I pose this question. What does "waiting" on God mean in the midst of suffering? I have thoughts but I'd like some feedback as to what you think-
I think that one must start with Romans 12:12, "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer." So we are comanded to be patient, and if we look at Romans 5:3-5, "3Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." Thus far, 1. we are to be patient 2. Perservering 3. "rejoicing" 4. Waiting-
a. Psalm 38:15
I wait for you, O LORD; you will answer, O Lord my God.
b. Isaiah 30:18
Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!
c. 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.
How do you practice your "waiting?"
These past couple of weeks have not been the easiest of weeks, to say the least. I keep asking the Lord, "what in the world are you trying to teach me besides being patient?" In church last week I was sitting there praying, concentrating on the sermon was not going to happen with the past couple of weeks on my mind. As I began questioning the Lord I was reminded of Joseph, man of God-given dreams, hopes, faith, and yet he was stuck in jail. Having been unjustly accused of 'putting the moves on Pottifers (sp?) wife,' he remained faithful to the Lord. Even in the midst of unjustice, even when the dreams of his future seemed lost, he remained. I wonder if he ever fell into doubt, "God, were those dreams really from you?" Obviously we all know the end of the story of his becoming 2nd in command over all Egypt. I pray that if even imprisoned, I would remain faithful, and that I would never question the character of God, and would not doubt the dreams I believe he's planted in my heart.
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3 comments:
I think that "waiting" on God can be anything, really. We can wait on God in service, as in do His bidding, cater to Him as He would have us do His word. Or, we can wait FOR Him. We can wait on His answers to us or to give us His direction. If we are listening and practicing His word, we can actually be doing both, but more importantly be acting on what He would have us do.
We are waiting for Him to help us, we are waiting for Him to deliver us from burden or suffering we are experiancing in person life. We are waiting on a solution from Him, we are waiting on His judgement or His law. We are always waiting on Him. However, while waiting for the aforementioned, while waiting FOR him or ON him, we can also be working, or waiting on Him in terms of service. For example, as you well know, I am going through an extremly tought time right now. I am waiting for my life to regain structure and for answers from Him. I am also waiting on Him to root out evil and negativity and temptation in my life. I am waiting on Him to deliver me from this suffering (Psalm 119:95). I am persevering through this suffering by also waiting ON him through service. I am getting ready to do a mission trup that will serve Him, that will be doing His bidding. I am waiting on Him in all sense of the word. And in waiting on Him through service, it is helping me to develop a better understanding and a better patience and acceptance of waiting on him to help me through this period in my life. To be patient and wait for answers and solutions and guidance and changes.
Proverbs 8:34
"Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorway."
As long as we wait on Him, and for Him, he will deliver us our suffering.
Intelligent question stephy. For me it is a very hard question to answer in a blog comment.:) Seems like we are always waiting on something though...a parent to be saved, a spouse, children, growth in our character, Jesus. I definiately want to talk to you about this in person soon! :-D
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
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