked and to those who have turned from God. He denounces those who see they need help – but turn to human allies or their own strength instead of turning to God. They have failed to wait on the LORD, and for them, judgment is coming. God’s perfect plan of salvation requires His children to seek God and accept the salvation offered through His Son Jesus. A response on your part is required to avoid the coming wrath and receive salvation instead.

I will end today, as each of the chapters of 1st Thessalonians have ended, with a reminder of the coming return of Christ. “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.” (1 Thesssalonians 5:23-24).

-Marcia Railton

Today’s Bible reading plan passages can be read or listened to at BibleGateway.com here – Isaiah 31-32 and 1 Thessalonians 5

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Waiting – Patiently

psalm 37 7a

Psalm 37:7 “Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.”

Waiting, especially for a response to prayer, is always hard. How often have you asked God for guidance, only to be met with silence?  It is hard to be patient when others around you are succeeding. How do you respond to the times the answer to prayer is “Wait”? God will always help those who call on Him, sometimes He is waiting for us to be obedient.

Often when we are unsure of the direction God has for us, we seek help from other Christian friends.

Reflect on a time an answer to prayer was “Wait.” How did you respond? Do you have a trusted friend or mentor to help you be patient as you wait for God’s direction? Take some time to pray for them. Work on being patient as you wait on the Lord.

-Susan Johnson