Wait Upon The Lord
It’s now December, the last month of the year, and once again we will soon be diving into another year, full of new adventures. People often make New Year’s resolutions, as personal goals that they would like to achieve. Others take the New Year as a time to start afresh, or to embark on a different journey than before. Regardless of our intentions, and our aspirations, we as Christians must realize that everything in our life happens in accordance to God’s Will and not our own. When we want a change, or refocus on our paths in order to get somewhere that we desire in life, often we just go ahead with following our own wants and needs without praying to God about it first. As such, we can fall into the trap of seeking advice from others, rather than our Eternal Father, receiving bad outcomes to our endeavors, and a sense of disbelief with our faith. This is why I say, wait. Wait upon The Lord and give it all to God in prayer. “Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD” (Psalm 27:14).
(Picture from King James Bible Online)
When we look at how the world is today, we live in societies that are very fast paced. Our lives are filled with technology that does so much for us, we have such strong expectations to get things done, and to take things into our own hands to achieve such outcomes. As a result, we, as a society, have become so very impatient, and rushed, constantly expecting things to be done then and there. People can end up having a bad job, getting into the wrong relationship, taking all sorts of wrong directions in life, and so on and so forth.
In a previous blogpost I wrote, I referenced James 4:13-17, stating that everything happens for a reason. God has a plan for each and every one of us. We must do everything in life according to God’s Will and not our own, as going against His Will is unbiblical and we fall into sin. We must include Him in all aspects of our lives, no matter how big or small the adventure may be. Christians are becoming too impatient, and short tempered, wanting things that may not even happen for them, or that will happen in the distance, and not the short term. I know that I struggle with being impatient constantly. I would get so frustrated when things don’t go as planned, or in accordance to what I have prayed about. However, I have to acknowledge the fact that it’s not up to me, it is up to Him with how things proceed in my life. When things do transpire, I feel a huge sense of relief, and also sadness, simply because my faith was not as strong in those moments, as my impatience took over. Everything would work out, each and every time, and yet I would continue to fall into the trap of being too impatient and short tempered to just relax and focus on praying to God and letting Him do the rest. “But if we hope for that we see not, [then] do we with patience wait for [it]” (Romans 8:25).
(Picture from My Bible)
Another point that I would like to mention is that people make all of these plans for their futures in such a structured way that if one little thing doesn’t go their way, then their entire faith can be attacked as such. We do not know what the future holds, not even the very next second. As Christians, it is absolutely imperative that we read the scriptures and rest in God, and wait patiently for Him.
I have a friend of mine who really wants to get pregnant. Every month when her period is late, or she is experiencing certain symptoms, she automatically thinks oh a baby is on the way! However, shortly after that, she gets her period, she’s not pregnant, and I am sure that she feels disappointed as such. But the cycle continues, and she prays hard on this because she wants to conceive a child with her Husband. I have another friend who once got jealous of me because I fell pregnant, and given my situation it seemed strange to this friend of mine that I fell pregnant and yet him and his wife struggled to conceive, and they were in a much better situation than I (meaning that he’s married and has a job and house).
The journey that I am on as a single mother is hard for me to understand simply because I did not expect to have a baby, nor did I expect to be doing this sort of thing alone. Although I do not understand my situation very well, there is a reason why all of this came to fruition, and thus, it gives me hope and strength in my walk with Christ as all of these things happening has meant to be.
There are a few different individuals in the Bible that provide great examples for patience, to wait and be guided to do God’s Will. Abraham waited on the promise of God, which was to bear a son and to be the father of many nations (Genesis 12:1-3). Abraham had lost faith in the promise that God had made to him (Genesis 15:1-3). He got out of God’s Will when he had Ishmael through his servant girl Hagar (Genesis 16:1-4). Finally though, God’s Word came true and He allowed Sarah to conceive and have a son, whose name was Isaac (Genesis 21:1-3).
The story of Joseph is another great story in the Bible about patience and waiting upon The Lord. Joseph was the 11th son of Jacob and became very close to his father. His other brothers got jealous of their father favouring him, and resented this open love towards Joseph to the point of hatred (Genesis 37:3-4). Joseph had many prophetic dreams and visions from God that he presented to his family, one of which was him ruling over his family one day (Genesis 37:11-15). This led his brothers to creating a plot to kill Joseph in the wilderness. They end up selling Joseph as a slave to an Egyptian named Potiphar (Genesis 37:18-35).
Joseph becomes the supervisor of this Egyptian’s household, as he excelled at doing all of his duties and became very trustworthy among all the other servants Potiphar had. However, Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce Joseph, and falsely accuse him of attempted rape, thus, casting Joseph into prison, despite his innocence (Genesis 39:7-20). Joseph interprets dreams through the guidance of God, whilst in prison, and as they became true, one of the prisoners who was restored, allowed Joseph to be released and returned to his original position in the household (Genesis 40:1-23). Joseph ended up interpreting dreams that the king himself had, years later, and as such, is made a ruler in Egypt due to his wisdom (Genesis 41:38-49). Jacob’s other sons end up travelling to Egypt, seeing Joseph, bowing down to him and seeking forgiveness, as they discover his leadership position there. Over time, Joseph remained faithful to God, and waited upon Him throughout all matters that he went through. God’s prophecies were fulfilled, despite hardship.
(Picture from Pinterest)
These examples that I mentioned, as well as my own journey, gave me guidance to writing about the importance of waiting upon The Lord, and following His Will and not our own. This is why we must continue to stay in prayer, read the scriptures, focusing on The Word and not the world, being led by Him and not our own desires and resting in hope of His perfect timing on all matters. “My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation [is] from him” (Psalm 62:5).
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