Waiting on God Archives - To Live As Christ

You know how when you’re thinking about buying a car, you see that car everywhere? I think that when God is in the process of speaking something to us, a similar thing occors. In Dark Night of the Soul I shared about being in seasons of waiting as believers. This morning I was reading Genesis 22:14 (NLT) which said this:

Abraham named the place Yahweh-Yireh (which means “the LORD will provide”). To this day, people still use that name as a proverb: “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.”

This verse comes out of the context of a man who longed to have his own son. He went to great lengths to make it happen. The verse comes out of a promise; a God-given promise that his longings would be quenched.

Many of us feel as if we have been waiting 100 years for that answer to our prayers (That’s how old Abraham was at Isaac’s birth, in Genesis 21:5). We’ve searched our hearts for selfishness, growth areas, sin and any other hindrance to God moving. We may even come to a place that laughs in disbelief when the promise does finally come.

Abraham was given a promise, that he would have a son — and God gave him a son! I tend to either forget God’s promises or be too busy trying to solve the problem myself that I don’t hear them in the first place. But this is a reminder that God sees the longings of our hearts, cares about them, promises to us that He has plans for us (Jeremiah 29:11) and is faithful to follow through.

"Abraham embraces Isaac" by O.A. Stemler But sometimes God takes a longer path than we’d prefer. Sometimes He asks us to give up the very thing that we have longed for. In Abraham’s case, the Lord was probing this man’s heart to know which was stronger: Abraham’s love for his son or for his God.

This next question is one of the harder questions anyone can come face to face to. If this is an easy answer, it probably means you’re not being honest, or you’re in a season of plenty. When God holds out one hand with the thing you desire and the other hand inviting your embrace, and asks, “Which do you choose?”, it comes as a moment of truth.

What are you holding onto? What is it that you desire more than anything else? What tempts you to choose it over the Lord?

When I’m in a really healthy place, I can stare at something I enjoy and ask, “Do I love this more than my Christ? More than the presence of His Spirit? More than His Father?” My honest answer reveals my idols and my true allegiance.

One thing to cling to in the midst of navigating the seas of our heart, which has desires that are tossed to and fro like waves in the wind (Ephesians 4:14), is the Lord’s promises.*

“For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord will give grace and glory; no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.”
—Psalm 84:11

“He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? ”
—Romans 8:32

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
—Philippians 4:6–7

“And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”
—Philippians 4:19

My final thought, and what prompted this post, is this: God gave Abraham a new name. When something changed in Abram, his previous name is no longer fitting (thanks to Jon Peacock for pointing this out). Likewise, when we observe God’s ever-present faithfulness, it is appropriate to call Him by a new name – for His glory and for our remembrance. Yahweh-Yireh. The LORD will provide. Cling to it.

*Thanks to The Great Recovery and Dave Ramsey for sharing these verses.

I was reading Proverbs this morning and came across this verse:

“People who accept disciple are on the pathway to life, but those who ignore correction will go astray.”

This verse stands out to me because I’ve begun to see the truth of it. For a long time, scripture reading, devotionals, “quiet-times” and other similar cutesy forms were a drag to me. I’d encounter seasons of energetic bursts where reading was enjoyable, but those would quickly die off and I’d slump back into my normal excuses for why I “didn’t have time”. The bottom line was that I wasn’t meeting with God and so all these attempts were futile.

This pattern could probably summarize most of my adult spiritual life.

Somewhere over the last year, I really became fed up with my relationship with God. I began asking some hard questions; things like, “Should I be telling people about God, when the truth is that I don’t really have a relationship worth sharing about? Would I really want people to have the same faith story that I have? Do I know God? Does He know me? Do I know me?”

These questions culminated with a lot of frustration. I felt as if God wasn’t speaking, but if I was honest, I also knew that I wasn’t seeking Him very hard. So I came to the conclusion that I was done “trying”. Instead, I was going to resolutely seek God (no “try” – I heard a Yoda quote this week, “Do or do not. There is no try.”). In a bout of defiance and desperation, I told myself and the Lord, “There is a chair downstairs that is going to become my ‘holy chair’. I’m going to be in it every morning. I’m going to read the Bible, some books that stir my heart and mind, and wait for You to speak. You may not talk to me for a very long time. I haven’t talked with you that much, so it’s easy to understand. But I’m going to be there. And if you need me, that’s where I’ll be. Waiting and available.”

I stuck with that defiance for some time. In fact, I’m in that chair right now. After some time though, things began to change. I began to change. My heart softened. My spiritual ears opened. And not all at once, but little by little, I have begun to hear the Lord and sense the Holy Spirit in my life. There are doubts and failures; I’ve fallen asleep more times than I’d like to admit (I call that “deep meditation”). But I’m still here. And if God wants me, He has full access.

I don’t deserve anything from the Lord. He has blessed me more than I deserve and rescued me from disobedience that leads to death. So my defiance is a little out of place. But it took that discipline and resolution to put me in a pattern that leads to life.

If you are reading this, will you join me in this solidarity protest against the spiritual realm? Be a squatter and camp out somewhere that you can be alone. Be resolute and firm. Tell God that you want Him and you are not leaving. And when you feel nothing for the first month or two, hold out longer. I promise that God will speak and the Spirit will move. It’s just that sometimes, our hearts have been much more disciplined in the ways of laziness and selfishness than they have been in the way of the cross.

About Me

Subscribe Via Email

Book Recommendations

The Lord He Will Provide

Discipline leads to life