Wait.
Sometimes waiting on God is the most difficult thing we can do, but God’s timing is always best. I suppose Mary and Martha thought Jesus’ timing was terrible—their brother had been dead four days before Jesus showed up! Yet, as the song says, “When he’s four days late, he’s right on time!”
God operates outside of time. He sees the beginning from the end, and as long of a journey as it seems, God will sometimes still say, “Wait.”
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego waited. They must have been thinking, “Any time, God!” But it wasn’t until AFTER they were in the fire that God saved them. Remember, they didn’t have a Bible. They hadn’t read their own story. They didn’t know God was going to deliver them! But they stayed faithful to God.
Last week at camp, our teens learned about Joseph. He stayed faithful when it seemed God was absent.
Sometimes waiting is a test. Will you trust me? Will you stay true to God’s Word?
Be encouraged by the Word:
Psalm 25:3 Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed: let them be ashamed which transgress without cause.
Psalm 25:5 Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.
Psalm 25:21 Let integrity and uprightness preserve me; for I wait on thee.
Psalm 27:14 Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.
Psalm 37:7 Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.
Psalm 37:9 For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the LORD shall inherit the earth.
Psalm 37:34 Wait on the LORD, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land: when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it.
Psalm 52:9 I will praise thee for ever, because thou hast done it: and I will wait on thy name; for it is good before thy saints.
Psalm 59:9 Because of his strength will I wait upon thee: for God is my defence.
Psalm 62:5 My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him.
Psalm 69:3 I am weary of my crying: my throat is dried: mine eyes fail while I wait for my God.
Psalm 69:6 Let not them that wait on thee, O Lord GOD of hosts, be ashamed for my sake: let not those that seek thee be confounded for my sake, O God of Israel.
Psalm 123:2 Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon the LORD our God, until that he have mercy upon us.
Psalm 130:5 I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.
Psalm 145:15 The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season.
Proverbs 20:22 Say not thou, I will recompense evil; but wait on the LORD, and he shall save thee.
Isaiah 8:17 And I will wait upon the LORD, that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him.
Isaiah 30:18 And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him.
Isaiah 40:31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
Isaiah 49:23 And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers: they shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD: for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me.
Jeremiah 14:22 Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain? or can the heavens give showers? art not thouhe, O LORD our God? therefore we will wait upon thee: for thou hast made all these things.
Lamentations 3:26 It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.
Hosea 12:6 Therefore turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and judgment, and wait on thy God continually.
Micah 7:7 Therefore I will look unto the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me.
Zephaniah 3:8 Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the LORD, until the day that I rise up to the prey: for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.
-Pastor Ryan