“W.A.I.T. With Anticipation”

Isaiah 40:31 says, “But they that wait upon the Lord will….”  and Psalm 40:11 says, “I waited patiently for God to help me….“ God promises wonderful things to us when we wait for him. But I think our attitude may very well determine how long we have to wait. What is your response when you have to wait in line, or in traffic, or when you are waiting on the answer to your prayers?  Most of us get very impatient, because we think we are wasting time.  We seem to have this idea that waiting is passive, but when you look at the definition of the word, you find it is a very active state of being.  We are going to look at two uses of the word wait; here is the first one.

When you are waiting for God to answer your prayer, do you really expect him to answer you?  Do you anticipate the answer?  Do you believe an answer is due you or that it is proper for God to answer you?  Think about it for a moment; “to expect implies a considerable degree of confidence that a particular event will happen, and to anticipate implies a looking forward to something with a foretaste of the pleasure it promises, or a realizing of something in advance and a taking of steps to meet it.” (Webster Dictionary)

We should be doing the same thing! Now let’s look at the other definition of wait:

As we WAIT we should be serving the Lord by meeting the needs of others; we should be asking him what he wants us to do.  Is there someone he wants us to help or is there a place we need to go?  That kind of waiting is productive and certainly not a waste of time.  So, are you WATCHING with anticipation to see what God is going to do?  Is you ATTITUDE one of expectation?  Are you seeking God’s INSTRUCTIONS about what he wants you to do?  Do you TRUST that he knows exactly what you need and that he will supply it at just the right time?

The rest of Psalm 40:11 says, “…and he turned to me and heard my cry.”  and Isaiah 40:31 ends like this, “…renew their strength. They will mount up on wings as eagles.  They shall run and not grow weary.  They shall walk and not faint.”  God’s promises are for you and your children and your children’s children, so let’s wait with anticipation.  Waiting on God is never a waste of time.