So you want to wait on the Lord?
The Internet is full of information on how to be a better you, and many websites have lists on how to learn some things that are helpful and other things that are
Isaiah may have lived long before the proliferation of “so you want to” lists online, but he does offer good advice in chapter 26 if you’re ever interested on how to wait on the Lord:Be humble The path of the righteous is level; you, the Upright One, make the way of the righteous smooth. . . . Lord, you establish peace for us; all that we have accomplished you have done for us (vv. 7 and 12) – You know your path is smooth only because of the Lord’s doing, not your own greatness, right?Be holyYes, Lord, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you (v. 8a) – God doesn’t promise to smooth out in front of us any path of our choosing. If you want to know God’s will for your life, just start walking within his laws and judgments. Considering that God made us, walking in his path is not only good, but also for our best. We follow cleaning directions for our expensive clothes and submit take our vehicles in for routine maintenance based on their manufacturer’s suggestions, but somehow we think we can wing it on how to flourish as human beings all by ourselves. Even worse, we keep trying to convince ourselves that our way is a better and more fun way to enjoy life, no matter how bad we feel the next morning.
Be passionateYour name and renown are the desire of our hearts (v. 8b) – A lot of times we associate sin with strong desires, whether its temptation to over-indulge, lust uncontrollably, become jealous, angry, lonesome—you name it. C. S. Lewis agreed that sin is linked to our desires, but in the opposite way, “if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”
Unless you are at the DMV or gridlocked in heavy traffic, waiting is usually not a passionate exercise. But waiting on the Lord is, or at least it ought to be. Waiting on the Lord means changing what we desire. We are no longer to fool about with going into debt buying stuff we do not need while our neighbors across the sea starve. We are no longer to shut ourselves off from our neighbors in an age that Francis Schaeffer once called that of “personal peace and affluence.” Instead, we are to yearn for God’s name and renown to be vindicated at the coming of his kingdom and actually do something about making his name great today. Be hungryMy soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you (v. 9a) – Our desire for God to set things aright should be stronger than our cravings for coffee in the morning (or afternoon if you live in Dakota) and sleep at night. The Hebrew authors of the Psalms spoke of meditating on the Law by day and by night. They likened God’s Word to sweet honey, nourishing mother’s milk, and energizing meat. Scrolls were few and precious, so they gathered around to hear from them often. I wonder what the Psalmists would think of our approach to Scriptures were they to see our dusty Bibles get left behind on shelves, carseats, and pews. Be trustingLet them [the wicked] see your zeal for your people and be put to shame (11b) – God zealously protects his name and his people. The connection between him and us is so tight that he talks about sharing his eternal life with us in Christ. His life is our life. Our life is his life. When Jesus says he is “the gate for the sheep,” he is not talking about some inanimate threshold we safely pass through in order to go to the next room in our house. Instead, he’s talking about a vulnerable flock that is allowed to sleep easy outdoors because the shepherd has laid himself down in harm’s way. When a wolf comes to hunt the flock, a mere hired hand will abandon the flock and flee, but not our Shepherd. He has put himself at the point of attack because he cares for us. Why, Christian, do you live as if God has left you with just a hired hand? You can trust that God will do what he says he will do; his zeal for his people will put everyone else to shame.
When we grow tired of waiting on him we will end up losing our humility, holiness, passion, and hunger. Before long we’ll live our lives just like everyone else, as if God does not exist and will never return to setup his kingdom. But he’s still coming, and when he comes we do not want to be like the people in Christ’s parables who were unprepared for their master’s return. John says these people will shrink back and cower at his coming. But as long as today is today, we have a chance to wait for him the right way. What are you waiting for?
No comments have been added yet.
