Actively Waiting
Written by Mrs. Cindy W.

 

When Sarah Ann first asked me to write an article for LIW, I began asking the Lord for a topic that would be helpful, encouraging and challenging. As the months passed, He used several impressions to mold my thinking and lead me to the subject I will address to you today.

I began by considering the name of this outreach, Ladies In Waiting, and asked myself, “For what are they in waiting?” I know that most of you are young women who are not yet married, but hope to be someday, so I concluded that the name connotes ladies who are waiting for God’s will in this area of marriage. You are waiting for the Lord to give you the desire of your heart: the desire to be a wife and mother. I would like to talk to you today about how you are waiting for God’s will for your life.

I recently heard a lady say that waiting on God should not be passive, but active. Her comment resonated with me. I realized that I considered waiting to be a passive frame of mind, a time to pray for patience and sit back looking for something to be done for me. Active waiting is an entirely different picture! Consider the headwaiter at a very nice restaurant. He gained that position by being very attentive to his patrons. If he passively waited for a customer to demand his attention, or if he carried out his duties with a sour face and resentful spirit, he would not have attained the position of headwaiter. He notices the slightest discomfort, the slightest need, the slightest indication of desire and seeks to alleviate the problem or fulfill the wish even before being asked. David in Psalm 123:2 expresses this type of waiting on the Lord. He says, “Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, As the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress, So our eyes look to the LORD our God, Until He is gracious to us.”

Why did he choose the images of a servant and a maid? Why were they looking at the hands of their master and mistress? I believe David was trying to communicate service for and submission to God while waiting on Him. Just as a maid would notice the slightest movement of her mistress’s hand in command or desire, we should be so attentive to our Master’s daily desires for our lives. We should be submissive to what He has chosen for us and focus on how we might glorify Him in any given day. The headwaiter mentioned above performs his service in anticipation of future payment. We perform our service in gratitude for past and present mercies! When we wake up in the morning, our heart’s cry should be, “Lord! What can I do for You today? How can I wait on You?” I must sadly admit that the attitude of my own heart is so often the opposite: “Lord, why aren’t you doing this for me today? I’m waiting!” When the eyes of our hearts are fixed on what we are waiting for, they have lost their focus on the hand of our Master! Our service to Him is no longer a loving response, but a burdensome duty.

One might say, “Well, it’s easy for you to recommend this sweet spirit of service to the Lord when you’ve received the thing I’m waiting for!” Was David waiting for something, as He remained attentive to the Lord? The words “until He is gracious....” indicate that David was waiting for God to graciously meet a desire or need. All of us, like David, are waiting for something from the Lord. Some are waiting for the husband they are so sure the Lord wants them to have, while a neighbor is waiting for God to bring her husband back. Others are waiting for relief from physical suffering, spiritual depression, or financial pressure. Another waits for that wayward child to return to the family, while her friend waits anxiously to see if her children will go on for the Lord. All waiting has a measure of pain involved because our flesh naturally wants relief from all discomfort, anxiety, and unrequited hope -- NOW, and making it more difficult, the thing waited for is often a good thing! Like David, we should fix our eyes on our Master, making His interests and glory the objects of our energies: wait on Him as we wait for Him!

Although it is true that we should be focused on serving and submitting to the Lord as we wait for His will, we must move on to deeper levels when considering waiting on the Lord. In actuality, the types of things mentioned earlier for which we wait should be only secondary objects of our desire. Pastor Mark Minnick commented on waiting on the Lord in a message he preached from Isaiah 40. He said that when waiting on the Lord, we have to agree with God about the thing for which we are waiting. Our thoughts about it must be His thoughts. Has God promised us ideal lives? Is the thing you are waiting for something that He has promised to give you? Too often, we make the thing waited for the biggest object in our lives and minds. This desire fills up every space in our thoughts until we are unable to see around it and recall that there are bigger things for which to be waiting! God has promised to reveal His glory someday. We are waiting for this! Do we ever think about it? Is this promise BIG in our minds? It must be the foundation of all our desires: God’s glory. Only then will all our perceived needs be totally met and satisfied. Nancy DeMoss, a single lady author, made the following statement about God’s glory:

There’s one basic issue that will determine how you respond to anything today: What’s your purpose in life? If your goal is to be happy or accepted or loved, then you’ll face a lot of obstacles in meeting it. But if your purpose is to exist for God’s glory, then you can accept whatever comes as part of His plan and purpose. You’ll embrace the hard things knowing that they were designed by God to make you more like Jesus. Have you settled that issue: Would you say, “Lord, it’s not about me--it’s about You. All that matters is that You are glorified”?

If we will determine to wait on the Lord in this way, if we will serve Him with hearts of attentive love and make His glory our ultimate ambition, we should consider that our God has promised the in Isaiah 40: 31. “...those who wait for the LORD will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.”

The Lord is not promising literal physical enabling here; He is promising strength in FAITH. He promises that as we wait on Him, He will strengthen our faith. He will increase our belief that His understanding is inscrutable (Is. 40:28). We will grow in our trust in His choices for us (Rom. 8:28). He will build up through faith our anticipation of the day He will reveal His glory. All earthly concerns will begin to lose their control over our spirits and our joy. In Him, we will truly find all desires satisfied.

“Lord, do it for me!” is my prayer.

 

 

 

 

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