Lyn Cooke Christian Blog and Commentary

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For the Waiting Ones ~

 

 

 

 

Things were not going according to plan.

 

Moses had witnessed divine pyrotechnics, jaw-dropping supernatural phenomena and he heard the voice of God.  

 

God promised him that He would deliver Israel out of bondage.  

 

Then the Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings,and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.”

 

Exodus 3:7-8

 

 

Was God’s plan somehow going awry? 

 

Afterward Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.’” But Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and moreover, I will not let Israel go.” Then they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go a three days' journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword.” But the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you take the people away from their work? Get back to your burdens.” And Pharaoh said, “Behold, the people of the land are now many, and you make them rest from their burdens!” The same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their foremen, “You shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks, as in the past; let them go and gather straw for themselves. But the number of bricks that they made in the past you shall impose on them, you shall by no means reduce it, for they are idle.

 

Exodus 5:1-8

 

 

Pharaoh became angrier. Work became harder. Torturous. The Israelites were more discouraged than ever.  Moses looked like a fool.  

 

How do you keep moving forward when the horizon looks bleak? When you lose hope?

 

How do you hang on to a promise when Doubt whispers in your ear? When you’re sick? And weary? 

 

It’s been his agenda since the garden. The Serpent, that is.  Spinning tales of doubt and confusion. He speaks through Pharaohs. Illness. Financial crisis. Prodigal children.  He causes us to question the goodness of God. The faithfulness of God.

 

“Did God really say?”

“ Is He really good?”

“ Maybe He’s busy. Maybe you’re not on His priority list. Maybe…maybe…”

 

It’s an ancient strategy that has garnered tremendous results, except… except on those who choose to believe God.  Against all odds ...against circumstances that point to disaster…against a sinking feeling of despair…there are those who wait on the Lord

 

How are we to wait when we long for relief? 

 

 

And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”

 

Exodus 14:13-14

 

 

We are to wait like Moses.  

 

We don’t give way to fear though it threatens to undo us.  We grip God’s promises and hold on for dear life to His faithfulness. 

 

We stand firm. We maintain our position. Not running ahead or turning back. We stay put.

 

We watch with eyes wide open. Expectantly. Full of hope. Always aware that our Deliverer is coming. 

 

And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left…. Thus the LORD saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians…”

 

Exodus 14:22,30

 

 

 

 

 

If salvation indeed comes from God, and is entirely His work, just as our creation was, it follows, as a matter of course, that our first and highest duty is to wait on Him to do that work that pleases Him. Waiting becomes then the only way to the experience of a full salvation, the only way, truly, to know God as the God of our salvation.

 

Andrew Murray, Waiting on God