Rest in the Lord and Wait for Him

       Rest in the Lord and Wait for Him

We must keep on praying and waiting upon the Lord, until the sound of a mighty rain is heard…have the courage to wait with patient perseverance upon Him.

    We are all familiar with the story of Joseph. It is one of my favorites. He was the favorite son of his father, but certainly not of his brothers. Their hatred of him led them to plot to kill him, which resulted not in his death, but in his slavery in the land of Egypt. The Lord was with him, however, and he found favor in Potiphar’s house and became steward in Potiphar’s house. But we know he was falsely accused by Potiphar’s wife and he ended up in jail. While there, he again found favor with the jailer because the LOrd was with him and was placed in charge of all the other prisoners. We know at some point Pharaoh was angry with 2 of his servants and threw them in jail where Joseph was. The two servants have dreams, which Joseph interprets, and he says to the chief cupbearer, “Only keep me in mind when it goes well with you, and please do me a kindness by mentioning me to Pharoah, and get me out of this house. For I was in fact kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing that they should have put me into the dungeon” (Genesis 40:14-15 NASB). Joseph’s interpretation of their dreams prove true, but the Bible tells us, “Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him” (Genesis 40:23 NASB).  And for two full years after the cupbearer was restored to his position, Joseph remained in the dungeon, forgotten. I wonder the things Joseph thought about while he waited in that dungeon. He didn’t have Genesis 41 so that he could look ahead and see that in just a few verses his life would drastically change. All he had was the waiting. 

    There are times in our lives when God calls us to wait. What does it mean to wait? In Joseph’s case to wait meant to remain temporarily neglected or unrealized, although in his case he didn’t know it was temporary. But waiting can mean to stay in place, to remain stationary, to pause. It feels inactive, but in the Bible, when it speaks of waiting, it is always with an expectation of something. Waiting and expecting. Waiting and being ready. Waiting and being available. I think what can make waiting so hard is that there is expectation, there is longing and anticipation, involved with it. Perhaps we’re waiting for the salvation of a child, a friend, a spouse. Maybe we’re waiting for God to intervene in a situation where it is clear that only His power will work. We have hopes and desires and needs that we have been called to wait on, to wait for. 

How can we encourage our hearts as we wait on the Lord? Psalm 27:14 calls us to “Wait on the Lord; Be strong, and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord.” We need to be strong and have courage, but one thing that can make waiting hard are the fears we bring to the moment. The what ifs, the confusion, the wondering. Will God do something here? Will the timing work out? Will things be resolved? Joseph was a real person, in real time, with real emotions; and I just wonder in those two years, when he got up in the morning to take care of the other prisoners, what did his prayers sound like? Perhaps like Psalm 13:1, “How long, O Lord, will You forget me forever?” Or like Psalm 62:1, “My soul waits in silence for God only; from Him is my salvation.” Did he learn contentment in the waiting? Did he continue to hope for freedom? Did he learn to yield his will to the Lord’s will?

Instead of rehearsing our fears and anxieties about the circumstances in which we are waiting for God’s intervention, Psalm 37 tells us to “Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him” (37:7). In our waiting, we also must rest. Rest can have several meanings. Rest can mean freedom from activity and labor; a state of motionlessness or inactivity. Rest can mean a peace of mind or spirit; freedom from anxieties. Rest can also mean to remain confident; to trust. And for us today, I want us to think about how resting in the Lord, trusting and having confidence in the Lord, leads to rest, a peace of mind and freedom from anxieties, while we wait on Him. Is our waiting characterized by fretting? Is it filled with worry? Or is there a quietness and stillness inwardly in our soul because we are confident in the Lord? Are our hearts composed within us because our hope is in Him? We can be strong and have courageous hearts as we place our hope in the right thing, the Lord, and not in a particular outcome, or what we imagine would be the best solution to our problem, or the timing we think would be best. When we place our confidence in Him and His goodness, we will be able to rest. 

For us, however, resting does not mean complete inaction. A friend earlier this week said, “Prayer is action.” Psalm 40:1 says, “I waited patiently for the LORD; and He inclined to me, and heard my cry.” So while David, in this particular psalm, was waiting for the Lord, He was crying out to Him. There are so many instances in the Scriptures where the writer joins waiting for the Lord and eagerly looking to Him in prayer. Psalm 130:5-6 says, “I wait for the LORD, my soul does wait, and in His word do I hope. My souls waits for the Lord more than the watchmen for the morning; indeed, more than the watchmen for the morning.” For us as believers, there is an eager anticipation, an eager watching for how the Lord will respond. When the psalmist compared himself to the watchmen who waited for the morning, he meant for us to picture an intense watching, and watching with the sure hope that God’s help is coming. In ancient times, during a time of hostility the dangers of the night were especially feared and the watchmen eagerly looked forward to the break of day. In our time of waiting, are we eagerly anticipating with confidence that the Lord will intervene according to His will and His timing? What I like also about Psalm 130 is that the psalmist said he hopes in God’s Word. The Scriptures are filled with truth that can renew our hope and strength in our time of weakness in the waiting. Prayer and the power of God’s word are our divinely powerful weapons which we can still wage war with even when we are being called to wait for the Lord to act (2 Corinthians 10:4). We can wield these weapons even while we are being still. In fact, resting in the Lord, trusting Him, means we will use these things so that we can remain hopeful, confident, and quiet. 

    Lamentations 3:25-26 says, “The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him. It is good that he waits silently for the salvation of the LORD.” This verse combines all the ideas that I want us to keep in mind: waiting, seeking Him, and waiting silently, which is a heart resting. This verse tells us the Lord is good to those who wait for Him and the one who seeks Him, and that it is good for us to wait silently on Him. The word “silently” reflects a heart free from turmoil and anxiety. Isaiah 30:15 says, “…in quietness and trust is your strength.” Resting and waiting on the Lord is the place of strength. Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not get weary, and they shall walk and not faint (Isaiah 40:31). In whatever we’re waiting for the Lord, let us do it with a quiet heart, trusting His sovereign ways. 

    

    We know the end of Joseph’s story. When Pharaoh had two dreams that he could not understand, the cupbearer remembered Joseph. Joseph was brought out of prison and through the interpretation of Pharaoh’s dreams and Joseph’s wise counsel to him, Pharaoh placed Joseph as ruler of all Egypt, second only to Pharaoh himself. This purposeful placement of Joseph by God was to save many people throughout the world and particularly to keep His covenant promises with His own people. Joseph also testified to God’s good purposes in his many trials. What his brothers meant for evil, God meant for good (Genesis 50:20). He truly saw how the Lord was good to him and through him, even through the many years of waiting. We will have the same testimony about whatever it is that God has ordained for us in this time of waiting. We just need to trust—rest—in Him. 

Photo credit to ryanbyrne