Waiting’s been a theme for me and the Lord for a while, a lesson I’m becoming more and more grateful for as time goes by. This past January, while doing a word study on “fixing” your heart on God, I ‘stumbled’ 
upon the following verse and quickly grew to love it.
Isaiah 30:18 – And therefore will the Lord wait, that He may be gracious unto you, and therefore will He be exalted, that He may have mercy upon you: for the Lord is a God of judgement: blessed are all they that wait for Him.
I’ve recently been reading the book Waiting on God by Andrew Murray and this past Friday was thrilled to find a chapter dedicated to this verse. The whole chapter is wonderful, but I’m afraid I’d lose you if I posted it all. So, with that in mind here’s a few highlights:
“We must not only think of our waiting upon God, but also of what is more wonderful still, of God’s waiting upon us… It will give us an unspeakable confidence that our waiting cannot be in vain. If He waits for us, then we must be sure that we are more than welcome – that He rejoices to find those He has been seeking for…”
“…He has inconceivably glorious purposes concerning every one of His children, by the power of His Holy Spirit, to reveal in them His love and power. He waits with the longings of a father’s heart. He waits that He may be gracious unto you. And, each time you come to wait upon Him, or seek to maintain in daily life the holy habit of waiting, you may look up and see Him ready to meet you…”
“…How is it, if He waits to be gracious, that even after I come and wait upon Him, He does not give the help I seek, but waits longer and longer? There is a double answer… God is a wise husbandman, “who waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it.” He cannot gather the fruit until it is ripe. He knows when we are spiritually ready to receive the blessing to our profit and His glory. Waiting in the sunshine of His love is what will ripen the soul for His blessing. Waiting under the cloud of trial, that breaks in showers of blessing, is as needful. Be assured that if God waits longer than you could wish, it is only to make the blessing doubly precious… Our times are in His hands…”
“…The other answer… The giver is more than the gift; God is more than the blessing. And, our being kept waiting on Him is the only way for our learning to find our life and joy in Himself. Oh, if God’s children only knew what a glorious God they have, and what a privilege it is to be linked in fellowship with Him, then they would rejoice in Him!… His waiting will be the highest proof of His graciousness…”
“Blessed are all they that wait for Him… What a dignity and blessedness to be attendants-in-waiting on the everlasting God, ever on the watch for every indication of His will or favor, ever conscious of His nearness, His goodness, and His grace! “The Lord is good to them that wait for Him.” Yes, it is blessed when a waiting soul and a waiting God meet each other. God cannot do His work without His and our waiting His time… If His waiting is nothing but goodness and graciousness, let ours be nothing but a rejoicing in that goodness, and a confident expectancy of that grace. And, let every thought of waiting become to us the simple expression of unmingled and unutterable blessedness, because it brings us to a God who waits that He may make Himself known to us perfectly…”
4 responses to “A Few Gems From a Treasure Chest”
What a wonderful post! I think you have gotten the hang of this posting thing!
Mabye I’ll get this book and read it. I can’t say as I have ever thought about the fact that God waits on us. Most of the time we hear God works in spite of us. But when you really think about it, He waits until we reach a certain point in life before giving us a certain assignment. He knows where we are on our path of discipleship and waits until we reach different points to give us different things. A very interesting thought indeed….
Ok…you’ve convinced me to get the book…after I finish Abstract of Systematic Theology.
Oh, and I think you are sort of a pen-pal with my sister…small world…especially in the world of Xanga!
I love this post, but this is in response to your comment: Tell “Little Sis” that she needs to get some better reading material than just my blog.
I’ve seen your comments on other sights and decided to visit. This post is full of life and hope! Thank you for sharing it. It has ministered to me. My mother entered the presence of Jesus this past January, after a 3-mo. fight with multiple myeloma. I was just telling the Lord today, probably as a sort of complaint, “I’m tired of waiting to join Mama. It’s only been a few months, and it’s feeling so long already, longer than we’ve ever been separated. Why does there have to be the separation and waiting between Heaven and earth?” I’ve wished for just a cell ph or email access! Jesus has used a number of different means this day to remind me of His will in waiting, and your post (which I stumbled upon!) is one of them. God bless you much! Keep sharing from your “treasure chest!”