Winter 1992

Waiting on The Lord
Wade E Taylor

"Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and He
shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say,
on the LORD" Psalm 27:14.

Our taking time to wait on the Lord is one of the main ingredients in the Scriptural formula for acquiring a personal and intimate knowledge of God. Primarily, waiting on the Lord involves the continual poise of our spirit (the inner man) towards the Lord.

The secret of a spiritual life, as God sees it, is seen in II Chronicles26:5. "And he (Uzziah) sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God: and as long as he sought the LORD, God made him to prosper." We see from II Chronicles 26:16that when Uzziah's heart was lifted up and turned from a "waiting" posture, he rendered himself ineffective.

Our taking time to wait upon the Lord enables the Lord to enlarge our spiritual capacity, and to grant us that "tone" of authority which comes only by hearing from Him. This ability to hear will develop within us as we learn to wait upon the Lord. Thus, our times of waiting upon the Lord becomes "the wheel within the wheel" which enables us to respond to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, and to move in His will (Read Ezekiel's vision, Ezek 10:1-17). It is the impetus that empowers us to move with Him.

"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 40:31.

Waiting upon the Lord requires our drawing away from activity to a state of inactivity, as far as "doing" is concerned. Yet, true waiting will be found to be vigorous activity, even though we are physically inactive. Consider II Chronicles 17:19a, "These waited on the king..." This word, wait, means to serve, or minister. When we wait, therefore, we are ministering to the Lord, even as the priests of the Tabernacle ministered in the holy things of the Lord before His presence. Notice the divine order in the following Scripture passages.

"COME NOW THEREFORE, and I will send thee unto
Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people,
the children of Israel out of Egypt" Exodus 3:10.

"And he goeth up into a mountain, and calleth unto him
whom he would: and they came unto him. And he ordained
twelve, THAT THEY SHOULD BE WITH HIM, and that he might
send them forth to preach, and to have power to heal
sicknesses, and to cast out devils" Mark 3:13-15.

"After these things the LORD appointed other seventy
also, and sent them two and two BEFORE HIS FACE into every
city and place, whither he himself would come" Luke 10:1.

"COME, my beloved, let us go forth into the field; let us
lodge in the villages. Let us get up early to the vineyards;
let us see if the vine flourish, whether the tender grape
appear, and the pomegranates bud forth: there will I give
thee my loves" Song of Solomon 7:11-12.

There are certain steps to be taken in beginning to wait upon the Lord?

A determination to do so is basic. Set aside a time, and a place, to wait upon the Lord. Make the proper use of this time your goal, and above all, be faithful to it. Failures are frequent, and discouragements many; but remember, you will be discouraged with yourself long before God will be.

The Scriptures, along with personal experience, have proven that there is no substitute for the early morning hours for our time of waiting upon Him. At this time, our mind will be clear of the thoughts of the day and is less likely to wander. If it does, however, do not fight the thoughts, but merely displace them by reading a few Scriptures devotionally, and return to waiting upon the Lord with as little interruption as possible. Many become discouraged with their attempts to wait on the Lord in the early morning hours because they find that it is very difficult to remain awake at this time; yet our being persistent in this struggle will result in a great reward.

Another problem area in the beginning is our feelings, or rather the lack of feelings. We must forget them. The consciousness of His Presence will come only as a by-product of naked faith. The basis of this faith is found in Jeremiah 23:24, "Do not I fill heaven and earth?" This is foundational. Regardless of our feelings, His Presence fills heaven and earth. He is here! We must base our waiting on this bare fact: "God is here!"

The fact of the Lord's Presence is far greater than any consciousness we may have of His presence, even though both are essential. Only after we are firmly rooted in the fact of His omnipresence, can God give us the consciousness of His manifest Presence, lest we become overly dependent upon Him for manifestations.

"Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall
I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven,
thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold,
thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning,
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even
there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall
hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me;
even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the
darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth
as the day: the darkness and the light are both
alike to thee" Psalm 139:7-12.

If our progress seems to be extremely slow, we should consider our motives. Our times of waiting upon the Lord will be utterly unprofitable unless they are linked to the sincerest desire to obey His will as He makes it known to us through His Word and by His Spirit. The knowledge of His will is revealed to us according to the measure of our desire and ability to obey.

If we will first take time to wait upon the Lord, we will be better able to share His life with others, for we will better know Him.

"He doth work for those that wait for Him"
Isaiah 64:4 Young Translation.