Waiting “quietly”

There are too many references in the Bible about waiting on the LORD. I myself have written a lot on this particular topic. One reason I believe the Bible exhorts us extensively on the subject of waiting is because the life of the believer is comprised mainly of waiting. We are not unique in our waiting situations; it is such a common aspect of life that it is almost impossible to find someone that has not had to wait for something. Indeed, even in the book of Revelation, we are told of the “souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne” who are waiting in heaven, asking the LORD how long before He judges and avenges their blood (Revelation 6:10). Furthermore, even Jesus, our husband is waiting for his Bride (the church) to be ready for the marriage of the Lamb (Revelation 19:7). There is no escaping the waiting. As I was reading the word this week, this passage in Lamentations stood out to me in a new way and it says “It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.” (Lamentations 3:26). In today’s post, I would like to realign our view of who God is and what that means in terms of waiting “quietly” for the LORD.

God is the Creator of everything, and we are His creatures. As humans, we were created in the image of God but that does not give us the power to be above Him. However, God is not just our creator He is also our Father. When Jesus came to earth, he emphasized this Fatherhood aspect of God and taught us to come before God as “Our Father in heaven” (Matthew 6:9). Seeing God as our Father allows us to see Him as our protector, our provider, our shepherd, our priest. Unlike earthly fathers, God being our Father means He is the ultimate provider, the one who will not and cannot fail in His fatherly duties and so we can trust Him and trust His words. If it was not for Jesus, we would never have known that God is a Father, God would have remained only a master, and ruler. Those of us who have put our trust in Jesus can call God “Our Father”. Indeed, He is the Father of those who will believe and trust in His one and only Son to redeem them from their sins and punishment. We can approach God as a Father because Jesus has removed the barrier that prevented us to come into God’s presence and not be consumed. Moreover, by offering his body and his blood on the cross, Jesus ensured that those who believed in him became children of God (John 1:12), having a new status and a new identity in Christ. Unfortunately, many Christians do not live their lives as though God was their Father, their perfect Father. However, the word of God emphasizes a lot that we need to live in our new identity while in this world which starts with the renewing of our minds. We have been saved for good work (Ephesians 2:10), to showcase the excellencies of Christ which we couldn’t do in our sinful nature. I pray the LORD helps us to live in that consciousness. In addition to being our Creator and Father, God is who He says He is. He described Himself to Moses as “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.” (Exodus 34:6). These characters of God must be believed and trusted because they are true. The Bible contains stories after stories that prove the faithfulness of God, His love, His justice, His forgiving heart and so on. Moreover, all of us in our personal lives can recount instances of God’s goodness towards us or His mercy. In fact, if we are truthful and start counting our blessings, we would not be able to name them one by one because they are so many! This is the rightful view of God that allows us to wait on Him.

To wait for the LORD means to seek Him (Lamentations 3:25). As we wait for Him, we are actually longing for Him like the deer that pants for water (Psalm 42:1). Therefore, our waiting is not passive but active. Waiting for the LORD means we remain in Him. We abide. We obey. We constantly fill our minds with Him, His ways, His words. We incorporate Him in all aspects of our lives, the important and the trivial things. The goal is to seek Him until we find Him. I think of Jeremy who wrote Lamentations, he waited “quietly” for the LORD but that did not stop him from lamenting or from asking questions to the LORD. His being “quiet” did not mean not-speaking, what I believe it meant was not seeking a resolution on his own terms, not trying to fix the situation and not telling God what ought to be done. Jeremy waited “quietly” or patiently for the LORD as his own countrymen were ready to stone him for always prophesying the doom of Israel; he waited in agony, but he waited near the LORD. Jeremy was never far away from the LORD, he abode in the LORD and that is what true waiting is. Waiting “quietly” simply means to let the LORD have His way, to wait for His salvation while continuing to seek Him. Just like Jeremy, you and I are called to wait patiently for the LORD and the only way to do that is by continuing to stoke the flames of our love for Him. As the Psalm tells us, we seek the LORD and he answers us (Psalm 34). This is a guarantee. Similarly, the one who seeks, finds and the one who knocks gets an open door (Matthew 7:7). The goal is to keep pressing until the salvation of the LORD. We serve a God who does not sleep nor slumber, a God who sees the beginning from the end, a God who is our defender and man of war, a God who is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent. If someone can be trusted, it is Him.

As I close, let me encourage you to remember that waiting is normal, it is every human’s lot in life. However, to wait well is the lot of the one who has been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb and the Father has made everything available for you to wait well. You are not alone in your waiting; He is waiting with you. Moreover, we wait knowing that our Father will show up for us as the good Father He is who gives good gifts to His children (James 1:17). So don’t grow weary in doing good. Keep at it, and keep seeking, the salvation of the LORD is at hand! Amen!