It’s gonna be Coffee Talk Week here at the Grit.
With Junior almost here, my blogging time and creative energy are dwindling. But I’ve been wrestling with a few things in my mind and heart lately, so I’m going to post my questions here for you guys to discuss in the comments. (Mandy: Take note that I said “you guys”. Not “y’all”.)
I look forward to hearing all your thoughts and input, and will chime in when I can.
Okay… Today’s question:
What does it mean to wait on the Lord?
Talk amongst yourselves.
Well… it does NOT mean we sit on our butts amusing ourselves till He shows up!
I see two things…
Firstly… mankind, because of his nature, growth from childhood, can often be ‘caught’ up in the fast reaction of his ego and senses to earthly events - ‘fleshy’ things. Things that rush into our minds before ‘reason’, and causes us to err in our actions.
Waiting on the Lord can require us to let these feelings rush through us but we learn to wait - before acting on them - for our reason (in God’s Will) comes into our mind to lead us to correct and righteous actions.
Secondly…
Wait can be read as ’serve’ - we serve the lord and not become self-serving.
Make sense? :-)
<B
By: lovewillbringustogether on June 10, 2008
at 4:22 am
Since I don’t have too much time to type, I am going to put a very broad answer.
Waiting to hear God’s answer with whatever situation you’re in, trusting for his strength and deliverance, and acting on God’s command/principles.
I would elaborate more, but I have to get ready for work. :)
By: Jen on June 10, 2008
at 6:32 am
waiting on the Lord = waiting for said cookies to actually finish baking?
I’d say more practically for me that waiting on the Lord is my willingness to intentionally lay down my plans in order to rest in His.
however, I’m certainly NOT the expert on this topic…just ask my slice!!!
By: cathi stegall on June 10, 2008
at 7:09 am
Taking ourselves away from the busyness and being still with God. Being patient. Expecting to hear from Him.
By: Birgit on June 10, 2008
at 8:42 am
There’s a saying I once heard that fits me perfectly:
IT’s all in God’s timing, but I wish he’d let me take a look at His watch from time to time.
Waiting on the Lord and His timing is the hardest thing, being human. We want to know WHEN it’s going to get better, when we’re being rewarded, and we want it now. BUT it’s not about US. It’s about God’s plan for our lives and how we can be better people for HIS purpose through us. So as we simmer in this stew called life…God is seasoning us as we wait and will use us in HIS perfect timing. We have to learn to be okay with His timing or we’ll never get the perfect peace that comes with waiting on the Lord.
By: blessed1 on June 10, 2008
at 9:10 am
That being said….waiting and not taking action isn’t what I meant in the above comment. We still have to do our part in walking the walk of faith.
By: blessed1 on June 10, 2008
at 9:11 am
amen to that, blessed1!!!
My theory is that it’s a lot harder to move a parked car than one in motion!
By: cathi stegall on June 10, 2008
at 9:29 am
Waiting to me is not having a timetable at all.
Life seems to be on an egg timer now.
Then whenwe don’t get it done we’re instant failures. But actually, most of the time we are just overwhelmed.
Waiting on God is soooooo hard but when I do my rewards or my prize is WOW only God could do that kind of thing.
By: Heidi on June 10, 2008
at 9:35 am
In the good ol’ KJV there are only three verses with the direct phrase “wait on the Lord”.
Psalm 27:14 Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.
Psalm 37:34 Wait on the LORD, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land: when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it.
Proverbs 20:22 Say not thou, I will recompense evil; but wait on the LORD, and he shall save thee.
In each reference ‘wait’ in the Hebrew word is a root: QAVAH which means to wait, look for, hope, expect, eagerly look for, linger for.
It would seem that a central theme of these three verses is courage in the face of adversity. So I would say that to wait on the Lord is to eagerly expect God to be your defense and help in His time and in His method so that your heart is strengthened to face the struggles in life.
I am reminded of the woman who supplicated her case to Jesus in the face of being called a dog. (Matthew 15:21-28) That would be a biblical example of someone lingering around the Savior until their answer came.
By: @ngie on June 10, 2008
at 10:32 am
wow @ng! i just had me some church!
perfect!
By: tam on June 10, 2008
at 10:53 am
Yep. I’m going with @ngie. @ng, when I read the post, I thought, “Well, I bet @ngie has something good to say.” And you did! Thanks for bringing it back to the Word and drawing the conclusion from there. This is meat.
By: annie on June 10, 2008
at 12:41 pm
i’m having a hard time forgiving you for that.
waiting? well, it implies that He’s gonna do something… Isaiah 40:31 or something like that. i think sometimes people “wait on the Lord” for guidance and decisions when He just wants us to use the brains He’s given us to make a wise choice.
but that’s another question altogether. and its an “i think” not an “i know”.
so.
probably shouldn’t get into all that right now. sorry
By: mandythompson on June 10, 2008
at 12:44 pm
I know other such yummy things (ahem-Minispooners) that make you poop.
