Waiting for God

UV 800/10,000 Waiting for God And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him. Isaiah 30 v 18 The Lord longs to be gracious, generous or kind to us. He longs to shower us with His parental love, care and favour. It is almost as if He is always looking for ways to bless us, opportunities to make our joy full. When we meditate, remember and claim a uni-verse, we are creating an opening for the Lord to bless us both supernaturally and naturally. He delights in blessing those who acknowledge Him as Father, Saviour, Lord, King.. He also hates it when He is ignored, neglected, disrespected or misunderstood even as we earthly parents are sore when our children disrespect us. Since He is a God of judgement, He cannot bless us when we are out of sync with Him. It is at these times that he sends us a deluge of troubles that we just cannot handle on our own. He does it to draw our attention. When we turn back to Him in repentance, He will restore, comfort and encourage us. He will readily forgive us. God is a just judge. This is the reason He binds Himself by the law that He himself has given through many messengers. When we claim a specific verse in scripture for a specific reason, He opens a gate or window of Heaven to bless us. We are blessed even as we wait for the fulfilment of the specific promise. No promise has an expiry date. Hence, once we place our trust in the promise of the Lord, we need to wait patiently and with hope. All our actions and reactions should be based on the sure knowledge that the Lord will fulfil His Word. We need to long for the Lord and His response to our faith. The word, “ wait” does not mean we just wait casually or with an attitude of doubt, “ let’s see if it happens.” Neither can we force issues by issuing an ultimatum to the Lord, “ Do this or I..” We cannot also test the Lord by saying, “ prove You are Lord in this situation.” We cannot set a deadline or time limit. It is a two way process in which the Lord will in due time reveal His mercy, His power and His grace and we will manifest to Him our faith, our trust and our hope. Why does the Lord make us wait for His time: the period of waiting is itself a greater blessing than receiving the blessing or answer of our hope. This is the reason the uni-verse says, “ blessed are those who wait for Him.” Our wait is not for a reply to our prayers but for the Lord Himself. We are waiting for the Lord as the wise virgins waited. We need to be vigilant, hopeful and at our best. We need to polish the lamps in our hands, fill it with oil. Polishing the lamp is a metaphor for having a good grip on the Word of God. Being filled with oil implies being filled with the Holy Spirit. We need to keep looking out of the window and perk up our ears and eyes to pick up any early sign of His footfall or a knock on the door of our hearts. He says to us, “ Behold, I stand at the door of your heart, mind and life itself and knock. If you hear my voice or my Word and open the door of your understanding, I will come in and enjoy your life with you.” We are often worried that the Lord will take up too much space in our lives and we ourselves will get nudged out. But the Lord is gracious and He will only enlarge our lives and crowd it with a multitude of blessings. Prateep V Philip