The Four-Letter Word that Works Wonders: WAIT

Introducing CBF's New Radio Program: "Capturing His Conscience"!

We are excited to announce that last week, CBF began a new radio program, “Capturing His Conscience.” It airs on WCNO 89.9 weekly for 30 minutes on Thursdays and Saturdays at 1:00 PM. You can also listen online via the WCNO web site:www.wcno.com. Be sure to tune in as CBF expands its ministry to further the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

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May 4, 2014

Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD. 
- Psalm 27:14 (KJV)

Have you ever been told to wait? By nature we are usually inclined to despise the directive to wait!  To be told to wait is often interpreted as unjust and insensitive. The prevailing attitude is that waiting is an impediment to my immediate indulgence!  Too many of us are cemented in this culture of immediate gratification.

In Hebrews 12:16-17 we see the consequence of Esau’s unwillingness to wait.

Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears. 
– Hebrews 12:16-17 (KJV)

Too often like a famished Esau, we are willing to forfeit it all for a pot of pleasure. Furthermore, our pursuit for instant pleasure will bring joy that powered us to the skies. However, our bliss is just as brief as the sight of a shooting star and our short-term pleasure parks us in long-term problems. In contrast, waiting walks us into wisdom.

Let's visit what it means to wait on the Lord.  The word wait is defined as: to look for, hope, expect or look eagerly for something or someone.  What is it that you are waiting on the Lord for?  He has given us a four-letter word in order to place us in the position to experience the power His presence in our lives.

When we examine the scriptures, we will witness a number of individuals and in some instances, a nation, waiting on God to grant their supplications or move and engage in a specific way in their lives.  On many occasions God's people, Israel, waited for deliverance from captivity and servitude.  Jacob worked and waited seven years for Rachel.  David cried out to God and waited for deliverance for himself and destruction for his enemies.  Job waited for answers while he was captured in catastrophe! I submit to you that waiting will work wonders when we petition for the pleasantries of life and when we request a rescue from persistent emotional and physical pain.  None of us are exempt from the waiting room of life: an answer about a prospective job; an acceptance letter from college, the approval of a grant, the salvation of a family member or friend, the test results from the doctor's office, or direction in your spiritual life. The opportunities to wait on the Lord and the lessons that come with it are plentiful and inevitable.

Consider the following tool that will teach us to transform our understanding of what it means to wait on the Lord:

W-anting His will
A-biding in Him
I-nviting His Influence
T-rusting His purposes and outcome for our lives

Did you notice that waiting it is about Him? Because it is in Him that we will experience the wonder of His strength and peace as we wait. We will also prevail and procure courage by relying on Him and trusting His purposes.  When we wait, we do not decide to retreat but determine to be resolute!

Waiting on the Lord by faith and not being engaged in our feelings will keep our spirits and harden our hearts in the midst of the most complicated challenges, the greatest dangers and difficulties: David speaks from a position of faith and experience when he writes in Psalm 40:1, “I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry” (KJV).

NOT A SERMON BUT A THOUGHT

- PBKSr.