Wait Upon the Lord

I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. Ps 130:5

Blessed is the person who, early in their Christian life, learns to wait upon the Lord.  The psalmist said, “I will wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope.”  In another place he gives us a heartening word of encouragement.  “Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord” (Ps 27:14)

Everywhere we go, we find discouraged people who have given up the struggle.  Some of them have openly returned to the world.  Others follow along “afar off” from the warmth and comfort of the true faith and salvation.  Ask them what the trouble is and there are almost as many excuses as there are backsliders.  But to get right down to the truth of the matter, in nearly every case their trouble can be traced back to this:  They failed to wait upon God.

Waiting on God means more than a few brief formal prayers.  It means to pray until the soul lays hold of God and comes away with a blessing.  This may be a matter of minutes or even hours, but it means to seek until we find, knock until it is opened unto us, ask until we receive.

There is a waiting upon God, a pleading of the promises, a heart searching, a holding on the determination of love and faith, that puts the resources of heaven at our command.  Here is the great difference between defeat and victory.

How different might have been the attitude and action of the disciples on the night of the Savior’s betrayal, had they watched with him in prayer during the hour of agony!

Isaiah said “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” (Isa 4o:31).

Paul W. Thomas (excerpt from With Open Face. 1983)