Wait On the Lord

Have you ever prayed and realized that answers often don’t come quickly. I know in my own life I have prayed for some things for several years and I am still waiting for God to move. My friends one of the great blessings and lessons that the Lord has taught me is that waiting on the Lord and exercising patience, in my prayers, is part of God’s will and His divine timetable.

If you have ever studied the life of Joseph I believe that God’s divine delays and detours are often necessary to bring about His glorious results.   

Most Christians are familiar with the story of Joseph that we read about in the book of Genesis. To briefly summarize, at age seventeen, after Joseph shared two dreams portraying that he would rule over his siblings and even his parents, his jealous brothers decided to sell him into slavery.

Shortly thereafter Joseph found his way to Egypt where he became a servant in Potiphar’s house. If being a slave was not bad enough, Joseph was then falsely accused of rape by Potiphar’s wife, and thrown into prison. In prison Joseph interprets the dreams of two of Pharaoh’s servants, who found their way there because they displeased the king. After the cupbearer to Pharaoh had a favorable interpretation and was released, Joseph remained in prison two more years. Then Pharaoh had two dreams, and because of Joseph’s gift of interpreting dreams, was summoned by the king and his interpretations pleased the king so much that he made Joseph, now age thirty, his prime minster. You might say what a circuitous route Joseph took going from slave to second in command in Egypt – and you would be absolutely correct.

As one reads this story we get a look behind the scenes on how God was orchestrating the entire events in Joseph’s life for good. I believe that Joseph’s faith and trust in God gave him the patience to endure the trials he had to go through before he would learn that God had special plans for his life. The words of Pastor John Piper echo so true here: “The strength of patience hangs on our capacity to believe that God is up to something good for us in all our delays and detours.”1

In addition, God will often use our patience as one of His chief tools to help build up our faith in His perfect timing. (Psalm 27:14) is especially helpful here: “Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord!”

The Christian walk is not a sprint, but a marathon. And just as marathon runners must train for their long grueling race, we as believers must learn to wait on the Lord’s timing, especially in our prayer life, for Him to work out His perfect plan and will. And just how God uses our prayers to accomplish His plans and will is still a mystery to me but the Scriptures are abundantly clear that God tells us to pray! God just wants us to trust and obey Him and not try to figure out all of His mysterious ways.

In closing I would like to share one of the greatest insights I have learned on my journey with Jesus. Simply put the Lord has shown me that He doesn’t want to be analyzed to death, but rather to be trusted and loved. And His delays and detours in answering our prayers are part of His divine plan. So let’s not rush God for He knows exactly what He is doing and His timetable is always right on time!

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1 Inspirational Quotes by John Piper (bibleportal.com)