Promise for Today - Making the Choice to Wait

I trust the LORD God to save me, and I will wait for him to answer my prayer. 

Micah 7:7 (CEV)

The Bible is clear that you’ll go through different seasons in life. One season God talks about over and over is the season of waiting. But you can trust that while you’re waiting, God is working. A season of waiting doesn’t mean that God has stopped working. In fact, he’s taking you through that season because he’s using the time to work in your circumstances for your good.

The truth is, you’re going to spend much of your life waiting. And so, if you don’t figure out how to trust God while you’re waiting, you’ll spend a lot of your life not trusting God.

God is never in a hurry; he’s eternal! And as he’s working, he wants you to learn how to trust him.

You might be asking, “When, Lord? When is it going to happen?” And God’s saying something like, “You can trust me with this.”

It’s human nature to say, “Don’t wait! Get things as quickly as you can.” But that goes against God’s blessing in your life—because God’s blessing often comes through times of waiting. Ecclesiastes 3:11 says, “[God] has set the right time for everything” (GNT).

Are you in a time of waiting? Maybe it’s for school to end. Maybe it's for healing. Maybe it’s for the “right person” to come into your life. Maybe it’s for a marriage to happen, a baby to come, or a new job opportunity to arrive. And you’re frustrated with how slowly things are happening. We’ve all been there.

There’s a promise in the Bible that not only tells you God is working but also how God is working. You need to believe it while you’re waiting: “I am the LORD, and when it is time, I will make these things happen quickly” (Isaiah 60:22 NCV).

That’s how God worked when he sent Jesus into this world. The world waited thousands of years for him to come the first time. And then he came at just the right moment.

We’ve been waiting 2,000 years now for Jesus to come again. When will that happen? At just the right time—God’s time. That’s when he’s going to return.

You can apply this same truth to your time of waiting. Remember that a delay is not a denial. When you think God is saying, “No,” he may just be saying, “Not yet. Will you keep trusting me through this?”

Micah 7:7 says, “I trust the LORD God to save me, and I will wait for him to answer my prayer” (CEV).

That is the kind of faith God blesses.

Talk It Over

What have you been waiting for God to do in your life? How have you responded to the season of waiting?

Think of a time when you had to trust God’s timing. How did he work in your life during that time?

It’s easy to hurry—but God’s blessing often comes through waiting. How can you slow yourself down so that you learn patience and trust?

- by Pastor Rick

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Prayer:

Father,

           In this hurry-up, instant-fix, same-day online order season of the world we live in, we often lose sight of and patience with a season of waiting. Forgive us for every time we gloss over, 'They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength". Forgive us for every time we equate waiting with being punished or ignored by You. Forgive us for believing that lie of the enemy of our souls to try to make us doubt You and weaken our faith and trust in You. Father, we declare the Truth of Your Word over the facts of our lives. From Psalm 62, Let all that we are wait quietly before You, God, for our hope is in You. You alone are our rock and our salvation, our fortress where we will not be shaken. Our victory and honor come from You alone. You are our refuge, a rock where no enemy can reach us. Father, we choose to trust You at all times.  Help us to stand strong upon Your Word. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

W.A.I.T.

Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires. 

26 If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless. 

James 1:19-20, 26 NLT

People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, but no one can tame the tongue. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison. Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God. And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right!
James 3:7-10 NLT

I wonder how many of us do the opposite of our text for today - are we slow to listen (if at all), quick to speak, and quick to get angry? How often do people NOT take the time to listen? How often is it because they're already angry and running at the mouth?  Oh, that we would adhere to the wisdom found in God's Word. 

Pastor Robert Morris offers a great acronym to help us remember to not be quick to speak. It's WAIT.  The acronym is two-fold - yes, wait to talk, that's obvious. The acronym as a double reminder stands for Why Am I Talking? Do you think God gave us two ears and only one mouth so we'd do twice as much listening?

Prayer:

Father,

          Put Your arm around my shoulder and Your hand over my mouth. Help me, Father, to bridle my tongue and put my ears to good use. In Jesus' Name I pray. Amen

Fillers

For he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.
Psalm 107:9

Have you ever been so hungry that you would grab the first thing available to eat? Bread, crackers, a piece of cheese. Whatever you can grab that's quick and ready now to tide us over. Then we get too full on the fillers and don't take in the nourishment from a proper supper. Maybe you missed lunch and by the time you got in the door that evening, you were not interested in taking the time to fix a proper meal. Maybe you called something in and picked it up on the way home rather than wait. The truth is that most Americans don't know what true hunger feels like. We know what it's like to want something, and often, we'll settle for anything.

Do we do the same in our relationship with God? We're hungry for something but we settle for anything. We don't want to wait, so we fill up on the spiritual equivalent of chips or crackers and then there's no room for the meat of His Word, the Bread of Life. Psalm 34:8a NLT, invites us to Taste and see that the Lord is good. 

Prayer:

Father,

          Your Word in Matthew 5:6 (NKJV), assures us that Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. We choose to follow Psalm 27:14 - to wait upon You, Lord. You're SO worth it! Help us to not settle for less than You. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

Paralyzed by Sin

Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a sleeping mat. They tried to take him inside to Jesus, but they couldn’t reach him because of the crowd. So they went up to the roof and took off some tiles. Then they lowered the sick man on his mat down into the crowd, right in front of Jesus. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the man, “Young man, your sins are forgiven.”

Luke 5: 18-20 NLT

Healing was flowing (vs 17c), and their faith was high. They knew was this was the right time. This was the right place. All they had to do was get him to Jesus. Yes, there were obstacles in their way. First the crowd, then the roof. Still, they pressed on and after all that, managed to lower him right in front of Jesus. So, what do you think the friends thought when He said, ...your sins are forgiven?  Jesus saw their faith; that was not why they brought him. The plan was to get him there so Jesus would heal him.

Then to top it off, the church leaders start arguing with Jesus over whether or not his sins are forgiven, while he, the paralytic, is now the cynosure of all eyes - lots of eyes because remember, the place was packed. In all reality, probably just a few minutes, but if it were you lying there, how long would it seem to be?  

Let's freeze it for a moment and think about it. Okay, my sins are forgiven, now what? I'm not going anywhere. Chaos has broken out around me. People are staring at me. I feel vulnerable and exposed. What do I do?!? 

Wait for it? Wait for the Word - Jesus' Word - even when it might seem that He's not paying attention to you. Wait for it - search for the answer. It's in His Word. He gives us what we need most. We want physical healing; He wants to give us complete healing. He wants to make us whole. Even when everyone's watching and it seems like nothing is happening... Jesus will turn to us with a Word, just like He turned to the paralyzed man in verse 24 and said, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!” 

Life lesson - press in, press on, praise God! Don't be paralyzed by sin anymore, but don't move until He tells you to. 

Prayer:

Father,

           Thank You for Your Word. Thank You for sending Christ to die for the forgiveness of our sins so that we can be made whole. Help us to hear and obey when You speak to us. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen