Blessed By Waiting
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 NIV)
I wonder if there is a support group somewhere for well-intentioned, God-seeking impatient people. I’m sure you know the type. Maybe you are one of them, sincerely wanting to do God’s work, but sometimes jumping in with your own plans and getting ahead of God’s timing, accomplishing a lot of good things, but missing out on the best God has to offer. I know a few of those people, and admittedly I’m one of them at times.
God says repeatedly that we should wait on and trust in him. Through the prophet Isaiah, God chastises the people of Israel for carrying out plans that weren’t of Him. They were forging ahead, trusting in man-made provisions for their security and God reminded them of the futility of their ways. He then offered a standing invitation to return to Him for their needs and for future blessing as he stated in Isaiah 30:18, “Blessed are all who wait for him!”
We will be blessed by waiting on God. While we view our world from ground level, He looks at the world from a “helicopter” view. Not only does He see how all things are working together, but He also knows what skills and character qualities we need to be able to carry out His plans. He knows when we will be able to most effectively carry out His will. We don’t.
When we jump ahead we miss the best for our lives and create more struggles. Because we jump ahead, thinking we are ready but really aren’t, we struggle with both the inefficiencies of our underdeveloped character as well as the inefficiencies caused by all of the external “pieces” of the plan not being available yet. However when we wait on God’s timing, He will take care of those kinds of details for us. We may still face opposition in executing the plan, but it will definitely be easier His way. That’s why we will be blessed by waiting. Perhaps by waiting we will even “get there” quicker.
To Ponder:
1) In what area of your life are you getting impatient with God?
2) In this area, how will you benefit from waiting on God? What work does He have yet to do in you or in the situation?
Thank you for this post today. I have been waiting on a promise of restoration in my life for three years. i get so impatiient and doubt and wonder at my own sanity so often. This was encouraging to me today. I thank you.
This was a very timely devotional for me. Just yesterday I was talking to the Lord about an area of ministry I thought perhaps I should get involved in. And then I “heard” Him say, “Just wait a little bit. Allow Me to lead you in the way I would have you go.”
I was reminded of the times I went full speed ahead with a plan I just knew was something God wanted me to do – and fell flat on my face! I have to learn to stop running ahead of Him and getting on the wrong path.
Great Post. Very thoughtful Blog. God Bless
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Oh my. I have been ‘jumping ahead’ in so many areas in my life…I know for one is my job. But after almost 2 years I can now see why I didn’t ‘advance’…God has His own timing and I know that all will work out at the end. I just wish I would not get impatient…
Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us…
Oh Janna! I saw myself there! —and many times I think of Sarah…and how she tried to “help” God out…as if He needed help. I enjoyed this post very much!