PSALM 12:14  – Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!”

THEME OF THE DAY: WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO WAIT ON THE LORD?  Have you ever done a Bible study on the word “wait” tracing it through the whole of scripture?  Please do so soon.  Of all the lessons we may learn in a study of waiting on the Lord, the one quickly rising to the top is that waiting is not passive.  It isn’t like standing at a bus stop or waiting at an airport security line.  No, the believer experiencing the call of God to wait upon Him is active, not in action, but where the real battle is fought – in the mind and heart.  And today’s scripture helps us know how to fight.

As we apply this scripture, pay attention to the repetition of the command “Wait on the LORD.”  It starts and finishes the verse.  What is in between points to the “how” of our waiting on the Lord.

First, we are to be strong in the Lord as we wait on Him.  The emphasis is on His Person.  It is the same emphasis that begins the familiar section of scripture providing the armor of God – Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might (Ephesians 6:10). To wait upon the Lord in answering our prayers, interceding in a difficult circumstance, or comforting us when in a grief-stricken state requires strength outside of ourselves.  And we have it . . . in the Lord.  When called to wait on the Lord we direct our hearts and minds to the Person of the Lord.  Instead of allowing our hearts and minds to become irritated, impatient, and doubting because of waiting, we focus on the goodness, wisdom, mercy, love, and sovereignty of God.  These attributes in the Lord strengthen us and enable us to patiently wait on the Lord’s activity in our lives.

Next we are to take courage in the Lord as we wait and that by His promises.  Nothing encourages a weary heart, made so by waiting on the Lord, more effectively than to cling to the promises of God.  It is by His promises we live the Christian life whether waiting or not.  We are people of precious promises made so because the Promiser, our faithful God, cannot lie – His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire (2 Peter 1:3-4).

Waiting on the Lord. Every child of God will be placed in situations requiring this experience.  We can learn to wait on Him with glad submission if we strive to be strong in His Person, and take courage in His promises that will never fail us.

PRAYER: “Father, may I wait on You with a heart and mind pleasing to You.”

QUOTE: “Waiting on the Lord is not a passive exercise. It involves an active mind and heart.”

In the affection of Christ Jesus,

Pastor Jim