Waiting, no one likes to wait. In this “push of a button” world that we live in waiting is measured in seconds not minutes, not hours, not days, and definitely not weeks. Heaven forbid that we wait more than a few seconds at a checkout counter. We roll our eyes, stomp our feet, and make unpleasant remarks to let everyone know that we have been inconvenienced. I am amazed at my children when they can’t find the popcorn button on the microwave. Heaven forbid they have to press more than one button. I remember as a kid when we first got a microwave. I was about 12 and it was a very nice microwave. It didn’t have the dial like most, it had a digital display and buttons. No popcorn button though, you still had to set the power and the time on it. Now we are frustrated if we have to press more than one button and it takes more than 30 seconds. Convenience is a pleasure that has cost us dearly. Fast food restaurants have literally fed the most obese generations ever, the internet has produced the largest population of introverts the world has ever known and now social media has taken away all privacy and intimacy of almost every aspect of family life. We have given away all rights and respect for life for the ability to have everything now. I can’t even begin to try and excuse it. It is out of control and there seems to be no end in sight. Everything I have spoken of up till this moment is just bits of the world we live and work in. Let’s talk about our spirit man for a minute.
While we spend our all on these conveniences, our physical bodies are getting fatter and our spirit man is dying of starvation. We indulge these pleasures and conveniences until before long we are addicted. It doesn’t happen overnight, it’s slow and painless. We push ourselves to have more things that we use less so we can work more to keep the cycle going. Meanwhile our spirit man is dying, longing for the meat of the word of life, the word of God. It soon becomes second nature to dismiss our prayer times with God. Soon there is no time left for reading the Bible. Soon there is no time for going to church. Soon we are numb to everything. I know none of you have ever been in this situation but for me it happened way quicker than I thought possible. One day I’m singing His praises the next I found myself cursing his name. What a place to be.
There has to be something I can do to keep me from going in this direction you say. I’m glad you ask. In Ephesians 6 we read about putting on the whole armor of God. What speaks to me most in this passage is not the armor or what is does, not even that we possess all these things. After God has given us weapons to defend ourselves, we are told to stand, just stand. Sounds simple! To stand we must be still. You can’t walk and stand at the same time. You can’t run and stand at the same time. You can’t sleep and stand at the same time. You can’t sit and stand at the same time. No, standing takes some conscience effort. If a man stands long enough he has no choice but to think about it. I was watching my son at a small function a few years ago as he was standing with a group of children. They were waiting on a speaker to finish up so they could go back to their seats. His feet were planted firmly and they never moved until he was told they could set down but his whole body was moving. He was swinging his arms and hands, his upper body twisting back and forth you could just see that having to stand still was about to drive him crazy. Yet had I ask him to run he wouldn’t have walked two steps. The Lord showed me that we are just like my son standing in that line. We hear God tell us to stand but, we don’t have to be still. We will do what he says but, we don’t have to like it. Standing makes us to have to wait and we don’t like that, it’s not convenient. The Bible tells us that waiting on the Lord will renew our strength, gives us wisdom, guides our feet and brings us peace. It allows us to hear from Him.
Recently, while at work, I was standing at a sink getting ready to wash my hands and the soap dispenser at this sink was one you had to push in the pump on the front of the dispenser with the lower part of your hand and then the soap came from underneath the dispenser. When I got ready to get some soap I looked on the counter under the soap dispenser and there was a small pool of soap on the counter where someone before me had been in a hurry and let some of soap fall. No big deal just washing my hands. Then, as I quickly pumped the dispenser and pulled my hand away, I saw that I only got a small amount of soap on the edge of my hand and of course, God spoke up. He said many of my people are in such a hurry to get in and get out only for what they think they need that they miss the rest of what I have for them because they refuse to stand and wait. They only get a small part of my blessings enough to cover the edge of their problems. If they would only stand and wait so could I could pure out my blessings upon them their lives would never be the same. There were several men going in and out of the restroom during all this and I’m sure they thought I was crazy but for the next few minutes I just kept pumping the dispenser never removing my hand watching as the soap ran through my fingers thinking cover me Lord cover me here I am cover me. Now I could have chosen to finish washing my hands and go back to work, that would have been a convenient thing to do. Instead, I chose to stand at that sink in front of everyone praying in the Holy Ghost pumping that dispenser while soap ran everywhere and God moved upon me and blessed me. We must learn to stand again. Not just stand up for what we believe but stand still in His presence and wait on Him. Everything I have ever read in the Bible shows that God desires to bless us and have a relationship with us. Not just a moment. God doesn’t run a drive through service where we stop by to pick something off the dollar menu. He has set forth an entire kingdom for you to reign in. Nothing about what He has done has been convenient. I’m sure that the beating he took for your healing wasn’t convenient yet when we pray for our healing if we have to spend more than 5 minutes getting a breakthrough we’re over it. Hanging from nail pierced hands and feet for our sins had to be inconvenient, yet it let us have to spend more than a few minutes sharing the good news and we’ve done our part.
I have been asking God not to allow me grow comfortable in anything, in doing so, I have been standing still and waiting on His guidance for what to do next. So far there have been no problems with not being comfortable. I have noticed that some of the most uncomfortable times for me are during the waiting. Surprise!!! I have also noticed that there is a new push and desire in my spirit to see and discern His will for the kingdom like never before. Notice I didn’t say anything about his will for me. The reason is that as He allows me to see and understand His will for the Kingdom the easier it is to see that I’m not to worry about me, that’s His place mine is to be about occupying and prospering His kingdom here on earth. All of this peace and understating came from standing and waiting. We have to remember that while there are many tools and pleasures of this world that can be used to our advantage while here on earth none of them will stand. Only what we do for the Kingdom of God will stand. But first we must stand still!
Psalms 27:14 Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; Wait I say on the Lord!
Lamentations 3:25 The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.
Romans 8:25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.
Isaiah 40:31 But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.
M.U.S.C.L.E. 