Tag: long

Wait for the Lord

Wait for the Lord

A challenge for many of us is the instruction to “wait for the Lord.”  Waiting can be a hugely difficult challenge.

The word “wait” means to hope, to anticipate, and to trust.  Waiting requires faith, patience, humility, meekness, long-suffering, keeping the commandments, and enduring to the end.

Here are only three Bible verses about waiting for the Lord:

In the path of your justice, Lord, we wait for you; with all our being, we long for your name and your acclaim.  (Isa 26:8 CEB)

Notice that we wait for the Lord IN THE PATH OF HIS JUSTICE!  With every fiber of our being, we long to bring glory and honor to the Lord’s Name.

O Lord, be gracious to us; we have waited for You.  Be our strength every morning, our salvation also in the time of trouble.  (Isa 33:2 MEV)

In this Scripture verse, Isaiah reminds the Lord that he has waited for the Lord.  He asks for the Lord’s strength every day, and for salvation in times of trouble.  We know that the Lord heard and answered those prayers.

Therefore be patient, brothers and sisters, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains. 8 You too be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near.  (Jam 5:7-8 NASB)

In the book of James, we’re reminded to be patient and wait for the Lord.  We’re reminded of the patience of the farmer, who waits for the harvest of the seeds he planted.  We are encouraged to be patient, just like that farmer.  And we are encouraged that the Lord’s deliverance is close at hand.  Be strong and steadfast; hang on!

Longing for Our Heavenly Dwelling

Longing for Our Heavenly Dwelling

Here’s a truth worthy of deep reflection: 

Our spirits within us long for our heavenly, eternal home.  We yearn to have our flawed, imperfect humanity swallowed up by eternal life and eternal love.

For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. 2 Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, 3 because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 4 For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.  (2 Cor 5:1-4 NKJV, emphasis added)

He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces; the rebuke of His people He will take away from all the earth; for the Lord has spoken.  (Isa 25:8 NKJV)

For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”  (1 Cor 15:53-54 NIV)

When Isaiah 25 speaks of God wiping away tears from all faces, I believe that He is referring to our arrival in heaven, when all of our past shame and guilt AND any possibility of future sin will be extinguished forever.

All sorrows, sins and shortcomings from our earthly lives will be forgotten, and the prospect of eternity in the presence of our God and King will be our entire focus and purpose.

Just think about eternity spent in an atmosphere of perfect, unconditional, unfailing LOVE!  That is our beautiful, blessed destiny.