February 13, 2014 - "Waiting on God"

Well, we survived the "catastrophic" ice event and I'm telling you it was a challenge to stay on routine while sitting in the house all day. Anybody identify with that? I did get my exercise in and a few emails answered, but certainly not what I planned. One of my grand babies asked, "Nina, why am I so tired? All I did was lay around today." I reminded her of a basic, scientific principle - energy creates energy. We actually see that principle worked out in so many areas of our lives and not simply living beyond couch potato status. It was a great time to reinforce that getting some exercise in daily is vital to a healthy life style. I love those teachable moments. This morning let's examine Isaiah 64:4. Isaiah 64:4 Amplified Bible (AMP) 4 For from of old no one has heard nor perceived by the ear, nor has the eye seen a God besides You, Who works and shows Himself active on behalf of him who [earnestly] waits for Him. Let's consider that word - waits. Often we have been taught "we make our own destiny...or...no one will work on our behalf as we would...or...it's the squeaky wheel that gets the oil." Have you ever heard or said any of this? And while I understand this clearly with my type A personality, SOMETIMES I can get ahead of the game and suffer due to not allowing the variables to all come together before I "make" the conclusion, especially if there doesn't seem to be one. When I read this verse this morning, I was confronted with this truth...I work and yield my own results or I wait on God and reap His results. That's really a no-brainer. Right? I must be honest, though, sometimes I can really get impatient for the answer to the problem and miss the BEST solution. There are many solutions sometimes, and settling for a good answer means I don't reap the benefits of the BEST answer. Our verse this morning clearly teaches that NO ONE throughout the duration of time has ever seen a God like ours who works and shows himself active on our behalf. Yes...but there's the end of the verse...who earnestly WAITS for him. I went to the Hebrew this morning and found that the word waits, in this context, means to wait or long for. I was reminded that while we love ALL our children equally, those who seem to have a particular love and longing for us as their parents, those who wait on us for guidance and help, seem to have a larger measure of this focus on a regular basis. It's all about relationship, isn't it? A further study of the word lead me to "being bound or tied down." Odd? However, as I pondered I could see how sometimes we could run ahead of God's BEST solution unless we are bound and tied to the TRUTH that He really is at work in the major AND THE MINOR details of our lives. Just because we didn't get the answer we asked for, doesn't mean God isn't at work. God's BEST answer could take longer to manifest than we have allowed and pre-determined it should. SOOO...I am reminded that I need to wait on God and allow Him to work on my behalf just as this verse says. And, while patience is not my best virtue, it is the one God allows me to work on most. I wonder why? :) PK