Recently I have been inundated with the phrase, ‘Wait on the Lord’. This concept is my Achilles heel. I have spoken to many people and it's obvious that I am not alone. As a country, we are not willing to wait for... anything. Therefore, it is not surprising that waiting on the Lord with getting what I want or need is difficult, to say the least.
We have directions from scripture that tell us to wait.
Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” (Psalm 27:14 NIV)
“Wait on the LORD, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land.” (Psalm 37:34 KJV) I felt that God was using these scriptures to increase my patience.
We also have the widow in Luke 18, who kept on and on at the unrighteous judge asking to be avenged until he eventually relented. Jesus was teaching us not to give up in prayer, even though the answer may appear to be delayed, basically ‘wait’. We need faith when persevering in prayer. Many people spend a lifetime praying for one thing or another. The keys seem to be persistence, faith and patience (wait).
We have directions from scripture that tell us to wait.
Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” (Psalm 27:14 NIV)
“Wait on the LORD, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land.” (Psalm 37:34 KJV) I felt that God was using these scriptures to increase my patience.
We also have the widow in Luke 18, who kept on and on at the unrighteous judge asking to be avenged until he eventually relented. Jesus was teaching us not to give up in prayer, even though the answer may appear to be delayed, basically ‘wait’. We need faith when persevering in prayer. Many people spend a lifetime praying for one thing or another. The keys seem to be persistence, faith and patience (wait).
I kept at it, to understand waiting. I dove through Bible studies and found that most focus on our unwillingness to wait; being in too much of a hurry; drawing similarities between ‘waiting on the Lord’ to the time we might spend in a doctor’s waiting room or at the bus station. The central theme repeated: Slow down, give the Lord time. Wait for the Lord’s reply. Let go and let God. Leave it to the Lord. Be still. Do nothing but wait; He will answer. The conclusion: pray, have faith and get on with your life.
In my gut, this conclusion has to be off, it just has to. I would not drop this topic and I studied the Hebrew words. When translating ‘wait’ is ‘qavah’ which Strong’s dictionary says means literally ‘to bind together', figuratively it means look patiently and wait.
When translating ‘on’ is ‘el’, ‘el’ which means 'properly denoting motion towards,’ then came my“Eureka” moment. (Why else would I write this post?) ’Qavah el Yhvh’, ‘Wait on the Lord”. Waiting ‘on’ the Lord is not the same as waiting ‘for’ the Lord. There are two different meanings of the word ‘wait’ according to whether it is qualified by the ‘on’ or the word ‘for’. In a line at Disney or when we wait for a taxi, we are waiting ‘for’ someone or something, not waiting ‘on’ them.
In my gut, this conclusion has to be off, it just has to. I would not drop this topic and I studied the Hebrew words. When translating ‘wait’ is ‘qavah’ which Strong’s dictionary says means literally ‘to bind together', figuratively it means look patiently and wait.
When translating ‘on’ is ‘el’, ‘el’ which means 'properly denoting motion towards,’ then came my“Eureka” moment. (Why else would I write this post?) ’Qavah el Yhvh’, ‘Wait on the Lord”. Waiting ‘on’ the Lord is not the same as waiting ‘for’ the Lord. There are two different meanings of the word ‘wait’ according to whether it is qualified by the ‘on’ or the word ‘for’. In a line at Disney or when we wait for a taxi, we are waiting ‘for’ someone or something, not waiting ‘on’ them.
Here is the cool part, when the Lord tells us to ‘wait on Him,’ He is telling us to behave as waiter would, to serve Him! Do you want water? Would you like me bring more bread? Or how is your meal? Basically the question in a waiters mind is how may I serve YOU?
I am not sure I like my conclusion more, but it aligns well with the reason God made me (and you). We were made to worship, the rest of the reasons pale in comparison.
Joshua 1:7 is embedded into the structure of our home:
I am not sure I like my conclusion more, but it aligns well with the reason God made me (and you). We were made to worship, the rest of the reasons pale in comparison.
Joshua 1:7 is embedded into the structure of our home:
RSS Feed
