I think there are two types of people that wait on the Lord. One that’s waiting for His promise to be fulfilled, and one that’s waiting for God to speak to them. Either way it’s important that whichever group of people we belong to we hang in there and wait for Him.
Abraham was one of those people that waited for God to fulfill a promise, and I suppose he would’ve been content to keep waiting, but Sarah came along with a plan to make the Lord’s promise happen for them. Instead of telling Sarah, “Let me check on the Lord to see if this is what we’re supposed to do or if He has something else planned” he went along with Sarah. God had promised Abraham a son and told him that he was going to have children as much as the stars in the sky and as much as the sand in the sea. The Bible states Abraham believed God, yet when put to the test, he failed. Maybe he didn’t exactly fail. Maybe he thought this might be God’s answer for them. Why didn’t he think of it? I don’t know what he was thinking, it doesn’t say. But the fact that he went along with Sarah’s plan to make her maid his second wife, leaves me to think he wanted it too. We don’t hear Abraham contesting against it. Maybe he figured why argue? He loved Sarah and it will make her happy. Maybe he believed God but didn’t know exactly how or when the promise was going to come to pass. In the mean time what’s so wrong about having Sarah’s maid as his wife, since that was the practice at that time and Sarah thought it was the only way? I can understand exactly why, especially if you belong to a culture where having a child is the most important thing in the world. In Abraham and Sarah’s time, it was everything.
Imagine the wait that Abraham and Sarah went through to see God fulfilling His promise. Abraham was 86 years old when Ishmael, Sarah’s maid’s son was born. God had told him that he was going to have a son and now a son is here. The Bible shows us that God didn’t tell Abraham that it was going to be through Sarah until after Ishmael was born. After Ishmael, they still had to wait 14 more years for Isaac. Fourteen years! Let’s not even get into the detail of the sorrow and the stress this decision they made involving Sarah’s maid in their desperate desire to have a child brought them. It boomeranged on them. It wasn’t their fault. They didn’t know how God was going to bring His promise. I’m sure when they came to understand later that it was going to be through Sarah, it must have brought amazement and relief at the same time. Let’s just say they wished they had waited on the Lord. Their impatience brought in a lot of unhappiness for both of them. It was not worth it. Still, in the end, God was faithful. He did not forsake them. Even though they went ahead of God unknowingly, He came through for them. And at 90 years old, Sarah conceived and then had her own baby, Isaac, the promised child. Abraham was 100 years old when he finally saw God’s promise of the child fulfilled. Imagine that, 100 years old! Nothing is too hard with the Lord.
Here’s the thing I’m learning in my walk with the Lord. Again and again, it doesn’t matter if it seems like God’s promise is never going to happen. Stay faithful, hang in there, because He will come through. The Bible states,
God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? {Numbers 23:19}
God will never lie. It is not in Him to lie to us. He hates lying. Basically, God will not forget what He tells us He’s going to do for us. If He said it, He is going to bring it to pass. Just hang in there and don’t come up with another plan. If you’re itching to get going, better make your plans known to Him so that you can see if it’s a good idea or not. Chances are that by talking to the Lord He will encourage you to wait some more. That’s why I always encourage people to talk to the Lord and not rush into whatever they think will get them God’s promise fulfilled in their lives. Better talk to the Lord some more. I’ve found when I feel like waiting another minute is going to kill me and I talk to Him, I end up feeling like I can wait another millennia after all.
The other group of people that wait on the Lord reminds me of when Daniel and his friends went and decided to seek God’s face for an answer. It was during the time of Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, when the king had a dream he couldn’t remember but swore up and down that he had a dream. There he was decreeing that all the wise men in the land should be killed since they couldn’t interpret his dream, or better yet, remember it for him. Apparently Daniel wasn’t in the room when he first told about his dream, and now the soldiers are at the door before Daniel and his friends, and they’re ready to take them in for punishment. What a dilemma they are in. What to do? Daniel knew exactly what he needed to do and so did his friends. I love how Daniel told the king before he even got an answer from the Lord, that he will show the king the interpretation of his dream if he just gave him some time. Imagine that? He didn’t even know the dream, and yet he told the king he will give him the interpretation. This is what the Bible said about it:
Then Daniel went in, and desired of the king that he would give him time, and that he would shew the king the interpretation. {Daniel 2:16}
I mean, talk about a man of courage and faith who knew the Lord. First of all, to have the courage to go into the presence of the king and speak to him. Then to say that he was going to give him the interpretation of a dream that the king himself couldn’t remember! You better know the Lord. He was very much aware he was giving his promise to the king, not just anybody, but to the king of Babylon. He knew that to fail meant death for him and his friends. Thank the Lord God came through. Of course He did. Thank You, Jesus! With a faith in God like that, how can God not come through?
But before anything else, you cannot say those thing without first knowing who God is. That’s why waiting on the Lord has to be an everyday practice for all of us if want to have the kind of faith Daniel had. Daniel was able to confidently promise the king because he already had a relationship with the Lord. He knew the Lord. He talked to Him all the time. This wasn’t a man that just speaks assurances because it will make a person think better of him. He wasn’t into this for promotion or to even make the king happy about him. Daniel knew what he was doing and saying meant life and death but nevertheless, he believed it.
We know the beautiful ending of this story, how God was entreated for them and showed Daniel the dream that He Himself had actually given to the king, and the interpretation of it. See, the Lord was actually counting on Daniel to come to Him for this. He wanted to lift Daniel up and his friends. Through Daniel He can make His power known to this heathen king and to his people who didn’t know God. Back in their time the king was known and looked at as a god. God Himself wanted to teach them and show them that He, the God of Israel, is the only God. Through Daniel a few years later we see the same king repent of his sins and give glory to the God of Israel and acknowledge that He alone is God.
We will never go wrong to wait on God, no matter how long it takes. Even if it feels like it’s been forever since we’ve heard from Him, keep waiting. It pays again and again to seek the Lord for answers and be the one to hear His voice, and be His hands and His feet in our time today. God is looking for an Abraham and a Daniel in our generation to bless and prosper, and speak through His word of comfort and salvation. It could be you or I. It might as well be you or I. All it takes is to just simply wait on Him.
But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. {Hebrews 11:6}
But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. {Isaiah 40:31}
Prayer
Lord Jesus, I am so thankful that there is no other God beside You, who made the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land and everything there is in this life that we behold and see. I am so thankful that You have made Yourself known to us and accessible to us in our time today. Father, You gave Your life for us for a reason, to save us from our sins and set us free from the evil and the power of Satan and the principalities of this world. You saved us and set us free so that we can come to know You and who You are for ourselves. Let us not settle for less Lord. Let us know You more. Let us be like Daniel and even Abraham who knew You, who came to You, and loved You. Please Jesus, let us be Your voice and Your light today in this lost and dying world. Help us to come to You and wait on You and be Your servant today, I pray. In Your most wonderful and powerful name, Jesus. Thank You, Father. Amen.
