The Necessity of Waiting

When God has given us a promise, a desire, or a burden, and we are not seeing it fulfilled, we are tempted to stop standing in front of that door. It is all too simple to say, “This is silly! I am going to try to find my own way here,” and some believers do. But if a door truly is of God, it is critical that we wait. It is imperative that we persist, so that God can work in our hearts to make us ready in His good time to go through that door. Where is it that we are not yet ready? God wants to move, but can He move in us?

Let us look at the second part of this passage, “Yes, Lord, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts.” (Isaiah 26:8) Please note that, when believers live as they should, “Yes, LORD, walking in the way of your laws,” the result is not a flurry of activity, but a waiting on God. Every season of revival in history began with, “we wait for you.” Every major revival has been preceded by prayer, intercession, and waiting on God until He comes in convicting power! Many of us are asking the Lord to open a door for revival in New York City, and in our nation. We stand waiting in front of that door, knocking and asking God to open it—and there discover an inconvenient truth about ourselves. Our fallen human nature does not like to wait!

Fisherman on the Sea of Galilee

In this, we are very much like the Lord’s disciple, Peter. He had been with Jesus and had seen the miracles, the crowds, and saw God move in power. He also saw Jesus die, and even rise from the dead! The period after the resurrection must have seemed like an anti-climax, nothing is happening! He may have felt that the best was past, it was all just history. So what does this impatient fisherman do? He says to his fellow disciples, “I go a-fishing!” Oh, how tempted we are to go and do the familiar things. Our flesh is willing to do anything, but wait on God. At the risk of repeating myself, if a door is of God, it is important that we wait! We must persist in faith because, while we are waiting, God is working in our lives to make us ready to go through the door. Consider if He were to open the door earlier, but we were not ready to enter? What then?

What was Peter’s great need? He had repented after his betrayal of the Lord, and had been restored to his place as a disciple. Yet Jesus said to His disciples in Luke 24:49 (NKJV) “Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.” Peter needed to be filled with the Spirit of God before he could become the apostle that God intended him to be. We too need the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives, if we are to see revival in our day. When Jesus spoke of the work of the Holy Spirit, He said,

“And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.” (John 16:8-11, NKJV)

When the Holy Spirit moves in reviving power, the people of God’s house are the first to come under deep conviction of sin. Layers of pride, self-righteousness, and deception are stripped away, and the souls of men and women are laid bare before Almighty God. In Spurgeon’s words,

“We too often flog the church, when the whip should be laid on our own shoulders… Let us, therefore, commence with ourselves, remembering that we are part of the church, and that our own want of revival is in some measure the cause of that want in the church at large.”