Are we obedient in waiting on Him ?

“Wait on the LORD; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the LORD!”

Psalm 27: 14 (New King James Version)


Wait ! How many of us like waiting ? How many of us can wait patiently ? How many of us can wait in faith and be of good courage ? J Waiting on the Lord is an important act of obedience. Lets turn our Bibles to the book of Exodus. We are going to quickly look at couple of events that took place from Chapters 7 to 17. I strongly encourage you to read these chapters in detail some time today.

The main issue with the Israelites ? They just couldn’t wait. In Exodus 7 to 11 we read about the ten plagues. Now the plagues never effected the house of Israel. And this was a sign to all to show the difference between His people and the rest. You notice here that the Israelites never complained at this point . Because they saw instant miracles ! They saw plagues affect the houses of the Egyptians. But nothing touched the Israelites who dwelled in the land of Goshen . Even the livestock of Israel was not affected by the plague. Wow ! Just imagine that.

The Israelites who saw these take place had no problem obeying the things that had to be done for the Passover . They had seen wonders take place before their eyes in an instant . Obedience came easily even though they had a lot to do. We read in chapter 12 that they had to take a lamb on the tenth of the month according to the house of his father and if the household was too small for the lamb then they had to join with his neighbor and take it according to the number of persons. And the lamb was to be without blemish and a male of the first year. Now it was to be kept until the fourteenth day of the month and then the entire assembly of the congregation of Israel were to kill it at twilight. And then they were to take some of the blood in a basin and with a bunch of hyssop they were to dip it in the blood and strike the lintel and the two doorposts. And not just that. They were to eat the flesh of the lamb on that night roasted in fire. Not raw not boiled but roasted completely. And anything that remained in the morning was to be burnt with fire. And from the fourteenth day of the month till the twenty-first day they were to eat unleavened bread.

Interesting isn’t it that the people of Israel never complained . No waiting involved. They had seen wonders in an instant and they were given something to do … They were obedient.

With this in mind lets go to chapters 13 and 14. The Bible says in Exodus 13: 21-22, “ And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night. He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night from before the people.” As over six thousand men on foot besides children went there was no complains …

Now get this.. the first sign of trouble comes… We read in Exodus 14 : 10 ,”And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. So they were very afraid and cried out to the LORD.” They even said to Moses that ‘Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness?’ . At the very first sign of trouble they could not wait on the Lord .

Now we all know what ensued. The Lord divided the red sea and people of Israel walked through the midst of it. Interesting enough again when they say the wonder when they saw that miracle there were no complains but total obedience.

Honestly I would have been a little scared – in fact a lot because hey I’m walking through the midst of the sea.. what if it suddenly closes up ?

But you the Israelites had faith that that would not happen. Because God worked a wonder and He is faithful. They walked through it and were safe. Unlike the Egyptians army who were covered up by the sea.

Now the Israelites rejoiced. In chapter 15 we see they started becoming thirsty. Next sign of trouble . But no they could not wait ! When they saw instant wonders and miracles their obedience was remarkable. But when it came to waiting on the Lord they failed. They started complaining.

In Chapter 17 we see another instance where they became thirsty… oh but they could not wait on the Lord. They just could not. They started contending with Moses.

The Israelites just couldn’t wait. When they saw the glory of God on Mount Sinai they obeyed. But when they had to wait on the Lord they just could not. By the time Moses came down from the mountain they had made for themselves a golden calf and started worshipping it.

A lot of us are like the Israelites… We see instant miracles we see instant results oh we are so obedient !!! When God says be still, we just cant wait . We cant just sit in His presence and say ‘ok Lord I will wait on you.’
Waiting is an act of obedience. Waiting in faith . Though you see nothing happening around you … though people start saying all kinds of things… you ought to wait on the Lord. When God has asked us to wait let us not wait and complain. Let us not say we are waiting on the Lord and then start doing things based on our own strength and our own wisdom. We ought to wait on the Lord in faith and be of good courage and He will strengthen our hearts.

Isaiah 40 : 31 , “But those who wait on 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.”

God Bless