Living in the Waiting Room

I actually started this blog entry on 15 June. Over two weeks later I'm finally able to finish it. Not because of laziness. Quite the contrary. I love blogging and look forward to it. But there was a thought missing. And idea not quite blossomed. Only now can I finish it. Yesterday's Streams in the Desert devotional helped me to finish forming the thoughts. I'm big on letting the revelation come in due time. And I didn't want to rush it. Hmmm... perhaps this alone was an exercise in living out waiting...

I have been studying Psalm 40, which is such a picture of David waiting on the Lord... and receiving strength because he was waiting on the Lord - ALONE - and not waiting on something or someone.

What does it mean to wait on the Lord? I am realizing that waiting and obedience have the same effect. They both are surrendering to the Lord. Waiting is obedience.

If the waiting room is the refuge of the Lord then I run into its shelter. But what does that mean? What are the aspects of waiting? I read these somewhere and have forgotten where I saw them. But I want to talk about each of them:

1. A demonstration of love
Waiting says "I trust you and know you have the best way". It says I love you enough to wait on you. A friend of mine who just got engaged was telling me that while she waited to say the direct words, "I love you" to her fiance, she told him, "I do these things because I love you". It made me mindful of action showing love. After all, Shakespeare once said, "He does not love who does not show love".

2. An acknowledgement of our source of power and life
When I read this point, Moses immediately came to mind. He would not go anywhere without God's presence.

Then Moses said to him, "If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here."
Exodus 33:15

Too often have I rushed off, half-cocked when I felt the Lord direting my path. However, if He says He's going to do something, He will do it. We don't need to do it for Him. But make sure you're there with Him and that you haven't gone out on your own - trying to do something for Him.

Because we can do nothing without Christ, we ought to believe, expect, wait for, and depend upon His operation in everything that we do through His Spirit dwelling in us.
–Andrew Murray

3. In a position to receive and respond
This is probably the most powerful point of waiting. It is not our job to "do" anything, but just receive and respond. How can we if we are not focusing on Him. Casting our eyes upward during this time of waiting puts you in a perfect position to receive and respond. I found a great prayer in today's devotional which can be prayed to put yourself in a position to receive and respond:

Now, Lord, not my will, but Thine be done. I know not what to do; Iam brought to
extremities; but I will wait until Thou shalt cleave the floods, or drive back
myfoes. I will wait, if Thou keep me many a day, for my heart is fixed upon Thee
alone, O God, and my spirit waiteth for Thee in full conviction that Thou wilt yet
be my joy and my salvation, myrefuge and my strong tower.
--Morning by Morning

I suppose I'm a little tired right now from a season of protracted waiting. Yet a friend said something very insighful:

We all consider "waiting" to be exhausting. But, if we read the verse Isaiah 40:31 and truly BELIEVE it, then "waiting" for us should be a time of gaining new strength. Perhaps we are exhausted in our efforts of waiting on the LORD because we are not really waiting on the LORD. Rather, in our heart of hearts, we are waiting on the thing, person, or our circumstances to change. Our strength will be renewed if we wait on the LORD! That is so exciting to me. Be patient and in the meantime have God-time.

I suppose that goes back to the very first point of what I learned from David.

I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry.
Psalm 40:1

David waited patiently for the Lord - not what the Lord had in store. ouch.

All for now,
Lisa

P.S. For all the waiting the David did, especially in Psalm 40, I can't help but identify with the ending verse of Psalm 40 - a kind of "I'm waiting, but can you hurry?" :-)

Yet I am poor and needy;
may the Lord think of me.
You are my help and my deliverer;
O my God, do not delay.