Waiting as Worship

(Isa. 40:28-31) Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary, his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might He increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

(Isa. 64:4) From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides thee, who works for those who wait for him.

God acts on the behalf of those who wait for Him. I remember how a minister of God who read these verses on waiting on God said, "Lord I want to learn to wait upon you." So every night from about 12 onwards right up to one, he consecrated one hour just to wait on God. He would enter his prayer closet and kneel before Him saying, "Lord I wait for you." Many months passed and after many, many months one day he came to God and he said, "Lord this is the last night that I am waiting on you." And towards the end of his waiting he felt the presence of the Lord standing behind him. He did not dare to look around. He wondered what to say, what to do. Before he could say anything he felt the Lord putting His hand on his shoulder. And he felt that the hand was wet. He said, "Lord why is your hand wet?" The Lord said, "I am weeping because many of my people did not wait for Me. They always rush ahead of Me. They always do things by themselves. And my people did not wait for Me." When he heard that he started crying and he started weeping. And that experience changed his whole life.

(Taken from http://www.eaglevision.com.my/wg2reasons.htm)

Whether the story is true or not, the message is profoundly true. Waiting is not popular among God's people. We are NOW people. We want to jump into the action NOW. We want results NOW. We think God is not with us unless there is something happening NOW. Of course we do. Hey, that's a lot better than not caring at all. But is it the best way to go about utilizing our passion?

The link above gives three reasons why we should wait on God. The first one stood out because it challenged me. It says "we should wait on God to show Him that we love Him."

How do I show people I love them? I do things for them. I write things or build things for them. I clean their stuff or fix something or give them advice. So naturally that's what I want to do for God. I want to help him in His mission to bless the entire world by bringing them back into relationship with Him. I want to do something for God.

Yet I forget that this God is no man that he would need anything from me. He created me, so anything I can do for him is as common as air. I am officially of no use to God, except when I get the chance to work WITH him. And how do you work WITH God? You wait on God. Sometimes for hours. Sometimes for months. Sometimes for years or decades. But you wait on His Spirit or you will be doing it alone.

I'm starting to get that how long I am willing to wait on God is a good measure of how much I love Him. Do I REALLY love God? Of course. But what if I lose my job. Will I still love him? Will I have the patience to wait for Him? What if my life's plan get flushed down the toilet. Will I still wait for Him? Do I still love Him enough not to leave his presence to find my place in this world alone? What if I have to live with my parents for a few years? Do I have the patience to love God?

I have to realize that I am in a season of waiting. There are no strong signs or feelings in my spirit that I should be doing anything but what I already know is right. The new information comes later. Wait.

But God, there's so much I could be doing for you...

Wait.

But God, everyone else knows what they are supposed to do. Why not me...

Wait.

But God, I'm only young once. Aren't I wasting my best years doing nothing...

Wait.

But God, the lost the lost the lost...

Wait.

God loves people a lot more than I do. I think he knows how to accomplish His mission. I could not upset those plans if I wanted to, so how should I be feeling so useless when God puts me on the bench?