Painful Waiting

For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him. (Isaiah 64:4)

Who is a fan of waiting?

Who loves suspense concerning him?

You see, suspense movies and novels are nice. We love to turn and turn and turn to the next page to get to the conclusion of the plot in the book. We love those nail-biting moments in movies.

But have you ever placed yourself in those situations?

Are they not fun because they concern other people? Aren’t they exciting because you are a spectator?

Allow me to ask another question.

Would you love for your story to have as much suspense as you see in movies and read in thriller novels?

That is what I want us to look at today. And that because God is a storyteller, nay, a story maker.

And God loves suspense because suspense makes the story more interesting.

One reason the Bible is exciting to read is because it is composed of page after page of nail-biting suspense concerning the characters in it.

God is more interested in the plot than in the conclusion because it is the suspense in the plot that makes the ending more captivating.

Think about the book of Esther, the only book where there is no mention of God, and you discover that it is probably the book where the demonstration of His overarching presence is most visible.

But do you think it was exciting to Mordecai? Do you think it was nail-biting to Esther? Do you think it was uplifting to the Jews?

That suspense was stifling to the players in the plot but enriching and exciting to the audience, us.

Incidentally, I believe that is one aspect that sets apart the Bible from all other religious books. It is a down to earth book because it does not hide anything to make its story appealing.

What am I trying to say?

God is writing my story as He is writing yours for others to read.

And that story must have a good level of suspense to not only be real, but also highly enriching.

Good endings are good because they are the product of suspenseful happenings.

A journey is not a story worth reporting.

Even an accident is not a captivating story.

However, walking out of a written-off vehicle is.

Do you realise that this is the way God shows off the most? Do you know that is the way He attracts the attention of a world indifferent to Him?

I therefore want you to place yourself in Mordecai’s situation, because you are in a similar situation if you are a believer in God.

It is good to remember that Mordecai was not for the most part desperate because he had options.

He had raised the queen and saved the king and therefore could have easily used that to pull the rug off Haman’s plot.

But Haman’s plot was not personal. It was clearly spiritual.

It was an affront to the God of Israel.

And a man of faith does not use worldly weapons to fight spiritual battles.

He therefore called on God, and then waited for Him.

We see the same when he goes to Esther, bringing God to the fore of his request.

And Esther did the same, throwing a curveball to the Jews by asking them to call upon God, and also waiting.

No wonder God shows off.

The point I want us to get from this is that waiting is not desperation or the product of the same.

I do not wait because I am short of options.

I wait because I realise that the battle really belongs to God and He must be given the chance to show off.

The other point I need to make is that waiting is not passive.

Waiting is not for the lazy bones or weaklings.

A wait because, not only am I waiting for God to show off, I am waiting for the orders He may have to open the door for His showing off.

Mordecai prayed and waited. Then went to Esther and waited some more.

Esther prayed and waited.

Then went to the king and waited for just the right moment, probably after praying for a sign to know when the time was right.

No wonder we see many becoming Jews without crusades or door to door evangelism. Simply because God showed off.

But before I forget, allow me to look at our verse.

I want us to realise that the outcome of waiting on God is completely out of this world.

If it has been seen, it is not the reward of waiting on God

If it has been heard, it is not the reward of waiting on God.

And if it can be imagined, you can be sure it is not the reward of waiting on God.

That is what the verse plainly says.

This means that to be waiting on God, you must stop looking out of windows and gates of whatever nature for that breakthrough. You must stop looking for those text messages and emails for your miracle.

The only thing you can rightly do is listening to an order should it come, because He may just decide to bypass that order to show off as He did with Mordecai and even Joseph in prison.

Incidentally, Joseph is another person of interest in our study of waiting on God.

Waiting is work.

Waiting is doing what God has revealed as you wait for Him to show off. And it is doing that even when nothing seems to make sense. It is serving God amidst uncertainty because you trust Him.

He served with distinction even when he was sold as a slave.

He refused to sin even when that could have opened a few doors for him.

And when he was sent to prison for daring follow God’s revelation, he still served with distinction in that prison.

Is God left with any other option than showing off?

Waiting is therefore probably the only work God has for most of us.

Because waiting requires us to be listening and doing what God orders us to do.

And that until He either changes the orders or the situation.

It is establishing in my heart that no other position is viable, no other open door is open and no other breakthrough is worthy my response but His revelation and showing off.

I am sure Daniel knew of the plot of those colleagues.

But he refused to intervene because it was clearly an affront to the God he served.

As their boss, it is inconceivable that he didn’t know that plot as it was being hatched. And as their boss he could have easily nipped that plot at its bud by simply going to the king and exposing it.

But he knew that his God was not impotent. His God could stand on His own.

He therefore let Him show off in the best way. And He did.

But do not for a moment think that that was an easy time for him between knowing of the plot and being rescued from the lions.

And I am sure it was the same with his three friends.

They could have comfortably disappeared from the radar so that they are not seen not bowing to that idol.

But what would that have communicated about the God they served?

But it was not an easy ride between the time the idol was unveiled and the time they walked out of that furnace.

What am I saying?

Waiting for God requires for me to trash any other options that would leave God out as the sole provider of my solution.

For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. (2Chronicles 16:9a)

Leaving God as the sole source of solutions gives Him complete leeway to do whatever He wants with us.

This means that He will get maximum, nay, all the credit for the interventions He offers.

I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images. (Isaiah 42:8)

It is one thing to wait for the Lord while you are scrolling all over for solutions.

It is a different thing altogether when like Shadrack and his three friends say

If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. (Daniel 3: 17, 18)

If God chooses not to show off, then so be it. We will continue serving Him even if we will be consumed by the fire.

That is what waiting for God entails.

Stephen died proclaiming the Gospel.

Waiting for God means placing my neck on the chopping block, not for God to suddenly decide to melt it or convert the powers that be, but for God to decide the best way to show off by offering my life as a sacrifice.

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. (Romans 12: 1, 2)

Abraham had waited for a child for over seventy years.

Yet he does not hesitate when he is ordered to offer him as a sacrifice because he had been waiting for God.

And we know he had options. Hagar is one demonstration of that.

And from reading the story it appears that the angel probably held his hand to stop him from killing the promise.

Simply because he was waiting for God.

God was greater and way more valuable than the promise, however valuable the promise was.

I know some are thinking I am hitting too hard.

But since when did faith become fashionable? Since when did obedience become easy? Since when did waiting become free flowing?

In closing let me give us a verse or two of some promises concerning waiting.

And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him. (Isaiah 30:18)

There is a blessing bestowed on the person who chooses to wait for God, on God’s terms.

Blessing in the Bible speaks of a completeness, a peaceful restfulness because God is delighted in us.

And that precedes His showing off.

Call it showing off in us before showing us off to the world.

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)

Ther is a renewal when we choose to wait for God. There is a refreshing. There is an energising.

That because waiting for God is not easy.

It may be the most energy consuming aspect of our faith because it requires an obedience without an end in sight.

It many times requires our rest amidst great turbulence.

It requires my confessing that I believe when nothing makes sense, just because God has said it.

That is what made Peter sleep in prison when everything pointed to his being beheaded the next day. It is what made Paul peaceful when all indications were that they would be drowned by the storms besetting their ship, because God had told him that he was taking him to Rome.

We wait because we have God’s word.

It is therefore important to get that word.

And not these words the conmen on the pulpits are giving to get the offerings flowing.

It is His word for you.

I hope I have rattled your faith enough to challenge you to consider waiting for God alone.

Because

O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, that dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth: thou hast made heaven and earth. (Isaiah 37:16)