Wait!

Isa 30:18 And therefore the Lord [earnestly] waits [expecting, looking, and longing] to be gracious to you; and therefore He lifts Himself up, that He may have mercy on you and show loving-kindness to you. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are all those who [earnestly] wait for Him, who expect and look and long for Him [for His victory, His favor, His love, His peace, His joy, and His matchless, unbroken companionship] AMP

“To wait on God is to live a life of desire toward Him, delight in Him, dependence on Him, and devotedness to Him.” Matthew Henry

I love Isaiah 30:18 in the Amplified version.  I wish you would copy this verse and think about it today. In this verse God is waiting and we are waiting!

Do you see it as I do?  Can you see God looking, searching desiring to be good to you? The words in this verse express God’s intense desire to be good to you.

It is like a movie to me. I see a Father and his daughter going to see the Thanksgiving Day parade In New York.  Somehow they get separated for a moment and the child gets lost in the crowd.  I see a Father lifting himself up that is in a vast multitude looking for His lost child. In order to see where the child has gone, He stands on his tippy toes.  He looks to find his child because they lost their way in the crowd. He does not want not to punish her but to be gracious to his child. He lifts himself up on his tippy-toes so you can see him. He cries her name; over and over I’m over here! Look, I’m over here!

At the same time in the same scene I can see a child crying out, “Dad, Dad where are you? I’m lost daddy where are you?”  He says, “I’m over here! Follow my voice!” In desperation the child look around everywhere, tears streaming down her face and feeling like her heart will burst. Then she sees daddy.  The child runs to the father saying loudly, “Daddy where were you?” with a bit of anger in her voice but more relieved.”  The dad says, “Its ok, I was right here, watching you, calling out to you the whole time.” You heard my voice and you found me. He embraces her and dries her tears! He puts her on his shoulder and says, “Let’s go home now!”

Many times we get lost in the crowd of our busyness and desperate thoughts.  Our lives are crowded and confused.  What is the crowd you get lost in? When you realize you’re lost you start praying again. Now remember, God was already waiting on you, now can you wait on him?

God is waiting to be good to you! Now can you wait and look for his “His victory, His favor, His love, His peace, His joy, and His matchless, unbroken companionship.”

We will miss all God has for us, unless we learn to believe he has good things in store for us.  We must believe and walk in faith not fear. Someone needs to say, “God is thinking about me. God has good things for me.”

God is always thinking about you and wants to bless you. Psalm 139:16 says, “How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered!”  you mean God thinks about me so much his thought cannot be counted…awesome.

We need to stop saying that bad things are going to happen to us! We need to stop operating in fear and walk in faith.  No one ever said, “I am afraid something good is going to happen! “Remember this:  The devil gives through fear, God gives through faith!” Your fear will cause you to receive something from the devil. Your faith will cause you to receive something from God.

We need to get mindset that causes us to aggressively seek God’s goodness! We must seek Good from God because he is the ultimate of goodness. We must believe that God has good plans for us and that he is thinking about us. He is thinking about how he can be good to us.

Sometimes we wait while God works but he is working for our good! Maybe he makes you wait for a reason?

Spurgeon [edited] “God often DELAYS IN ANSWERING PRAYER. We have several instances of this in scripture. Jacob did not get the blessing from the angel until near the dawn of day—he had to wrestle all night for it. Paul asked the Lord three times that "the thorn in the flesh" might be taken from him, and he received no assurance that it should be taken away, but instead thereof a promise that God's grace should be sufficient for him.

If you feel like you have been knocking at the gate of mercy, and have received no answer, why hasn’t God opened the door and let you in? God has reasons that only he knows about why he keeps us waiting.  Sometimes it is to show His power and His sovereignty, that men may know that God has a right to give or not to give, after all he is God. More frequently the delay is for our profit. You are perhaps kept waiting in order to see if you really desire what you are praying for. God knows that delay will quicken and increase desire, and that if He keeps you waiting you will seek it more seriously; and that you will prize the mercy and gift god gave all the more.  

There may also be something God wants to remove or fix, before the joy of the Lord is given. There may be a sin that needs to be dealt with or a hurt that needs to be mended. Perhaps your views of the Gospel plan are confused, or you may be placing some little reliance on yourself, instead of trusting simply you life entirely to the Lord Jesus.

Sometimes simply God makes you wait a while that He may the more fully display the riches of His grace to you at last. You prayers are all filed in heaven, and if not immediately answered they are certainly not forgotten, but in a little while your request will be fulfilled and you will be so happy and satisfied. Do let despair make you silent, but continue in prayer!”

Remember God has good plans for you!

Jer 29:11 I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out — plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.  Message

It is good to wait!

Lam 3:25-33 God proves to be good to the man who passionately waits, to the woman who diligently seeks.  It's a good thing to quietly hope, quietly hope for help from God.  It's a good thing when you're young to stick it out through the hard times.  When life is heavy and hard to take, go off by yourself. Enter the silence.  Bow in prayer. Don't ask questions: Wait for hope to appear.  Don't run from trouble. Take it full-face. The "worst" is never the worst. Why? Because the Master won't ever walk out and fail to return.  If he works severely, he also works tenderly. His stockpiles of loyal love are immense.  He takes no pleasure in making life hard, in throwing roadblocks in the way:

Pastor Mike

Here is a great song!

While I’m waiting: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kc7orBfhEmk