The Challenge of Waiting on the Lord

And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.  And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.  –Genesis 15:5, 6 (KJV) 

One of the most difficult spiritual challenges we will face is that of having to wait on the Lord.  What does that mean for us as followers of Christ?  Waiting on the Lord refers to our trusting God to work His will in our lives in His time.  We face difficulties related to marriage, raising children, finances, and our jobs, and we pray that God will resolve these problems.  This is a spiritual process and is going to take time.  As we move forward and wait on the Lord to bring us through and work out these problems it is easy to grow impatient.  When we become impatient the tendency is to try and somehow circumvent God’s plan and attempt to move the process along faster.  That, my friends, is always a bad idea. 

Abraham of the Old Testament faced the challenge of waiting on the Lord to bring about a promise in his life.  The promise of God was that Abraham would be the father of a great nation of people, and this promise would come about through the birth of a child by his wife, Sarah.  The problem was that both he and Sarah were growing older and the promise was a long time in coming.  No doubt Abraham was tempted to question God’s promise.  “Did I hear that right?” he may have wondered.  Each time God confirmed to him that he had in fact heard correctly: “And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee…” (Genesis 12:2).  Abraham and Sarah at one point took matters into their own hands and tried to go around God’s will, but He still brought them back to where He wanted them to be.  Still, the waiting continued. 

Perhaps you feel that you are waiting on the Lord to bring about the promises of His Word in your life.  The challenge from God is to not give up, trust the Lord, and wait upon Him.  God will bring about what He has promised, but remember that the promise comes according to His will and His time.  The Bible tells us in Genesis 21 how that the promise came about in Abraham and Sarah’s lives.  Sarah, at the age of 90, gave birth to a healthy baby boy.  And Abraham, at the age of 100, saw the promise of God made a reality.  They named the baby Isaac, which means, “He laughs.”  How appropriate; God turned their waiting into joyful laughter. 

The Lord will accomplish His will in our lives.  Wait upon the Lord.  Trust in Him and be patient.  He will fulfill His promises.