Why Wait?

Isaiah 30:18

" And therefore will the LORD wait,
that He may be gracious to you,
and therefore will He be exalted,
that He may have mercy upon you;
for the LORD is a God of judgment:
blesses are all they that wait for Him. "


I am learning from experience that God, most of the time, is in no great hurry to answer all of my requests. There are important lessons for me to learn in the processes I go through. I love the prayer of King Jehoshaphat in II Chronicles where he says whether because of judgment for sins, pestilence, famine or other perils, when we come to His temple, He hears our cries and requests. The reason does not matter; He always hears.


God is a God of judgment; judgment in favor and judgment against. King David said that he would much rather fall into the hands of God to be judged, rather than into the hands of man, because God is merciful and full of compassion.


Regarding Isaiah 30:18, I love the commentary Matthew Henry gives ~


" God will be gracious to us and will have mercy upon us. This is the foundation of all good. If we find favor with God, (and we will because we are His children) and if He have mercy upon us, we shall have comfort according to the time we have been afflicted."


" He will wait, that He may do it in the best and fittest time, when it will be most for His glory, when it will come to you with the most pleasing surprise. He will continually follow you with His favors, and not let slip any opportunity of being gracious to you."


Such beautiful thoughts! What a thing to meditate upon! God is our Father and He has promised to give us the desire of our hearts. As we learn to grow ever so close in communion with Him, and while we wait in His presence, we will find that our ultimate desire is to be One with Him; to please only Him and to bring glory to Him, not to ourselves.


We change in the process. The ways of God are beyond human comprehension. His thoughts, ways and means of comfort are a thing of awe. Those who wait upon the LORD will renew their strength, they shall ( not might, but shall) mount up with wings as eagles. The will run and not be weary and walk and not faint.


He is worth the wait!