July 22
"Therefore will the Lord wait, that He may be gracious unto you...
blessed are all they that wait in Him."
Isaiah 30:18
We should not only understand the importance of our waiting on God but also realize something even more wonderful-the Lord waits on us. And the very thought of His waiting on us will give us renewed motivation and inspiration to "wait for him". It will also provide inexpressible confidence that our waiting will never be in vain. Therefore, in the spirit of waiting on God, let us seek to discover exactly what it means right now.
The Lord has an inconceivably glorious purpose for each of His children. "If this is true," you ask, "why is it that He continues to wait longer and longer to offer His grace and to provide the help I seek, even after I have come and waited on Him?" He does so because He is a wise gardener who "waits for the land to yield its valuable crop" and is "patient...for the autumn and spring rains" (James 5:7). God knows He cannot gather the fruit until it is ripe, and He knows precisely when we are spiritually ready to receive blessings for our gain and His glory. And waiting in the sunshine of His love is what will ripen our soul for His blessings. Also waiting under the clouds of trails is as important, for they will ultimately produce showers of blessings.
Rest assured that if God waits longer than we desire, it is simply to make the blessings doubly precious. Remember, He waited four thousand years, "but when the time had fully come, God sent His Son" (Gal. 4:4). Our time is in his hands, and He will quickly avenge those He has chosen, swiftly coming to our support without ever delaying even one hour too long. Andrew Murray
Streams In The Desert by L. B. Cowman edited by Jim Reimann
