Isaiah 64:4 "Since ancient times, no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides You, who acts on behalf of those who wait for Him."
OK, maybe I'm aging myself here, but I remember when my parents got their first microwave. I remember standing and watching this little plate spin in a very loud mechanical box . I remember trying to figure out how in the world that meat was going to go from "freezing to thawed" in ten minutes by being in that contraption. Today, most of us can't live without our microwaves.
Things sure change! Now we live in the "Microwave Generation." "Waiting" to my twelve year old son basically takes place any time when he's not entertained. If we're driving for five minutes down the road, I often hear, "Mom, can I play on your phone?" If we're waiting for our food to come at a restaurant, I hear the same thing. If I am waiting at the doctor's office, I'm often entertaining myself, playing Tetris or stalking my friends on facebook. :) No, waiting is not fun, nor is it something we naturally choose to do.
The Bible talks a lot about "hoping in the Lord" and "waiting on the Lord." Throughout the Bible, the words "hope" and "wait" are often used interchageably. The difference? Waiting seems to be the measure of our hope. Hmmm... The more I wait on the Lord, the more I hope in Him. And as the verse for this week says, as I wait for Him, He will act on my behalf.
"Acts on our behalf"...what does that mean? Well, the first obvious thing I can think of is that He acted on my behalf when He took the sins of the world on Himself, died on the cross, conquering sin and death, so that I could have life. All those who hope in Him now have salvation because of His single act of obedience on the cross.
But what else? I can think of countless times God has acted on my behalf. When we've had a financial need, He acted on our behalf, moving someone to donate just at the instant that our need was beyond our ability. Over the last year, there was a time when I was begging God to bring deeper friendships into my life. I was waiting; I was hoping; I was trusting; and I was earnestly praying. Sure enough, in true God fashion, He's been faithful in that area, too. There's been times when I've been up against a deadline, waiting on God to give me just the words to say that He wants me to say. In that respect, I've heard it said a million times that God is seldom early, but He is never late. Consistent with the verse, when I've waited on Him and not acted in my own will and power, He acts on my behalf and gives me the words to say and write, just at the opportune time.
You see, this whole idea of waiting is not a fun one for probably anyone, but for me, I have always despised it. Maybe it's the sin I struggle with. (OK. Definitely it's one of the many sins I struggle with!) But, maybe also it's the Microwave Generation I've grown up in. You've probably seen me write about it in the past...and my disdain for it. I've called it the WZ...the wait zone.
However, in my Bible study this last week, my perspective of the "waiting game" has changed. Instead of waiting and getting discouraged and impatient by waiting, my reaction should be the exact opposite. The more I wait, the more my hope and trust and faith in the Lord should grow. If I'm really "waiting on the Lord" then my perspective should be that of my master, with my focus on Him, not on me. The more I wait, the more my excitement for God should grow, because like the verse for the week says, God acts on behalf of those who wait for Him!
Matthew Henry wrote these words: "To wait on God is entirely and unreservedly to refer ourselves to His wise and holy directions and disposals, and cheerfully acquiesce in them, and comply with them. The servant that waits on His master, chooseth not his own way, but follows his master step by step. Thus must we wait on God, as those that have no will of our own but what is wholly resolved into His, and must therefore study to accommodate ourselves to His."
Did you catch that? If God is the Master, and we are the servant, we should be following Him and be at his full dispoal, step by step... We should be choosing His way, not deciding our will and telling Him what we want. Our will is not our own. Since most of us don't have servants these days, I kind of get the visual picture of a waiter in a restaurant. His job is to serve us, fulfilling our will. He waits on us, right? Well, should we not "wait" on God in the same fashion? Our job is to serve God and fulfill His will. He doesn't force Himself on us, though; the choice is ours.
For quite a while now, our family has had one consistent prayer request. We've been begging God and waiting on Him to answer it. But in retrospect, perhaps I've just been praying and trying to just wait it out. Perhaps I've not had the biblical attitude that goes with "waiting on God." As I wait, as I pray, I need to be hoping more in God, not losing hope. This verse says that never in the past nor ever in the future will you ever find any (little g) god like our (big G) God who acts on our behalf. Now if that isn't amazing and make you want to wait, what will? Even in this Microwave Generation that we live in, there is no one like our God!
---Beth Banfill
www.GodandMe2theMax.com