Wait on the Lord

“For Your salvation I wait, O Lord. Genesis 49:18

Other versions of the Bible say “I trust you for salvation.” Waiting takes trust. If I don’t trust that what I am waiting for will happen, I will not wait long. I remember when my children were little and the stores had true Black Friday sales. We would wait for the newspaper on Thanksgiving to learn on the sales, and then wait in lines for specific items. Some people would start lining up Thanksgiving night because of the price of the item and the limited quantity that were advertised. I did the 5 a.m. thing, but never waited overnight. Even then, I would count the number of people in front of me and try to gage if the wait was worth it.

I think that is why so often I give God a timeline for my waiting. As much as I have faith, I don’t trust His timing or that He will do the specific thing for me. To often, I make a mess of things when I take things into my own hands because I don’t trust Him outside of the timeframe I have set. I have learned that His timing usually doesn’t match my time frame.

We have to learn to wait on the Lord. This Scripture says I wait on your salvation.

Salvation in this context is Strong’s H3444 – yᵊšûʿâ –  salvation by God, primarily from external evils, but often with added spiritual idea:

There are people facing external evils every day, they are waiting on the Lord’s salvation whether they are ready to surrender to it or not. I grew up in churches where they waited on the Lord, whether it was five minutes or five hours it didn’t matter. People tarried in prayer until there was a release. Now church services are so scheduled that there is limited space for the Holy Spirit to move and to work in the lives of people under that corporate anointing.

There are people who will struggle to surrender in a five minute alter call. It takes them that long to work up the gumption to consider walking to the front of a service. Most times, they didn’t come expecting God to move in their life. Those that do come expecting still often question is this really God or something I have created in my mind. I will never understand someone dismissing a service when there are people still actively being prayed for and prayed with.

Imagine if someone got up in the middle of the pastor’s sermon and dismissed to congregation. We wouldn’t consider it. Yet, so often there is no consideration to Holy Spirit ministering. That is literally quenching the Holy Spirit. What if it was your loved one up there wanting to lay their life down and take up the cause of Christ? What if they finally opened themselves up to get delivered from the addiction? What if the couple was ready to surrender their marriage to God? It is easy to think they still can, but it takes a seasoned Christian effort to pray through. But someone with a battle going on in their spirit that doesn’t know what they are up against doesn’t know that just because the preacher said it was over doesn’t mean God did. The mere distraction of people talking and moving around is enough to cut Him short. We wait on the Lord for salvation and that means waiting on Him to say “You are dismissed.” instead of a clock or timer.

Lord, I know that there are times that I have quenched Your Spirit from moving because I had my own agenda. I am sorry. I also know that this bothers me, so I know it bothers Your heart because You know what You are wanting to do in the life of each and every person. Lord, make us more sensitive to Your moving. Help us to wait on You. Help us to give You free reign in our lives, in Your services, in Your body.