The Pain and Glory of Waiting on the Lord

“Then, when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled. 34And He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus wept.” – John 11:32-35

If you read through the Bible, especially the Psalms, you will find the following phrase (or similar) written a multitude of times: “Wait on the Lord.” It is interesting that this message had to be conveyed so clearly so many times. When you think about raising and disciplining children, you know that there are some commands that need only be given once and others that need repeating over and over. The most difficult commands to obey are the ones that need repeating over and over, and I believe this is true with us as God’s children and His repeated commands to “Wait on the Lord.” Let’s consider that with sincerity today and set our hearts and minds to obey at last.

This very morning I received an email newsletter from Global Media Outreach (www.GodLife.com). It was uncanny how its message was tailor made for me this morning, and perhaps for you, too. The message was about having dreams in life and having to wait for them, entitled “The Key to Living Your Dream Life.” Even the best, God-ordained dreams. Yet having to wait, and what effective waiting looks like. An excerpt from the newsletter:

“Abraham waited decades to have a baby; Moses had to endure Pharoah’s intimidation and 10 plagues until God’s people were released; and David had to run for years in the wilderness until he was made king. These are just a few examples! But the greatest wait in the Bible was for Jesus, the Messiah. God promised Him thousands of years in advance, and only a few were still waiting for Him when He finally came…

…Waiting isn’t glamorous. In fact, it’s really hard. But it’s the key to obtaining your promise from God. Maybe He has promised you healing, maybe a great marriage, or maybe your kids serving the Lord. Whatever it is, it’s going to take patience. That’s just the way God is. He uses the waiting period to make us better, to make us ready for the promise. “Until the time came to fulfill his dreams, the LORD tested Joseph's character” (Psalm 105:19).”

The verse from Psalm 105 about Joseph’s character being tested and perfected while he was waiting helps me to understand part of the purpose for waiting. Furthermore, the story of Lazarus, Jesus’ friend and the brother of Mary and Martha, illustrates a supreme example of waiting (read John 11 for the full story). Jesus received word of Lazarus’ illness in time to come heal him and save him from death. Yet, inexplicably to those around Him, Jesus waited two days before coming to see Lazarus. Why would he wait? Did he want to wait or was He fighting His flesh in order to obey the Lord? I believe that the fact that Jesus wept upon hearing of Lazarus’ death and seeing such deep grief in Mary and Martha, whom He loved deeply, is proof enough that it was not easy for Jesus to wait and let Lazarus die. What restraint our Savior showed! And, what love! If you know the rest of the story, you can see that this was a supreme act of obedience to the Father in His perfect sovereignty, and an obedience centered in love, for the best possible outcome of this scenario was for Lazarus to die. This is because Jesus then brought Lazarus back to life.

There were many implications from this. First, those who immediately surrounded Jesus at this time, including the disciples and Lazarus’ family, saw firsthand a greater power through Jesus than others had comprehended previously. No one had been dead four days and risen again. Secondly, the news spread throughout the region, such that the faith of others was increased in Jesus as the Son of God. Thirdly, it was the turning point to drive the evil religious leaders to the point of executing Jesus, the purpose of His ministry. Fourthly, it showed that Jesus could not only raise Himself from the dead (He is God afterall), but that He had power and authority to raise any and all people from the dead, according to the Father’s will.

Each of these things came forth from Jesus obeying His Father’s command to “wait on the Lord.” Where are you hearing the still, small voice of God telling you, “Wait on the Lord?” Pay attention to the timing of circumstances in your life and coming across those words while reading the Bible. I assure you that they were meant just for you, as they are meant just for me, as well. Lazarus’ death and resurrection by Jesus marked a turning point in Jesus’ ministry, turning His path to the cross, gloriously fulfilling His purpose on this earth. Turning points in your life and mine will often come the same way—through waiting. Let’s be vigilant to obey the Lord and wait for Him at all times.

So what can we expect while we are waiting and what is the expected outcome? Firstly, pain. If we look at the example of Jesus and Lazarus, it is clear that Jesus experienced the pain of loss and hurting loved ones as a direct result of His waiting. Waiting will be the hard choice, it will hurt you personally, and it often times will hurt those you love most. Furthermore, there may be times when you are waiting on the Lord and no one else understands. This was Jesus’ experience. Do you think that you are experiencing something that Jesus cannot identify with? Certainly not. Jesus understands what it is to wait, the pain in the consequences of waiting, and He understands when no one else does. I emplore you to cry out to Him in your distress, and the God of all comfort will be with you.

But there is more to expect while waiting on the Lord. First, your character will be sharpened, and likely the character of those in relationship with Jesus who are impacted by your obedience will be sharpened, as well (Psalm 105:19). Second, the glory of the Lord will be revealed in time. For Jesus, waiting produced a more glorious display of the character of God, revealed more clearly the simultaneous humanity and deity of Jesus Christ, and brought many more believers in addition to building the faith of those who already believed in Jesus as the Christ and Son of God. These very things will be true in our lives if we will “wait on the Lord.” I pray that you realize the certainty of this promise, that you read God’s Word and hear His still, small voice concerning waiting on Him, that you open your heart to receive the comfort and understanding from Jesus Christ Himself, and that you receive the full glorious blessing that comes from such sweet, abandoned obedience. May God work such miracles in your life this very day. Amen.

