He waits for us and with us

The word “wait” usually translated wait in Isaiah 30:18, the verse we were looking at yesterday, can also be translated “longs for.” The Amplified Bible gives the first part of the verse as “Therefore the Lord waits [expectantly] and longs to be gracious to you.” Since the same word is used in the last part of the verse, it could rendered “Blessed are all those who longingly and expectantly wait for Him.” The blessing then, is promised to those who wait for Him in the same way that He waits for us. The point I am wanting to make this morning is that this verse links His waiting for us and our waiting for Him. God’s primary purpose in all that He does is reconciliation and relationship (Ephesians 1:10). And His purpose in longingly waiting for us is to draw us deeper into intimate relationship with Him. Since what concerns us also concerns Him, when we are waiting on Him we can be sure He is waiting with us.

The context makes it clear that He wants us to wait “In quietness and confidence.” This, He tells us “shall be your strength.” Israel's default however, is to “take counsel, but not of Me,” and to “go down to Egypt for help” ((verse 15; 31:1). But are we any different when instead of waiting in quietness and confidence, we fret and worry? We need to see this as our going down to our own “Egypt, ” our going back to our old ways. Picture a little boy at the babysitters. His mummy had to go to another city for an operation. It was successful and the the boy was told mummy will be back at such and such a time. But the flight was delayed, and the boy is becoming anxious. Knowing this, his daddy comes home from work to be with him. His daddy is calm, quiet and confident, and as His daddy waits with him, he too becomes quiet and confident.

God is always calm, He is always confident and He invites us into His embrace as we wait for Him and with Him. When I am in danger of becoming anxious I often “work” Philippians 4:4-7, replacing my anxiety with prayer and supplication, not forgetting to be thankful. I also seek to rehearse what He has done in the past. In this way, I feed on His faithfulness, and claim His promise that when I delight myself in Him, then my desires are right, and He will (in His time) give me the desires of my heart (Psalm 37:3,4). I also know that He has a purpose in the delay. In particular when, as a little child I chose to trust Him, and to take courage, then He is strengthening my heart (Psalm 27:14)in His embrace.

Father, I love this Psalm. I love the verse “I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD In the land of the living" (verse 13). And I want to thank You for the worship song “Do it again” that I was listening to this morning. I agree with the line “You never failed me yet,” You never have. It’s not that You have always done what I wanted, when I wanted it, but You have moved mountains in the past, and You are the same yesterday today and forever. So I pray for myself and all reading this who are waiting on You to fulfill a promise, that You will give us the courage and determination, with Your help, never, never, never to give up as we wait for You and with You in Jesus Name Amen