2.11.24 Willisburg Bulletin
Wait
Waiting… in a world that is constantly changing and rushing on, we are a people of immediate action; we don’t wait. We are an impatient people who rely on instant fixes and instant gratification. We try to do all we can before we attempt looking to God for help. We have a hard time waiting. When we pray and don’t get what we want, we go to the extreme of thinking He is telling us no and that He doesn’t care about us. Yet when He does give us what we request, we are in such a rush, we don’t even thank Him. However, our faith is often tested by waiting. Will it be anchored steadfast and sure when the waves crash in on us or will it crumble by the weight of it all?
It’s God’s Battle
“for this battle is not yours, but God’s … position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, who is with you!” 2 Chron 20:15b, 17 The people of God in this chapter have several enemies rallying against them at every angle, but immediately they pray to God for help. This is when God responds with position yourselves, but just wait and trust. So the people do exactly what God told them. They gathered together, journey to the battlefield, and before they even get there the battle had been done. The enemies had slaughtered each other because the Lord caused confusion among them and the Israelites walked into the place where the fallen enemies laid. God had done the work, just as He had promised them. They listened – they waited and trusted on the Lord and were blessed in return – so much so that it took them three days to strip the enemies of their riches. But what’s even better, God does that with us as well! He fights our battles, (if we listen – wait and trust) and we get greater riches (maturity, wisdom, greater trust in Him, and a deeper understanding of who He is).
God Rewards
When God calls us to do something out of our comfort zone, we fear the unknown, we hesitate, and maybe we put our life in reverse trying to avoid it all together. However, we know we must trust the Lord, even if it is blindly. Imagine how Abram felt in Genesis 12 when the Lord told him to leave his family and not only leave his family’s land he had known, but leave the entire country and trust. Now, that took courage! We live so comfortably compared to Abram and those generations. We don’t have to travel and pitch our tents in unknown land without family. Most of the time we know where we are going, we have a home to come back to at night, and we sleep like royalty compared to what Abram had. So, when we are called to do something, trust in the most powerful and faithful God needs to be our motivator to get through whatever the calling. God is not trying out some new method with you wondering if it will work. He already knows the plan, the outcome, and our own reaction. This waiting is for His glory! It also for our benefit, if we allow it. It’s indescribable how God develops us in the time of waiting. The strength we receive to be able to endure it, the peace beyond understanding that we receive knowing we will get through it, the patience we are granted during it, and the joy bestowed upon us that reaches beyond just a satisfaction. These characteristics are granted from God in times of waiting. We may not get the exact answer we are looking for in prayer, but He never leaves us hanging, and sometimes it might just be “wait, trust Me, I promise I have something in store for you.” Waiting is so hard for us for some reason, but it is truly rewarding when we trust wholeheartedly in the Lord through it all. Because He shows up. Every time. Not in the ways we might expect, but He’s there.