Waiting Upon The Lord

"They that wait upon 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 be faint."

- Isaiah 40:31

I don't know about you, but I'm not the most patient person in the world.

I typically need to know everything, right at that moment, in complete detail.

For example, when I first got saved, the very next day, I walked into a church and said to the pastor that greeted me at the door, "So, I got saved last night, I got this Bible, now what".

The look on his face was priceless! I was pretty convinced that there couldn't possibly be that much to know about this "whole being a Christian thing" and that if I was going to do it, I needed to know all the details, right there and then - all at once. I'm like that with anything that I have to "learn" - thus why I always did well in school.

Much to my chagrin, the pastor said, "Whoh, just relax. It's awesome that you got saved, and that's the first step into a real relationship with the Lord. But let's take it one step at a time".

Of course I was ready to run right there and then! What do you mean take it one step at a time! I need to know now!. I didn't have time to just wait it out and see how this whole relationship with Christ thing went, I had to get going with it!

For those of you that are mothers, I was like the child asking, "Why mommy?" questions every four seconds, and the anxious child pulling at your leg saying, "But mommy I need it noooowww!" Or better yet, your toddler that you take into the store and starts making a huge scene when they can't get the thing that they want. I was that child. I wonder how God viewed me at that point.

Was He annoyed by my "needy-ness?"

Did He appreciate my questioning?

Was He laughing at my stubbon I-need-to-know-it-all-right-now attitude?

Thankfully our heavenly Father is much more patient than our earthly parents, and, as His word promises, if we just wait, He'll reveal His truth to us - in His time.

Do you hate waiting?

We always feel like we're waiting for something don't we? Waiting for results of a medical test to come in, waiting for a child to arrive, waiting for our child to call when they've been out late, waiting to find out where our next meal is coming from.

We're always waiting for something.


Right now, I'm waiting to see how my wedding is going to pan out. There have been many bumps along the way and things to deal with, and I hate waiting to see how it is going to turn out! I want to know that everything is perfect and that I can relax. But, that's not reality; I just have to wait.

The Lord wants us to be patient in all things.

His word says, "Love is patient, love is kind". I love this reflection of God's heart because it is saying that love is revealed in a way that is both patient to the recipient and kind (rewarding) to them as well. Match that up with the promise made in Isaiah 40:31, and it sure gives us a lot of hope for being able to cope with the process of waiting for whatever it is that we are, well, waiting for.

Often times the process of waiting is so much harder than receiving the result. It's the not knowing that makes us nuts! Yet God promises that if we just wait in Him - in His timing, in His all-knowing, in His love...He'll come through for us in a way that we can't imagine. That's a pretty awesome promise - one that I pray will help you cope as you wait...and wait...and wait...because eventually, in His timing, all will be revealed, all will be made right by He who is in control. Maybe the results won't be what "we thought" they would be...but they will be exactly He knows is necessary to bring about His glory; and ladies, ultimately, that is what life is about - bringing about God's glory for the greater good.

So, let us take time this week to wait - wait in the promise of knowing that God is in control, that H ewill reveal all things in His time, and that for us, the reward will come in eternity, when all is set right and all is made clear to us. Amen?

Let's pray:

Father God, we know that we aren't always patient with you. We whine, we complain, we worry and beg. We ask that You grant us the patience that only You can provide to wait it out as You unveil Your glory to us. We ask that You continue to guide us through our waters of worry with a gentle but firm hand; helping us to be unafraid as we wait to reach the shoreline. We put our full trust in You Lord, and we ask Your forgiveness for those times when we do not. We believe in Your promise to keep us strong and to reveal and work all things together for Your glory. We say these things in Your Son Jesus's precious name. Amen.

us true happiness. It is in Your name that we pray, Amen.

- Allison is the blog author of Simple Christian Living. Stop by and say "hello"!