Articles
Waiting on the Lord
The people of God — followers of Jesus Christ — are ones who live by hope and faith, and do not live for the things of this world. For this reason, some of those whose focus is on the worldly things will consider the life they live and question the logic of trusting in someone and in something one cannot see, maybe even calling such beliefs 'foolish' and their faith 'blind.'
Of course, we know those claims and concepts are misguided and uninformed because faith is not blind at all; as God Himself defines it, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1). The faith we are to have is based on evidence and testimony, and there is true substance to the claims we believe. Every day, men who reject belief in God because they can't see Him turn around and put their trust in the mere words of fallible men about things they cannot see, yet no one calls them foolish. It is only logical that some things are believed without seeing because there is enough evidence to believe in those unseen things [Ex., gravity, wind, magnetic forces, etc.]. We quite often see the effects of the unseen things, and that leads us to believe they exist, though they remain unseen.
Yet, the outsider — the unbeliever — will still question belief in God as something unfounded and foolish, though that is to be expected of those who do not know God. Of course, the one who does not know God does not trust Him; in the same way, we don't usually trust in complete strangers to hold on to some valuable possession of ours. That is to be expected!
It might be said, using terminology found within the Bible, that God's people are those who wait on the Lord. As Jeremiah put it, “The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord” (Lam. 3:25, 26). But what, exactly, does it mean to 'wait on the Lord'?
Waiting Means Trusting. As the term is used within the Scriptures, waiting implies a level of trust in the one waiting, and that trust is in the one on whom he or she waits. If you have ever had the occasion to wait on someone else to follow through on a promise, you know that it took a measure of trust to keep waiting. You also know that your willingness to wait on them was based on your knowledge of them and their character. Such is the case with those who wait on the Lord!
Christians today 'wait on the Lord' and His second coming; we 'wait on the Lord' for forgiveness; we 'wait on the Lord' for answered prayers; but we 'wait on the Lord' regarding all these things because the Lord has proven Himself worthy of our trust. We do not blindly follow Him, based on some warm, fuzzy feeling, but on the surety of His word and the proofs He has provided that show He is whom He claimed to be: the Christ and Son of God. Through the many miracles, signs, and wonders recorded in the Bible, we may come to believe in Him (cf. John 20:30, 31) and, therefore, wait on Him, trusting that He will keep His promises.
Waiting Means Patience Is Needed. If you have ever had occasion to wait on someone or something, you also understand patience is needed. God promised an heir to Abraham and Sarah, but it was almost 25 years before that promise was fulfilled in the birth of Isaac (Gen. 12-21); patience was needed, but they forgot this after awhile, and tried to 'help' God at one point (cf. Gen. 16). The promise made to Abraham about his descendants becoming a great nation and possessing Canaan took about 400 years to be fulfilled. What we must know is that God's word is sure, but He may not fulfill it on our time line.
Again, since Christians are awaiting the second coming of Jesus, and since none of us knows when that day will be, we wait patiently. We know nothing we can do or say will hasten or delay its coming, and no amount of speculation will make that day known to mankind, so we patiently await the day, and prepare for its inevitable arrival.
We might note, at this point, that 'waiting ont he Lord' does not mean we simply sit back and let time pass without us doing anything. No! If anything, this 'waiting on the Lord' means we are diligently serving Him and doing the work of His servants. One who 'waits on the Lord' is not idle, but busy about His work and striving to proclaim this message of salvation to others that they, too, may believe and trust in Him.
We might also note, at this point, that 'waiting on the Lord' is a matter of hope. By definition, hope is "to look forward to with desire and reasonable confidence," and it also means "to believe, desire, or trust." We believe in God, we trust in God, and we therefore have a 'reasonable confidence' in His promises and in His word. We have hope! It is only logical that those who do not believe do not have this hope (cf. 1 Thess. 4:13).
So how does one transition from doubtful disbelief to living by faith and trust in God, and being hopeful? Is this something that happens instantaneously, overnight, or by outside, supernatural forces? Is this a matter of chance? While some may think so, God does not say so, and isn't He the one whose word matters most? What does God say about it?
The Acquisition of Faith. The well-known writer Thomas Aquinas declared that faith is not something achieved by any human power, but solely by the grace of God. [Brian Davies, Thomas Aquinas's Summa Theologiae: A Guide and Commentary.] This view is accepted among many Calvinist adherents, some of whom may describe this acquisition in this way: "The Holy Spirit performs a work of grace within the sinner which inevitably brings him to faith in Christ." [Steele, Thomas, The Five Points of Calvinism: Defined, Defended, Documented, p. 48.] Or, they might say the Holy Spirit brings one "to faith in Christ" because one "cannot by [his] own reason or strength believe in Jesus, or come to Him." [Luther's Small Catechism, pp. 126, 127.]
But what does God say? Well, the Bible says, “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17). The Bible tells us when Jesus sent the apostles out to preach the message of salvation [the gospel], that it would be the one who then believes and is baptized who would be saved (Mark 16:15, 16). The Bible teaches us that when the gospel message of salvation through Jesus was first preached, “those who gladly received his word were baptized” (Acts 2:41) and these saved ones were added to the church (Acts 2:47); later, it is said that “many of those who heard the word believed” (Acts 4:4). Faith does not come by a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit, but by the preaching of God's word, the gospel message of salvation through Jesus Christ.
You see, within the Bible, we have God's testimony and His word regarding our spiritual condition and the plan He established before time for us to be reconciled to Him through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ, on the cross. We find a record of God's dealing with man and the many promises and prophecies that were all kept and fulfilled, showing God to be trustworthy — believe it or not!
Are you waiting? — Steven Harper
