Not too many of us enjoy waiting, especially if we are on time and someone else is late. The longer we wait, the more frustrated we get, because we are not doing anything except waiting.
Have you ever been tired of waiting on the Lord? He’s promised an answer, but you think He’s late in providing it. Maybe it’s time to activate faith AND works. Continue believing that the answer is coming, but don’t stop doing the good things you know to do while you are waiting.
“And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me” (Acts 1:4).
When I envision the scene in the upper room before the Day of Pentecost, I don’t see the disciples sitting around yawning and getting frustrated, even though Jesus hadn’t told them how long they would have to wait. I envision instead a group of people full of faith who were praying, studying the Scriptures, and encouraging each other. They were completely prepared when the Holy Ghost fell!
So, it seems when we have to wait on the Lord, we should consider it as a time of preparation and faith-filled works, not a period of inactivity.
“A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come.” (Luke 19:12-13) As a translator, I feel that this verse could easily be misinterpreted. “Occupy” can mean to take up space, or to distract yourself. The New King James version of this verse makes it clearer: “Do business till I come”.
While we wait on God for something, are we making the most of what He has already given us? Here’s another verse where the word wait could be misinterpreted. “Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether . . . ministry, let us wait on our ministering” (Romans 12:6-7). This scripture is not telling us to delay ministering. Again, the NKJV says it more clearly: “let us use it in our ministering”.
It seems the biblical way of waiting is an active waiting, quite different from the typical idea of “waiting around.” We have so many opportunities to learn, grow, and develop by using what God has already blessed us with.
If we are waiting for more, let’s wait actively, combining faith and works!
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