Wait On The Lord...No Really...Wait On The Lord.

Read Isaiah 40:31 ESV and Matthew 6:33-34.

Waiting. This isn't something most of us in our day and age or very good at especially when we want something now.  

In comparison, we will wait in a long line for hours for the latest piece of technology, a concert, or movie...yet, we'll continually check our watches or phones for the time if the pastor's message goes longer than 30 minutes during what is the extent of many people's mostly once-a-week spiritual activity. 

We also often get impatient when we drive, are pulling out of the church parking lot, standing in the grocery store check-out line, or at the local department of motor vehicles...ok...maybe that list is just about me as I know "no one else" struggles with waiting patiently.  Or, maybe that list is what I've heard "a friend" experiences. ;-) 

We also get impatient when our plans or next purchase of one thing or another doesn't move along as fast as we want...and many times that gets us in trouble. Why? Because we often don't include God in our plans or purchases and we forge ahead sometimes foolishly toward something that wasn't God's plan for us and yet...we wonder why our plans are meeting resistance or fail?!

It becomes clear that He didn't want that plan for us and we can't expect Him to bless what is not His Will...and if it's related to a foolish purchase, we can't expect Him to bless us if we go into debt for something we really didn't need.

When something is very important and we should take more time asking, seeking, knocking, planning, praying, and more, we don't like to wait. Yet, God's Word repeatedly teaches us to wait. 

There's this sense of urgency we should have in waiting on The Lord as waiting also includes a sense of anticipation. 

In our relationship with The Lord we can wholeheartedly anticipate answers to our prayers and as we abide in His Word as we seek wisdom from The Lord for the plans we have.

He also promises and reminds us that as we wait on Him that we'll receive refreshment, strength, and more if we...wait. 

Friend, we need God to be in the center of our lives and plans. Not just fragment of it but in all of it. 

We need to seek Him and His kingdom first and He says that if we wait on Him...we will give us strength. It's always better for us if we wait on The Lord and not get ahead of Him. 

The truth is that we need to get better at waiting and trusting and we can do so if we strive to abide in God's Word and actively live it out. 

Invite Him into "your plans" and trust Him for the outcome. This doesn't mean we shouldn't plan or move forward but we better be sure God is in it or else we'll inevitable fail or waste a bunch of time on something that's not fruitful. We need to trust Him, receive strength from Him, and follow His lead along the way. 

When we look back on our lives, I pray that if we have any regrets at all in our reflection, it doesn't include a regret related to not waiting on and trusting in The Lord. 

Don't get ahead of God...wait on The Lord....no really...wait on The Lord. 

You're in my prayers and please pray for me as well so we will all become wiser in the art of waiting on The Lord as we have nothing to lose and everything to gain when we seek to do things His way instead of our own. 

Your brother and servant in Christ,

Randolph Koch