“I waited patiently for the LORD; he inclined to me and heard my cry.” (Psalm 40:1, ESV)
George Mueller preached all over the world. He led evangelism retreats and campaigns. He was a powerful speaker with a great knowledge of the Bible. When he read Psalm 37:23, which states “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord”, Mueller wrote in the margin next to this verse, “And the stops also!”. George Mueller knew that a person’s steps AND stops are planned by the Lord. Mueller was fully aware that God not only gives you mission work to accomplish in HIS time but needs you to wait for the right time to accomplish said work.
Many Christians are quick to quote verses in the Bible like Romans 2:6, “God will judge everyone according to the works they have done.” Or, maybe James 2:17, “Faith without works is dead”. Pastors devote whole sermon series to mission work, bible study, and other projects of the Kingdom. However, sometimes patience gets shoved aside in the push to accomplish works for the Lord. Scriptures like Psalm 40:1 are ignored as being less powerful or less worthy. Why? It suggests that the author “waited patiently for the Lord” before God “heard his cry”. In the modern era, patient waiting for the Lord’s time seems like doing nothing or a waste of time. That’s not how God sees it.
In my last full-time ministry placement in a church in North Carolina, a couple of members got very upset with me. The church needed to make a big decision about implementing a Preschool program. The upfront costs to upgrade the building would have been significant, however the opportunities for ministry would be advantageous. On the way to the church office, a member stopped me and asked me if I talked one member into supporting the Preschool program. I told her I was going to the office early to pray. She told me to quit wasting time and get over to that member’s house! The very next day, another member stopped over at the parsonage to talk. She was upset that I hadn’t visited other preschools in the area to learn their secrets. I told her that I was first taking a few days in prayer to see what the Lord needed me to do at this time. She told me to hurry up and get the praying done because there was a lot of work and little time.
I am a hard worker. I enjoy an honest day’s work. I have pastored churches, led overseas missions, helped revitalize inner-city agencies, was instrumental in the beginnings of four homeless shelters, and so much more. Through all these works, the Lord has taught me that waiting patiently for God’s time is very valuable. Waiting patiently is one of the most important things to DO when desiring God’s direction and strength.
At a village in East Africa, a young girl went missing. People feared for her safety. Two dozen men and older boys gathered at the end of the village and devised a plan to search in different areas. Every hour they would check in. One of the younger boys was so excited to be asked to search for the missing girl that he took off in the direction he was assigned. Five hours later, the young boy returned to the village and said he didn’t see the missing girl. The village elder responded, “Why didn’t you come back and check in? Why did you just run ahead of all the searchers? We found the girl after only ten minutes! We almost sent a search party out looking for you!” The boy responded, “I wanted to search as far as I could as fast as I could. I didn’t think to stop!” The elder finished the discussion with the statement, “So, you ran around a lot but accomplished nothing while causing more problems!”
Christians can spiritually make the same mistake as this young boy. They can do a lot of running around, expend a lot of energy, make a lot of noise, but accomplish little or nothing. They might be so busy “making up work” that they don’t accomplish what God needs done. I’ve been in meetings at churches that were filled with lots of agenda points but accomplished little but wasting time. There are situations at churches where the people get so caught up with social activities and traditional events that they don’t take the time to pray and evaluate if God has something better in mind. By way of example, one church in New York devotes two weeks and hundreds of hours each year to a booth at their town festival. Originally, their participation in the town festival was envisioned as a way to show the church is an active part of the community. They’ve done this for forty years, so nobody questions it now. It’s “on the church calendar”. In truth, the church expends so much money and effort to the town festival that they told a missionary that they didn’t have time to have an outreach event at the church during the month before or after the town festival! If the members of that church would have only stopped and prayed and waited on the Lord for a while, maybe they would have seen that their participation in the town festival was no longer as important as supporting that Christian mission overseas.
In “Frontiers” journal recently, the authors of an article wrote the following: “Does it seem that most people you interact with professionally say they are too busy? Hearing this comment so often, it is possible to become numb to it, consider it the norm, and not think much about what the comment or condition really means. But have you ever wondered about the ramifications of constantly being “too busy” for you, your colleagues and the agency you work for?” They called this the “Tyranny of being too busy”. I have found the same thing among people of faith. Their “too busy” lifestyle has ruined their ability to wait patiently on the Lord.
