To wait on the Lord means to be content and patient because we are clinging to God and resting in His love and wisdom. This element of waiting, however, is the most difficult aspect of all for two reasons.
(1) Contentment and patience are difficult because they are so contrary to fallen humanity and how we naturally think even after we are regenerated by the Spirit of God. It takes constant renewal in the Word, fellowship with the Lord, and growth through struggle to change.
(2) Contentment and patience fly directly in the face of the cunning delusion Satan constantly seeks to pass off on the human race, namely, that man does not need God and can find security, satisfaction, and significance apart from the Lord through his own solutions and human wisdom.
To wait on the Lord means learning to be content and patient as we cling to God in a fallen world and rest in His love and wisdom. Key to this is knowing that someday we will be in a perfect world that is everything this world is not.
. Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. 17 For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, 18 while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)
On the one hand, being content and patient means learning to be independent of the things we think we need for our significance, security, or satisfaction in life.
Not that I speak from want; for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. 12 I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. 13 I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:11-13)
On the other hand, it means learning to cling to the Lord in the midst of a fallen world. It means resting in His goodness and being committed to His purposes and glory no matter how things seem.
Though believers generally recognize Satan’s big lie for what it is—a lie—we still tend to buy into part of his sales pitch concerning his substitutes and strategies for life. And to confuse or complicate matters, our susceptibility to Satan’s system is aided by our own natural God-given longings for happiness, joy, acceptance, love, meaning, and purpose in life.
Though God-given, these longings were never intended to replace our more fundamental and basic longing and need of God. Indeed, our ability to properly experience these longings rather than abuse them (make them into our gods) has always depended on our relationship and dependence on the Lord.
We naturally long for many things such as love, acceptance, purpose in life, food, clothing, comfort, pleasure, and security. And these are all legitimate desires. However, because of our natural needs and desires, we fall prey to Satan’s lies and follow Satan’s strategies (as well as our own) to meet our needs and fulfill our desires.
(1) We tell ourselves we can’t be happy unless we have certain of the details of life—a particular kind of car, or home, or furnishings for our home, etc.
(2) We believe the lie that we can’t be significant and find meaning in life unless we obtain the position we are coveting, unless we are accepted by a particular group of people, or unless certain people respect our opinions. (You fill in the blank.)
When we believe these kinds of lies, we become discontent as Eve was in Genesis 3. Then, in our state of discontent and false belief, we turn from waiting on the Lord to our own strategies as did Eve. We reach into our own little bag of tricks to get what we want. Regarding this Jeremiah wrote:
“Be appalled, O heavens, at this, And shudder, be very desolate,” declares the LORD. “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, The fountain of living waters, To hew for themselves cisterns, Broken cisterns, That can hold no water.” (Jeremiah 2:12-13)
One of the greatest evidences of our fallenness is our propensity to seek to get from this world what only God can give us. God has given us all things to enjoy (1 Tim. 6:17), but never apart from Him either as the source of our basic satisfaction in life or apart from His direction. Without the Lord, even in the midst of great prosperity, life becomes like parched ground and we end up like a gerbil on a wheel, running, running, running, but going nowhere and facing only discontent and boredom.
To wait on the Lord means to learn contentment with His provision and timing in any given situation through fellowship with God—knowing Him, clinging to Him, and trusting Him.
The Israelites were to be God’s people, distinct, and living under His protection, direction, and provision as they experienced His fellowship and manifested His glory.
(Psalm 106:13-15) shares some insightful lessons from which we can learn much in the realm of learning to be content which is so vital to waiting on the Lord.
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