Acknowledging the Inner Conflict – Time with God

I try in my best moments to read the Bible and pray every day as much as possible. The measure of how well I actually accomplish this is not the point of the discussion—if I never keep this commitment, it may seem as though what I’m about to write cannot come from such a person, but of course it can, for I have been that man…if I always keep this commitment, it may appear that what I’m about to describe is not as big of a deal for me as it sounds, but of course it is (though, I have yet live up to “always”). The point is that wherever I am on the spectrum of keeping this daily commitment, the inner conflict is true, and I think recognizing the conflict is a key and powerful step to overcoming it, fighting the Devil head on, and running to God.

My favorite time of any day when I have taken some time to spend with God in prayer and sincere consideration of His Word, whether briefly or for an extended period of time, is the time spent in the Word and prayer, without exception. I find this spectacular. And knowing this, you would think that I would look forward every day to engaging in this relationship time with God. Though at times it is my inspiration and number one priority throughout a day, more often I actually become hesitant to begin or “launch in,” even when I’ve been looking forward to it. And this is almost without fail, as well. At first I didn’t understand it. If I know what an amazing blessing this time of prayer and revelation through the Scripture is to me every single time, how could I start to debate with myself (or with God, perhaps) before starting most days? “Well, I’m tired,” or “I’m too busy,” or "I just want to relax.” But then I remembered Paul’s and Peter’s words about the flesh and the Spirit warring against each other and recognized the battlefield in my mind—yes, the war of Good and Evil in my very own mind and likely in yours, as well.

Gal 5:17 – “For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.”

1 Pet 2:11 – “Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul,”

Romans 7:21-25 - “So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 23but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (read v. 14-26 for even more depth in Paul’s communication)

At this point, we become better equipped to “fight the good fight” (1 Tim 1:18, 1 Tim 6:12, 2 Tim 4:7) that is ultimately spiritual in nature by gearing up with God:

Eph 6:11-13 – “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” (for more on the armor of God, read Eph 6:10-20)

I relate this fight to the following example:

There is an elementary concept in chemistry called “activation energy.” Simply put, it is the minimum energy input required to induce a given chemical reaction. It’s almost like an investment—you put money in a good investment, then you get even more back. Many chemical reactions take an initial “boost” of energy, then the kinetics and thermodynamics take over and the reaction goes without any more added energy. I have found this concept extremely relevant to everyday life since it was introduced to me in high school and more deeply examined in college. And my personal prayer and Bible study life is no exception. It’s like if I’ll just provide the initial spark, or activation energy, to get the Bible study or prayer time with God started, then He takes over with no more energy input from me…and this chemistry is very energetic! But the Devil would have me say, “I know how much time and energy and focus that would take tonight, and I don’t feel like it tonight.” Ah yes, from the outside looking in it always appears that way—always. Before you approach God in prayer it will feel like you have a great distance to go…for until you are willing to take the slightest of steps to inch towards God, you have no idea He is right there on your hip, at your side—and get this, even inside you right now.

1 Cor 3:16 – “Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?” (see also 1 Cor 6:19, Romans 8:9)

We only activate the spiritual reaction by turning our hearts and minds towards Him and suddenly we realize He was there all along. And guess what? Do you know that there is no greater peaceful and restful time of the day for me? Now, I may be absolutely mentally engaged (which I love when I have the energy) and praying with all my spiritual, emotional, and physical might…I may be expending tremendous energy and focus and even time…yet I am never more peaceful and actually restful than in this time near God. That is a paradox to the physical man (which includes you and me), for it is only realized through the Holy Spirit, whom we know is “with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matt 28:20). Only with God could a time of intense energy and focus be restful and peaceful—this is an inkling of a supernatural movement in us, and it is available to each and every one who comes to God in sincere prayer or Bible study.

I encourage you, whatever you feel like to this point in the day or to the point where you are having that argument with yourself or even God on whether or not you will engage in prayer or Bible study—take a leap of faith and just “launch in.” Make yourself focus with all you have for just 5 minutes and just see what kind of a reaction the Holy Spirit will have within you. After all, we played the smaller part, only the activation energy—yet it was critical for the entire process to even take place. I think this applies to much of our relationships with God—He requires so little—mostly just acknowledgement of Him as God and Jesus His Son who by human death has pardoned our terrible sin in order to bring us to oneness with Him in Heaven and on earth in love—we just acknowledge Him and this as truth, and the rest is His work. Along the way, our gratitude makes us want to do more than just acknowledge Him—we begin to want to serve Him, to learn to love Him, whatever that means or looks like, and again we approach Him with the simple desire and He does the greater movement—He brings the Holy Spirit, God Himself, within us and renews a heart we could not renew and places such opportunities in front of us to love Him with growing love, as “He first loved us” (1 John 4:19).

Embrace this passion and it will change you forever...for the good. I have 100% confidence in this, and you can, too. If you have not accepted Christ, I encourage you to sincerely consider Him today—seek Him out, find out more about Him, find someone who knows Him and cares about you, and give Jesus a shot with you. If you already know Christ, simply dedicate yourself entirely to Him for 5 minutes today…just 5 minutes…all of you, entirely His, and see if He does not come right to you and give you a “peace that surpasses all understanding” (Phil 4:6-7). In time, you’ll begin to notice that the new Resident within you has some glorious plans for His new home—You, God, and even those around you will be pleased with the renovation. We can simply break the ground with a shovel full of dirt, and God tears down the old house that was our sinful selves, building a new one of great splendor that is eternal. Amen.