The fellowship of waiting with Him

My life verses (verses that I come back to me again and again, and through which the Lord speaks to me over and over) come in three parts. It’s Psalm 40:1-3, and the three parts are firstly instructions to wait patiently on the Lord, secondly my testimony (feet on rock, song in mouth), and thirdly my promise “Many shall see and fear and put their trust in Him.”

Several years ago now the Lord asked me if I had followed the instructions. In particular, was I waiting patiently on Him? I could answer that I had waited, well I had had no choice, as to whether the waiting was patient or not, that was a entirely different question.

I suspect that my form of waiting is typical of many. Whether this is true or not, what I did initially was to try and make His promise come true. That is to do His work for Him! For example for the longest time no matter what I tried, the fellowship I had felt led to start was tiny. Now years later, it is merely small! I do keep reminding Him that He has told me that many shall see and fear put their trust in Him, and that He also is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we ask or imagine. Still I wait! The Scripture tells me not to despise the day of small beginnings, and I am learning to rest in that. But there is a danger here too, and that is to settle for less than all that He has for me. In other words to get comfortable, and to cease to wait for him.

There are two apparently contradictory things that the Scripture speaks of in regard to waiting. In Proverbs we read that hope deferred makes the heart sick (Proverbs 13:12). But we also read that those who wait (in hope) on the Lord will renew their strength, they will mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint (Isaiah 40:31). In a book I read years ago by Bob Sorge talking about the fire of delayed answers, I was encouraged to press in to my promises. And in fact the difference between having a sick heart because of delayed answers, and mounting up with wings like the Eagle, is all about how we wait (hope).

I have found it helpful to gather together all the verses and promises that I have received from the Lord, together with the prophetic words that speak of my destiny. And when I get discouraged, I go over these promises, and remind the Lord of what He has promised. In spite of this, there is one promise I have been waiting for, for over 20 years, that continues to cause me pain. But over the last few days, the Lord has been showing me the difference between waiting for Him, and waiting with Him. In particular He showed me that He yearns even more than I do for the reconciliation I yearn for. He then reminded me of Philippians 4:10 which talks about the fellowship of his sufferings, and it suddenly jumped out at me that part of this is that when we wait with Him there is fellowship with Him in the agony of waiting. And when we wait with Him we also receive His comfort!

Father, forgive me for my slowness to bring everything to You. In You, that is in the intimacy of my ongoing relationship with You, there is grace for every situation. Continue to work in my life, as I continue to choose to wait on and with You. In Jesus Name Amen