Waiting is hard. We live in a society where we have to have it all and we have to have it right now. I’m in a waiting season right now. Honestly, I don’t feel like I have whole lot to write about. I feel like I am at a standstill right now. Recently, I was reminded of this song by John Waller:
I’m waiting, I’m waiting on You Lord
And I am hopeful, I’m waiting on You Lord
Though it is painful, but patiently I will wait
And I will move ahead bold and confident
Taking every step in obedience
While I’m waiting I will serve You
While I’m waiting I will worship
While I’m waiting I will not faint
I’ll be running the race even while I wait
I’m waiting, I’m waiting on You Lord
And I am peaceful, I’m waiting on You Lord
Though it’s not easy no, but faithfully I will wait
Yes, I will wait
And I will move ahead bold and confident
Taking every step in obedience
While I’m waiting I will serve You
While I’m waiting I will worship
While I’m waiting I will not faint
I’ll be running the race even while I wait
I will move ahead bold and confident
I’ll be taking every step in obedience, yeah
While I’m waiting I will serve You
While I’m waiting I will worship
While I’m waiting I will not faint
And I will serve You while I’m waiting
I will worship while I’m waiting
I will serve You while I’m waiting
I will worship while I’m waiting
I will serve You while I’m waiting
I will worship while I’m waiting on You Lord
I will serve You while I’m waiting
I will worship while I’m waiting
I will serve You while I’m waiting
I will worship while I’m waiting
Just because I am in a waiting season doesn’t mean that my duties as a Christ-follower stops. I still need to be looking and listening for what God is asking me to do. Oftentimes, we get so lost is the waiting process that we forget that we need to keep looking for opportunities to serve the Lord. Our worship should never falter. Our faith should become stronger because we are trusting that God is going to fulfill the promises He has spoken to us.
Between the books of Malachi and Matthew, the last book of the Old Testament and the first book of the New Testament, 400 years has passed. Malachi is one of the last prophets God uses to confront the Jews of their sins and to restore their relationship with God. God speaks a very special promise to the Jews through Malachi:
“Look! I am sending my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. Then the Lord you are seeking will suddenly come to his Temple. The messenger of the covenant, whom you look for so eagerly, is surely coming,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “But who will be able to endure it when he comes? Who will be able to stand and face him when he appears? For he will be like a blazing fire that refines metal, or like a strong soap that bleaches clothes. He will sit like a refiner of silver, burning away the dross. He will purify the Levites, refining them like gold and silver, so that they may once again offer acceptable sacrifices to the Lord.
Malachi 3:1-3 (NLT)
Malachi speaks about John the Baptist first coming to prepare the way for Jesus, and then of Jesus, the Messiah, the hope of the world! Then, God doesn’t speak for 400 years! I can imagine that the Jews began to grow restless. By the time the prophecies of Jesus throughout the Old Testament are fulfilled in the New Testament Gospels, the Pharisees had taken 10 simple Commandments and turned them inside out adding more and more rules and regulations to them. The Jews are so caught up in their religion that many of them missed Jesus. They missed the promise! Their waiting season turned into 400 years. Generations and generations have gone by since the prophecy from Malachi. How much hope was lost during all that time?
We must never lose hope! God will always do what He says He is going to do. However, His timing is different from ours. We must wait expectantly to watch as God makes His promises known to us. The best promise was the birth of His only Son to a virgin. Jesus came so quietly and innocently to Earth; a babe in a manger. The hope of the world made known to all mankind.
For a child is born to us,
a son is given to us.
The government will rest on his shoulders.
And he will be called:
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
His government and its peace
will never end.
He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David
for all eternity.
The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies
will make this happen!
Isaiah 9:6-7 (NLT)
Our waiting season is a time for us to seek the Lord out constantly, to never doubt. If you are in a waiting season, don’t lose hope! God is teaching you something.
Don’t. Miss. It.