Good morning,
I am so glad that we have a gracious God. He really does understand that those of us who have his Word in our heart language easily give in to the notion that if we know what the Bible says, then we will be able to obey what we know. As I am getting older I am beginning to understand why the Lord keeps encouraging us to learn to wait quietly. My natural response to the guidelines that God gives us is to resist, and even when my heart is sincerely committed to obeying what I am told, what I want is a rapid response that gets me on to the next level of spiritual growth. I have no idea how much must happen inside me for me to actually begin to live a life marked by victory and peace. Since I cannot see myself accurately I assume that problems, pain and waiting and waiting and waiting are holding me back from God’s blessing. I am just beginning to understand that God’s wonderful grace becomes a gift more valuable than I will ever know in this life. When I finally see myself from heaven’s perspective, then I will understand why it took so long for me to grow as much as I did.
David, a man after God’s heart, finally understood what God was doing when he took so long to respond to his needs and answer his prayers. David learned to wait quietly before God because he understood that any victory he had would not be his, but his Father’s. It was his Father who gave his life stability and protection from the enemies that God had chosen to give him to teach him to trust. God knew how hard it was, but God also knew what would have to happen in David’s heart and on God’s timeline for him to live a life marked by genuine victory. Waiting for God was what he needed so that the time he spent with God became more important than what he thought he could accomplish for God. Although the process is slow, it’s safe. God knows how to protect our reputations, our ministries, our jobs, our families, our reason for living while he is doing the heart work that brings us to genuinely trust our God all the time. What David also learned was that he could pour out his heart to God and that his loving Father would gladly listen. God knows what he is doing in our lives. Lord, please help us to see you as our refuge and not as the God who gets in our way or who forgets we are here.
Psalm 62:1 I wait quietly before God, for my victory comes from him. 2 He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will never be shaken. 7 My victory and honor come from God alone. He is my refuge, a rock where no enemy can reach me. 8 O my people, trust in him at all times. Pour out your heart to him, for God is our refuge.
Roy Wisner
