"Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)
One of the greatest lessons I am still learning is how to wait upon the Lord; and He has been very diligent to teach me this lesson for a very long time, so I believe that it must be an important one. Sometimes it feels that I have waited my whole life for something BIG to happen…and I am still waiting. But you know what I have noticed…as I am waiting, I am also growing and learning and believing more and more in the great plans and purposes of God in my life. While I am waiting, He is preparing me to do more and He is using me to touch lives and to lead people into the Kingdom of God. So I guess after all this time, my waiting has not been in vain. But through it all, He has been fulfilling His purpose in me.
From the time that Jesus saved my soul, He has given me a deep, insatiable desire to know Him more and to do more to serve Him. I remember when I first met Jesus, I had a boss with a big bookshelf full of Christian books in his office and he allowed me to take them home and read them. I would load my arms full of them, and after I had devoured all the knowledge I could from those, I would bring them back and get some more…I was so hungry for the things of God. And when I started reading my Bible, I would stay awake until all hours of the night with so many questions in my heart about God and about His will and purpose for my life. And the Holy Spirit was faithful to teach me and I was growing very quickly in my knowledge of Him. But I wanted to learn more, and when I learned that actually serving God was an outlet for all the desires and the way to find contentment in my soul, I wanted to serve Him more also. But often, in my quest for spiritual growth, came times of silence and times of waiting. But I didn’t want to wait…I just wanted to grow and learn and engulf myself in ministry to serve the Lord.
But the problem has never been with the wait…the problem has always been with my lack of patience and peace during the waiting time. And that is what He is trying to teach me now. What I think it all boils down to, is TRUST! Do I trust Him enough to know that He is in control, that He knows what He’s doing and that He will get me to the place where He desires for me to be in my spiritual growth? That’s the hard part.
You know, in our “fast serve” and “convenience” laden society, we find it hard to wait for anything. Have you ever been to the drive through at a fast-food restaurant and then they ask you to pull over to the side and wait to be served? How does that make you feel? Most people get a little frustrated that they have to go through all the trouble of waiting. We get impatient, we get irritated...and some people have even gotten so full of anger that our society has coined the phrase of “road-rage” for those times when people become violent over having to wait. What we need to learn is that there is great power in learning how to be patient and wait on the Lord.
Let me briefly remind you of some of the Biblical examples that God gives us so that we might be encouraged and enlightened while we wait. Think for a moment about Joseph, how he was given a vision as a young boy, and then he was sold out to slavery and then he spent some time in a dungeon for a false accusation. Then, just when he thought he had found someone who might be able to help him, he was betrayed again. But God was faithful to keep His promise to Joseph…but not until the very moment that God knew the time was right.
And then there was Abraham. Remember when he was told that he would be the “Father of Many Nations”…knowing that his wife was barren? And time went by and time went by…and finally his wife gave up and told him to father a child with her maiden Hagar? But God was not deterred from His original plan. Twenty-five years from the time of the promise, God came through with His promise to Abraham.
And then there was Noah…it took 120 years for God to fulfill His word to Noah.
And then there was Jesus…“But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.” (Galatians 4:4-5) Yes…there was even a perfect time for Jesus to come into the earth…the “fullness of time”. Friends, you need to believe that God has a perfect time for you too. Know that He sees the end from the beginning and He will bring about His perfect plan in His perfect time. The best way to fulfill God’s plan for your life is to seek Him, and wait. Allow Him to take the lead. And while you are waiting, it's a perfect time to spend more time in His presence through Bible study and prayer.
We get in a hurry to see results when God is more interested in our spiritual well being. We are interested in progress, when God is interested in maturity. We think the goal is the project, when God sees the journey. Do you know what our goal is? “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.” (Romans 8:28-29) God already made the plans long, long ago. His plan…His purpose is that we become more and more like Jesus. And why would He concern Himself with this plan? Because, His goal is that we bear fruit for the Kingdom. His plan is not the project…His goal is not the program. He isn’t interested on our numbers. He cares about people…and He knows that unless we become like Jesus, we won’t reach the people. He wants us to bear fruit!
Sometimes we get so caught up with the “busyness” of church that we forget the reason for the whole thing in the first place. We have made such a big “business” of church that the purpose for it all sometimes falls by the wayside. But God NEVER forgets the reason for it all. It’s the very reason He sacrificed His Son in the first place. He wants us to become like Jesus…so that we will impact the Kingdom of God.
So let me ask you…how’s it going for you? Have you found yourself sitting on the sidelines…waiting again? Relax…you are in good company…Joseph, Abraham, Noah, David, Moses…relax. God is doing a good work in you…you can depend on it. Why? He promised in His Word…“being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6) This is God…He is the One Who started this work in you, and He won’t stop until it’s complete. You can rest in that!
Prayer: Father, in Your great plan of the ages, You planned that “in the fullness of time” You would send your own dear Son…and through Him all things You desired to be accomplished would be accomplished on this earth. Father, that plan was to redeem mankind back to Yourself and to create a “Heavenly” family that would be with You forever. Sometimes we get mixed up Father, and we act like it’s all about our entertainment and programs and projects. But those weren’t what You had in mind at all when You told us to “Preach the Gospel to every Creature”. Help us Father to stay close enough to You that we would have Your heart to complete Your plan in Your time. Then and only then will we find peace in our hearts. When we try to do things our way, there is chaos and confusion…but You have the perfect plan if we will just seek You and wait…and also guard our attitudes while we are waiting. Thank You Father for teaching us and molding and shaping us to be more like Jesus…in His Name we pray….Amen.
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