Waiting on the Lord

Three-legged race

Ever done one? It’s really awkward isn’t it?

Everyone’s an expert on how to do it aren’t they?

I tell you, I’ve done some. In high school we used to have a class competition day where we’d compete in quasi-athletic challenges and the winners got nothing but pride.

I never did the three-legged race. I hated it.

Who are you tied up to today? Isaiah 40:30

Isaiah 40:30 HCSB

Youths may faint and grow weary, and young men stumble and fall,

Isaiah 40:31 (HCSB)

but those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength; they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not faint.

The Hebrew word for wait or trust, that is used in this version, is qavah. It means to be intertwined or to be bound together. It means you tie your life up with God. Just like in a three-legged race, you have to be in sync. We have to be in sync with God. So when He runs, we run. When he pauses, we pause.

Why is it we have such a problem with waiting?

I think it’s because speed is a drug for our flesh.

Slow is a necessary nutrient for our spirit.

Waiting is where faith actually becomes necessary.

I mean think about it, a god of immediate gratification requires no faith.

Ask, boom.

It’s in the waiting where faith develops

What are you waiting for today? Are you waiting for the end or are you waiting for faith to do it’s work before the end?

It’s in the three days in the tomb before the resurrection that faith does it’s work.

The presence of silence never equals the absence of God

On the other side of this thing, I’ll have a richer, deeper, more alive, fruitful faith.

the challenge of waiting is for faith to do its work

He could move infinitely fast, but He moves excruciatingly slow.

Why do we desire God to move faster?

Is it because we are uncomfortable with silence? Yes.

Is it because we are afraid of waiting? Yes.

I think it’s also because we have chosen pace over presence. Pace isn’t everything - presence is everything.

If we are going slow, and waiting is happening, then that means you are probably intertwined with Him.

Are you as close as you can be with Him?