Waiting On God’s Timing
Due to the depth and relevance of this article we have decided to republish it. We pray it is a blessing to your heart. Original Publish Date Dec 3, 2011
Waiting on God’s timing is one of the hardest things that a Christian has to do. Sometimes it feels like our prayers are going unheard. Of course, this is not the case. But the feeling is so real.
The verse below, Isaiah 49:23, is one that spoke to my heart a few years ago. At that time things did not seem, by appearance, to be going very well in our lives. Sometimes reading the Old Testament can almost seem cumbersome. I know of more than one church member who started out reading through the Bible and ‘died’ somewhere in the Major Prophets. But I have found it really worth the effort to continue on. Every word of God is precious and has a reason for being there. The gems hidden deep in some of the passages can transform your life, strengthen your walk, and help to mature us as Believers.
During the trial a few years ago my daily Bible reading brought me to Isaiah 49:23. This is a large verse, about 52 words, but the end of it tells so much.
“And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers: they shall bow down to thee with their face towards the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord: for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me”. Isaiah 49:23
The last ten words spoke volumes to me. “…for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me”.
The Loneliness of the Christian Walk
Sometimes our Christian walk can seem like a lonely one. The Bible speaks of droughts and famines, times of plenty and vast harvests, battles and defeats, wars and victories. All of these are the tapestry of this world. And so our lives are traced with similar circumstances. Each time you make a decision that honors the Lord you have won and the victory is the Lord’s. Every time we succumb to sin, the defeat is just as real.
At times we put the Lord first and wait. Truly, in this life, waiting a year for an answer is a long time. Waiting three years is difficult. And waiting fifteen years is more than some can endure.
Often our Pastor Mike Lemmon has referred to how God made him wait until he was 31 before he even met his wife. In that time frame he didn’t date or have a girl friend. He simply stayed faithful in church, lived his life like he was going to have a wife (putting his house in order, paying off debts, staying at home in the evenings) but he was not looking. He was doing his looking from his prayer closet. Needless to say God heard those prayers and gave him a wife in 1998.
Waiting is not easy, but it is necessary!
Yes, waiting is not easy! But is it necessary. It is a vital part of our faith. And here, among the Major Prophets we find this tail end of a verse. This is a promise to those who diligently read through and paid attention as they read. I wonder how many things I have missed by day dreaming while I did my devotions…
When you are in the mists of trials it is easy to get discouraged and quit. Let’s face it– we have all been there. Defeat first occurs in our own hearts. It is our human conclusion to the trials we face. In Proverbs 23:7 “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.” If we have an attitude of defeat then we are conquered!
But for those, to those, who will persevere – verses like this are so precious.
God’s timing is perfect. Our job is to wait on him. Our assurance is when we do wait on him we will not be ashamed. We will be rejoicing because we stayed the course, and no one will have any room to criticize when God gives us that victory!
In a world where we don’t want to fail, one sure path to victory is waiting on the Lord. Though we may be mocked along the way, in the end we will not be disgraced.
No matter how deep your trial is, God is deeper still. No matter how glorious your victory, God is higher still.
“For they shall not be ashamed that wait for me!”
This is our promise, so endure the night you are in and fix your eyes on the dawn. Waiting on God’s timing is the only way things will work out perfectly for you anyway, so try to trust him with all your heart, soul, and strength as you love him with these three.
Headwaters Baptist Church
Manhattan, Montana