Waiting on the Lord….
Immediately that song popped into my head: “Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord…”
Strength is never easy to gain. Patience isn’t something that anybody just gets. With those things said- I think waiting on the Lord means that we shut our mouths and pray to hear His voice, whether it’s in the form of a raging wind or a small whisper.
Aside from that, lots and lots of good things have been said here.
By: becca on June 10, 2008
at 1:01 pm
I’m sorry….I can’t get past the “Coffee makes me poop” coffee cup.
My first thought, before I even read the post, was “YES! Someone knows my pain!” But no. Not what the post was about. So, nevermind.
Okay, what was the question again??
Oh yes, waiting on the Lord….I’ll get back to you. This requires deep thought on my part.
By: Brandy on June 10, 2008
at 1:10 pm
Okay, actually, I didn’t have to deep think as long as I thought I would……
Waiting on the Lord….. okay, instance…. if I were to pray about something I was struggling with or something I was unsure about or a decision I wanted to make but wanted the Lord’s direction, I would not be WAITING on Him if after I prayed I instantly went and did what I wanted or thought was best. Make sense? I need to let there be time for Him to speak to me in some way regarding what I laid before Him. Reminds me of my favorite poem, quite a popular one, very insightful.
As children bring their broken toys
with tears for us to mend
I brought my broken dreams to God
because He was my friend.
But then instead of leaving Him
in peace to work alone,
I hung around and tried help
with ways that were my own.
At last I snatched them back and cried
“How could you be so slow!”
“My child” He said
“What could I do, you never did let go.”
So simple but how often do we REALLY let go and WAIT for HIM to do his thing??
By: Brandy on June 10, 2008
at 1:19 pm
Brandy - That poem is great! I had never heard it before. I might have to teach that one to my kids. Very good.
Tam & Annie - Aaww, you guys are the best! Thanks, friends. Inductive studies seem to be the most rewarding for me.
All y’all - do you want to hear a joke about this topic of waiting?
By: @ngie on June 10, 2008
at 1:46 pm
love — you started things off with some deep thoughts. i had to read your comment several times. wait can be read as serve — is there a time and place to totally pull back even from active service as a means of waiting on God?
jen — i appreciate your two cents! “waiting to hear God’s answer” - i get the sense it’s an active waiting, not a passive one…
cathi — mmmm… i liked this: “my willingness to intentionally lay down my plans in order to rest in His”. the “resting in His” is hard for me. i’m a do-er, so resting challenges me deeply.
birgit — “expecting to hear from Him” — too often i rush into prayer or time with God without that expectancy. i needed that reminder.
blessed1 — such good thoughts. i think i struggle to find the balance of waiting/resting (inactively) and planning/doing/walking in faith (actively)…
heidi — it is true. when i’m feeling totally horrible about myself, it’s usually the result of feeling completely overwhelmed — completely UNDER-trusting God and OVER-trusting myself.
@ngie — i loved your bolded definition. so rich. thank you!
mandy — oh you can get into that; i’d like to hear your thoughts on that one! (and sorry… i couldn’t resist!)
becca — that song is what prompted this post. it’s one of my favorites (as you know), and we sang it at church on sunday. shut our mouths and listen for His voice… that’s good. (love, spooner)
brandy — yay for you! and coffee totally makes me poop. and man… “you never did let go” wrecked me! i’m gonna be hearing that in my heart for a while.
@ngie — whatcha got???
By: alece on June 10, 2008
at 3:08 pm
Ok, so this guy is talking with God and says, “I know that for you a minute is like a thousand years and a thousand years like a minute.” God said, “Yep.” So the man continues, “And that for you whose streets are paved with gold a million dollars would be like…” Following his thought God finished his sentence and said, “…like a few cents.” Happily the man nodded and then said, “So I wondered, God if you could give me just, oh, fifty cents?” And God nodded happily as he said, “Just a minute.”
By: @ngie on June 10, 2008
at 4:58 pm
haha. Yeah, good one, @ngie. Oh. And also … what is an inductive study? I probably do them all the time, but I’ve never heard the terminology.
By: annie on June 10, 2008
at 5:16 pm
we would be opening up a can of worms. and the jury’s still out.
but this is a crucial time in our lives to figure out HOW to decide how to best spend our lives for Christ… so drew and i are chewing on a LOT right now.
suffice it to say. we’re leaning towards the king who gave his servants some talents, then left them with no instructions, and they were to make the best out of what they were given. i’m thinkin’ that’s us.
and we have options.
and we have purpose.
anyway.
what’s so funny is that drew is a reformed predestinarian, so he’s not so much immediately inclined to these things. but it all came up because of the unending frustration that if I want to do what God wants me to do, and He has a SPECIFIC plan for me, then why is it so dang hard to figure out????
so.
yeah.
maybe its not as “specific” as we think.
maybe we have options.
that’s all for now. we can get into this further if you want - later.
