After I wrote my post two weeks ago, I had some more thoughts about waiting. I had shared the gist of that post with some men that I meet with weekly for prayer and devotion. We talked about waiting for God to deliver us from our troubles and waiting on God to answer some long-standing prayers. I had already thought and felt in my spirit that God was saying, “I provide what you need when you need it” and thought of the Exodus story about manna (Exodus 16) and the Lord’s prayer.
The Lord provide manna (bread) for each day, just enough for every person – not too much, not too little. The people tried keep some overnight and it rotted and stank. They weren’t to collect any on the Sabbath, instead they collected twice as much the day before, and it kept overnight. Jesus when teaching His disciple to pray said, “Give us today our daily bread.” (Matthey 6:11). I don’t know if the disciples made the connection – Jesus taught them (and us) to pray for just what we need TODAY.
Waiting is a matter of trust. Are we patient enough to wait for today and not worry about tomorrow’s needs? I find it amusing that the word manna is very close in sound to the Hebrew for “What is it?” God provides for our daily needs and we still don’t see or know what it is that He is doing. We want everything NOW and we want to define what is good, if not what is best, for us. We’d rather sit in the bondage of our worry and despair with fat bellies than trust God to take care of things day by day.
I’m not patient, but I’m learning to wait on God. I’ve been reading Andrew Murray’s Abide in Christ and I recommend it to you if you need to learn more about waiting and abiding, especially chapters 13, “Every Moment”, and 14, “Day By Day”. We bite off more than we can chew and we try to live too many days at a time. God designed us to live every moment, day by day.
The Exodus story also tells us the importance of Sabbath rest. We can get too caught up in the providing for and care of our needs (our wants, too) and miss the rest that we need. This is another great aspect of waiting on God – resting in Him.
More to work on while we wait.
Father, we want to wait patiently but our hungers cloud our thoughts and minds and we don’t know how to live every moment, day by day. Help us to abide in and wait on You. Help us to rest, true Sabbath rest. We believe, Father, help our unbelief. In the name of Jesus, the Bread of Life. Amen!
Be well,
Steve
