Tag Archives: Psalm

Before your head hits the pillow

What does it Mean to Wait on the Lord?

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…Before your head hits the pillow…

What does it Mean to Wait on the Lord?

People in today’s culture don’t really like to wait. We live in an instant society. We can pop a frozen dinner in the microwave and be eating in less than five minutes. We used to have to wait days or even a week or more for a letter to arrive, now we send an email and our friend or loved one can be reading it just minutes later. We no longer have to wait to see the photographs from our vacation. We can take them straight out of the camera, download them onto our computer and watch the slide show instantaneously.

It all so automatic, so the thought of waiting has become very foreign. But waiting is an important part of every Christian’s life. When the Bible says something more than once, you can believe that it is important.

Psalm 27:14 tells us, “Wait for the LORD; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the LORD.”

And Psalm 37:7 says, “Rest in the LORD and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, Because of the man who carries out wicked schemes.”

“Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men’s hearts; and then each man’s praise will come to him from God.” I Corinthians 4:5.

And Psalm 130:5 also speaks of waiting, “I wait for the LORD, my soul does wait, And in His word do I hope.”

Many more passages tell us to wait upon the Lord. In the Old Testament we are primarily told to wait for his provisions and in the New Testament we are also told to wait for His return.

Waiting on God means that we trust Him. Waiting on God means that we know and understand that His ways, His will, and His timing is ever so much better than anything we could anticipate. When we pray and it doesn’t seem that God is answering our prayer, wait. Wait on God and trust Him.

When we are anxious and afraid, we must wait on God and know that He will protect us. In those anxious times we can wait if we believe in the promises of God. Be comforted by the words of Matthew 10:29-31, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”

Or the wonderful promise in Psalm 91:11-12, “For He will give His angels charge concerning you,
To guard you in all your ways. They will bear you up in their hands, That you do not strike your foot against a stone.”

If we believe these promises it should become easier to wait. God loves us and He cares for us. Just wait.

And when you despair over the condition of the world and ask the Lord to come quickly, remember, we must wait. We must wait, for we know that He will return to us at just the right time.

Waiting on the Lord is not just a suggestion, it is a command. God wants us to wait on Him. He wants us to trust in Him. The moment we begin to really understand what it means to wait on the Lord our lives our flooded with peace. When we understand that His timing is perfect and His love is incomprehensible we can be at rest. We can rest just as is spoken of in Psalm 23 – He makes me to lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, He refreshes my soul.

God is good. I will wait on Him!

Before your head hits the pillow

Tricking Jesus

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…Before your head hits the pillow…

Tricking Jesus

The Pharisees and Sadducees were constantly trying to trick and trap Jesus. The Pharisees were primarily business class individuals and were viewed in high esteem by the Jewish people. They believed that the Old Testament was the inspired word of God but they also ascribed to many other more traditional laws which were written in the Mishnah as passed on orally from one generation to the next.

The Sadducees were wealthy and more distant from the people. They believed that the Old Testament was inspired and did not believe that oral tradition had equal authority to scripture. The Sadducees didn’t believe in the spiritual realm of angels and demons or an afterlife but the Pharisees did.

But both groups saw Jesus as a threat to their authority and spent much time trying to determine a way to get rid of Him.

In Mark 12 the Pharisees tried to trick Jesus when they asked Him if it was all right to pay taxes to Rome. They believed that if He said no, the Roman government would arrest Him. If He merely said yes it would appear that He was a Roman sympathizer and the people would turn against Him. But Jesus was and is wise. What He told them was to look at the coin. The coin had on it the image of Caesar. He told them to pay to Caesar that which was Caesars and to God that which was Gods.

Later in the same chapter the Sadducees took their turn at trying to trick Jesus. They asked him a really ridiculous question considering they did not believe in the afterlife. They asked Him about a woman who was widowed 7 times. When she got to heaven, whose wife would she be? Jesus was again just too wise for them. He told them that she would be no man’s wife for there is no marriage in heaven. But He didn’t stop there. He then quoted Exodus 3:6 the scripture referencing the burning bush. It states, “I am the God of your ancestors – the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Jesus told them that He wasn’t the God of the dead but the God of the living so Abraham, Isaac and Jacob MUST be alive for God to be their God AFTER they had died.

In John 10 the Pharisees were up to their trickery as well. Divorce was a tricky subject and Moses had given the people of Israel an out. They wanted to see if Jesus too would readily condone divorce. But Jesus in His wisdom schooled them once again. He let them know that Moses had written his instructions about divorce only to please the hard hearted wickedness of the people, but God ordained that marriage should be forever.

We have a very wise and powerful God. Jesus knows all and understands all. He knew when the Pharisees and Sadducees were trying to trick Him and he knows when we are trying to evade Him or control our own lives.

When we try to trick Jesus by bargaining with Him, he knows our hearts. When we bargain with Jesus saying, “If you will do this, then I will do this,” Jesus sees into our hearts and knows that with that bargain our hearts are not completely surrendered to Him.

Just as the Pharisees could not trick Jesus, we will never be able to trick God either. If we are living a life of faulty service and worship, He knows. If we attend church and go through all of the ritualistic motions of being a Christian but have never really accepted Him as our Savior and Lord, He knows.

If we have deep hidden sins, we must know they are not hidden from Him for He knows our hearts. There is nowhere that we can go to hide from God. There is nothing we can do to trick Him into believing that we are something that we are not.

Jeremiah 23:24 says, “Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them?” declares the LORD. “Do not I fill heaven and earth?” declares the LORD.” And Psalm 139:7 tells us, “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?” And again in Hebrews 4:13 we read, “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”

God is all knowing and all powerful. The Sadducees and Pharisees couldn’t put one over on Jesus and neither can we. So if today we have unconfessed sins, let’s go before the Lord and confess them. If we have been living a spiritual life riddled with ritual but not filled with the Spirit of God, Let’s fall on our knees and confess Him as Lord. Let’s ask Him to mold us and make us into a new creature, one created to worship and glorify Him! No more hiding, no more bargaining, no more trickery, just sincere worship. That’s what God wants. Let’s give it to Him!