If you read closely the scripture for today, you will notice that ONLY when the author waited patiently on the Lord was his voice heard. I have found this to be a constant reality in faith. During some crucial moments, you will not hear God’s voice or God will not heed your voice if you are too busy to stop and wait patiently on the Lord. Don’t underestimate the power of ACTIVELY WAITING for God to give direction or clarity or help or healing.
Many Christians are quick to quote verses in the Bible like Romans 2:6, “God will judge everyone according to the works they have done.” Or, maybe James 2:17, “Faith without works is dead”. Pastors devote whole sermon series to mission work, bible study, and other projects of the Kingdom. However, sometimes patience gets shoved aside in the push to accomplish works for the Lord. Scriptures like Psalm 40:1 are ignored as being less powerful or less worthy. Why? It suggests that the author “waited patiently for the Lord” before God “heard his cry”. In the modern era, patient waiting for the Lord’s time seems like doing nothing or a waste of time. That’s not how God sees it.
In my last full-time ministry placement in a church in North Carolina, a couple of members got very upset with me. The church needed to make a big decision about implementing a Preschool program. The upfront costs to upgrade the building would have been significant, however the opportunities for ministry would be advantageous. On the way to the church office, a member stopped me and asked me if I talked one member into supporting the Preschool program. I told her I was going to the office early to pray. She told me to quit wasting time and get over to that member’s house! The very next day, another member stopped over at the parsonage to talk. She was upset that I hadn’t visited other preschools in the area to learn their secrets. I told her that I was first taking a few days in prayer to see what the Lord needed me to do at this time. She told me to hurry up and get the praying done because there was a lot of work and little time.
I am a hard worker. I enjoy an honest day’s work. I have pastored churches, led overseas missions, helped revitalize inner-city agencies, was instrumental in the beginnings of four homeless shelters, and so much more. Through all these works, the Lord has taught me that waiting patiently for God’s time is very valuable. Waiting patiently is one of the most important things to DO when desiring God’s direction and strength.
At a village in East Africa, a young girl went missing. People feared for her safety. Two dozen men and older boys gathered at the end of the village and devised a plan to search in different areas. Every hour they would check in. One of the younger boys was so excited to be asked to search for the missing girl that he took off in the direction he was assigned. Five hours later, the young boy returned to the village and said he didn’t see the missing girl. The village elder responded, “Why didn’t you come back and check in? Why did you just run ahead of all the searchers? We found the girl after only ten minutes! We almost sent a search party out looking for you!” The boy responded, “I wanted to search as far as I could as fast as I could. I didn’t think to stop!” The elder finished the discussion with the statement, “So, you ran around a lot but accomplished nothing while causing more problems!”
Christians can spiritually make the same mistake as this young boy. They can do a lot of running around, expend a lot of energy, make a lot of noise, but accomplish little or nothing. They might be so busy “making up work” that they don’t accomplish what God needs done. I’ve been in meetings at churches that were filled with lots of agenda points but accomplished little but wasting time. There are situations at churches where the people get so caught up with social activities and traditional events that they don’t take the time to pray and evaluate if God has something better in mind. By way of example, one church in New York devotes two weeks and hundreds of hours each year to a booth at their town festival. Originally, their participation in the town festival was envisioned as a way to show the church is an active part of the community. They’ve done this for forty years, so nobody questions it now. It’s “on the church calendar”. In truth, the church expends so much money and effort to the town festival that they told a missionary that they didn’t have time to have an outreach event at the church during the month before or after the town festival! If the members of that church would have only stopped and prayed and waited on the Lord for a while, maybe they would have seen that their participation in the town festival was no longer as important as supporting that Christian mission overseas.
In “Frontiers” journal recently, the authors of an article wrote the following: “Does it seem that most people you interact with professionally say they are too busy? Hearing this comment so often, it is possible to become numb to it, consider it the norm, and not think much about what the comment or condition really means. But have you ever wondered about the ramifications of constantly being “too busy” for you, your colleagues and the agency you work for?” They called this the “Tyranny of being too busy”. I have found the same thing among people of faith. Their “too busy” lifestyle has ruined their ability to wait patiently on the Lord.
If you read closely the scripture for today, you will notice that ONLY when the author waited patiently on the Lord was his voice heard. I have found this to be a constant reality in faith. During some crucial moments, you will not hear God’s voice or God will not heed your voice if you are too busy to stop and wait patiently on the Lord. Don’t underestimate the power of ACTIVELY WAITING for God to give direction or clarity or help or healing.