By Pastora Beth Lee
How do you wait on God? Are you becoming impatient to the point of giving up? Are you in a hurry to receive what God promised you? Are you making a way for yourself to get the blessing of God? You want to give up right away. You believe God promised you something years ago but you have not received it up to now. We keep on walking and pacing, waiting for God, not knowing that God is also waiting for us. Isaiah 30:18 says, “Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!”
God promised David that he would be the next king of Israel. A prophet told him that. David waited for 15 years before he became king. Noah waited 120 years before he completed building the ark, asking the people to repent. God promised Abraham a child. Sarah doubted because she was barren. But they waited for 25 years before Isaac was born. Jacob waited for 24 years before Rachel came into his life. He worked for Laban for a long time to prove his love and waited. The Israelites waited for 440 years to enter the promised land.
Numbers 20:213 tells how the Israelites were complaining to God while traveling in the dessert. It says, “Now there was no water for the community, and the people gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron. They quarreled with Moses and said, “If only we had died when our brothers fell dead before the Lord! Why did you bring the Lord’s community into this wilderness, that we and our livestock should die here? Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place? It has no grain or figs, grapevines or pomegranates. And there is no water to drink!” Moses and Aaron went from the assembly to the entrance to the tent of meeting and fell facedown, and the glory of the Lord appeared to them. The Lord said to Moses, “Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink.” So Moses took the staff from the Lord’s presence, just as he commanded him. He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, “Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?” Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank. But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.” These were the waters of Meribah, where the Israelites quarreled with the Lord and where he was proved holy among them.”
The Israelites waited for 400 years for them to get out of Egypt. During the time when they were freed, God was moving in Mt. Sinai to consecrate His people. While they were en route to the promised land, the Israelites started complaining to Moses. They needed water in the dessert, which was obviously very scarce due to their location. During that time, the older generation had already gone. The next generation were the ones who were complaining like the generation before them. They forgot that they are the chosen generation and how the Lord has already moved in their lives many times before.
How about you? The Lord has showed Himself to you in the past so many times too. Why do you doubt> he does not want you to go back to where you were because He is faithful in His promises. Just like the Israelites who were grumbling, God still showed up and freed them from their problems. In Number 16:13-14, it says, “Isn’t it enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness? And now you also want to Lord it over us! Moreover, you haven’t brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey or given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Do you want to treat these men like slaves? No, we will not come!” The Israelites, although God had already changed them, still bring back their old nature. Just like man nowadays, when you are going through trials, you bring back your past. But God does not want that. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” You are not who you were before. God is good. He is faithful in all His promises.
Moses was the leader of the Israelites during that time. But he also has his flaws. When you are angry, your emotions are hyped up and sometimes, you do more, or less, than what is asked. During this time, God gave Moses specific instructions - to get his rod, bring Aaron and go to the big rock, and speak to the rock for it to give them water. But in his anger, Moses asked the Israelites if they wanted him to let water out and struck the rock. He became proud and forgot that it was God who provides for everything. Moses lacked reverent obedience. And because of his disobedience, he was not allowed to enter the promised land.
If you work on your own strength, everything you do will fail. But if you wait on God, there are things that you can hole onto. What do you think you should do while you are waiting? Psalms 46:10 says, “Be still and know that I am God.” You should serve God continuously while waiting on Him. Joshua 24:15 says, “But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” God is moving in the midst of your prayers. Pray without ceasing while you are waiting. God will be faithful in His promises. Hold on to the promises of God. No matter where life’s roads take you, He will never leave you nor forsake you. He is faithful and true if only you trust in Him.
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