Yesterday, I had the privilege of giving the message during first service. We talked about biblical waiting. Side note: Thank you to all of you who prayed for me and your supportive faces while I was speaking. While I don't mind public speaking, I'm always a little panicked when speaking about God's word to a group! Thank you for supporting me!
Anyway, we talked about waiting and one of the reference I used was, of course, Isaiah 40:31 "But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength". I talked about the word "wait" actually could be translated as waiting (active not passive) and when I asked Skip to review my research he sent something that I shared with the congregation and I want to share now. Skip wrote:
"In the Hebrew mind, "waiting for the Lord" is far more active than passive. My father-in-law used to put it this way, 'If you want to know God's will, simply do God's will and He will reveal the rest to you in His timing.' In other words, if we are truly waiting for or hoping in the Lord, we will absolutely be about His business (daily in God's word, praying without ceasing, loving our families, telling people about Jesus, working hard for our employers, taking care of our employees, feeding the hungry, caring for widows and orphans, etc) just as Jesus was in John 4:34 where he said 'My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work'".
This morning, I was having breakfast with a friend who is a relatively new believer. He was talking about how to teach his teenage children to live the Christian life. He went off track for a little bit talking about having them "just worry about themselves". When he saw my face he stopped to ask what was wrong. I was a great opportunity to talk about the verse above (John 4:34) and about how an inwardly focus might not be what God had in mind. It was a great conversation.
So, I didn't have to wait very long at all to see God working directly in my life with others. Thank you Jesus!
Philip J.
