Waiting is Work!

We talked yesterday about God’s timing and how He wants us to wait. Waiting is an active service to God though, and not sitting on our backsides twirling our thumbs.  

Let’s look at the text again. Isaiah 30:18. (The Message) But God's not finished. He's waiting around to be gracious to you. He's gathering strength to show mercy to you. God takes the time to do everything right-everything. Those who wait around for him are the lucky ones. 19 Oh yes, people of Zion, citizens of Jerusalem, your time of tears is over. Cry for help and you'll find its grace and more grace. The moment he hears, he'll answer. 20 just as the Master kept you alive during the hard times, he'll keep your teacher alive and present among you. Your teacher will be right there, local and on the job, 21 urging you on whenever you wander left or right: "This is the right road. Walk down this road."22 You'll scrap your expensive and fashionable god-images. You'll throw them in the trash as so much garbage, saying, "Good riddance!" 23 God will provide rain for the seeds you sow. The grain that grows will be abundant. Your cattle will range far and wide. 24 oblivious to war and earthquake, the oxen and donkeys you use for hauling and plowing will be fed well 25 near running brooks that flow freely from mountains and hills.

Now let’s look at verses 19 and 21. First, I feel like I should say that Ecclesiastes is clear about there being a time for everything at one time or another and there is a time for crying, but there is a time for rejoicing too. Here I believe God is saying that time begins when we FIND GRACE. What does this mean? Well I believe it means salvation. The children of Israel were locked in the law, a cyclical situation that could never truly bring freedom. Grace, salvation, comes when we cry out to God and once freedom is received no one can take it away. (Ephesians 2:8-9)  When we cry out to God, He hears, and He moved toward us. (Luke 15:11-32)

So now that God has moved toward us, brought us salvation through grace (Romans 3:22-25) what does He do next? Because salvation IS NOT enough, If it was, God  would immediately take us to heaven the moment we were saved and over half of the New Testament would not have needed to be written. Once we are saved, God gives us a teacher: the Holy Spirit.  20 just as the Master kept you alive during the hard times, he'll keep your teacher alive and present among you. Your teacher will be right there, local and on the job, 21 urging you on whenever you wander left or right: "This is the right road. Walk down this road. “

I Corinthians 2:13 (KJV) says “Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.”

So now when we think about waiting, it is not such a lonely existence. We have already said we should be moving, but we do not do it alone. We move and breathe IN HIM and HIM in us. (Acts 17:28)  As He guides and teaches us what path to take the Spirit is a vital part of our lives as Christians. When we look at the word for Spirit in Strong’s Concordance (4151) it says this: the third person of the triune God, the Holy Spirit, coequal, coeternal with the Father and the Son sometimes referred to in a way which emphasizes his personality and character (the \\Holy\\ Spirit) sometimes referred to in a way which emphasizes his work and power (the Spirit of \\Truth\\) the spiritual nature of Christ, higher than the highest angels and equal to God, the divine nature of Christ

He will tell us what paths to avoid and most importantly He will show us which one to take.  The Holy Spirit will lead us the WAY we should go while we wait. I call this Server training. Stay with me…

A server (that politically correct word for waiter) is only as good as his/her training. If he has never been taught to serve from the right side, then he might make his guests uncomfortable or worse yet, mistakenly spill hot food on someone. We are the same. We must be trained (taught) by the Holy Spirit to do things the right way: God’s way.  Who do we serve? Well we serve God by serving one another. (Mark 10:45) No matter what your “dream” is that you are waiting on, you must train. Yesterday we talked about the runner, training for a marathon, today a waiter, serving the body. Do you get the theme? Waiting is work. I am reminded of Nehemiah 6::9. The enemy has tormented us into believing that waiting means being forgotten, and even abandoned. We must remember that WAITING really means working, and we must ask God to strengthen our hands for the task.

Be blessed and be a blessing and remember that training is work and work is a verb!