:)
By: mandythompson on June 10, 2008
at 5:41 pm
An inductive study is when you use the Bible to interpret the Bible. You start with a fact and you use the facts derived from the surroundings of the source of the original fact to reach a conclusion.
It differs from a deductive study which starts with an hypothesis and then searches for the facts to support the idea.
Since Alece’s question included a direct quote from the Bible I thought that an inductive answer would be the most applicable; even though the term “wait on the Lord” has become a well used term in the Christian vernacular as referred to by the line in the song.
I actually did not do a completely inductive study because I also used the Strong’s Concordance and Dictionary of the Hebrew and Greek.
By: @ngie on June 10, 2008
at 6:02 pm
This is what it is.
Waiting on the Lord is when you work at a nice little restaurant.
On this particular fine evening, a dude strolls in wearing dungarees, a “Jesus is my Homeboy” shirt, and a fedora. He has and shoulder length brown hair that Fabio would kill for, and a beard that Chuck Norris DID kill for. The guy is seated in your section and you get the honor of going through the spiel with this odd man.
“Welcome to Carrabba’s, my name is (insert name here), and I will be your server. Shall I tell you todays specials?”
The guy smiles at you and you feel like you should be apologizing for everything you did wrong. But smile back anyway. He says “No, thanks. I’ll take a chicken parmesan.”
You write it down on your little pad, and rush off to place the order.
Since you’re having a crappy night, and Craig the coked out manager was a jerk and stuck you in the smoking section, which never does well on a Tuesday night, you have no one else to wait on. So you sit down across from the strange man who looks a lot like Jesus.
“Tell me, (your name), how long have you worked here?” He asks.
You hesitate. “About a year.”
“Why the hesitation?”
“Because I was hoping to be out of here right now, I’m just waiting for God to move in my life.”
“I see…” the Jesus look-a-like says.
You don’t have time to talk further because Craig comes over and says, “Oh yeah, babe, you have another table.” He walks away to snort another line in the bathroom
You say to the stranger, “Sorry. Your food shouldn’t be to long.”
He smiles again.
After a while, you bring him his food, he eats it, you keep coming back to refill his Coca Cola Classic and basket of fresh bread…which may or may not represent Jesus’ body. And through the course of the night, you only pass a few kind words and questions about the meal with the stranger. After you ring him up, and leave him the check, you so to clean off one of the other tables.
The man gets up, thanks you, and walks out while popping a mint in his mouth to give himself a minty freshness.
You return to the table to discover that he left a 75% tip, and a little note. You read:
(Name)
If you keep waiting for God to move, but you remain completely still, you wont find yourself walking with Him. Keep moving. Let God direct your steps. If you are constantly moving, you can never say to the Father when you stand before Him, “I didn’t know what to do…so I just stood there, waiting.” The Bible gives you the direction. Walk.”
- The Man in the Hat
You blink a few times. And you realize that that was exactly what you needed to here. And you stand there wondering…did I just wait on the Lord? Because I was moving the entire time.
By: Andrew Ronzino on June 10, 2008
at 6:27 pm
that was really, really good, andrew. i love it. (i love you too!)
(and dang… you’re a great writer.)
By: alece on June 10, 2008
at 6:31 pm
@ngie — niiiiiice.
mandy — i tend to agree. i believe He does give us options; we are not mere robots. sometimes He sits back, looks us in the eye and says to us sweetly, “what would you like to do today?”
By: alece on June 10, 2008
at 6:32 pm
Andrew: I liked that.
By: Becca on June 10, 2008
at 6:37 pm
Andrew - that was great. It brings to mind ‘the least of these’ story. Movement - yes, good.
By: @ngie on June 10, 2008
at 6:53 pm
“What does it mean to wait on the Lord?”
I deleted my answer. I want to write a post about it…
…AFTER I finish the 23 drafts I’m working on now!
By: TheNorEaster on June 10, 2008
at 7:18 pm
Nor is waiting on the Lord via his drafts!
By: cathi stegall on June 10, 2008
at 7:48 pm
interesting.
By: mandy on June 10, 2008
at 8:29 pm
[waiiiieeeeeeyyyyy - that's how you phonetically spell a nervousexcited squeal]
[it has nothing to do with your post]
By: mandythompson on June 10, 2008
at 9:25 pm
nor — seriously? we have to wait that long to hear your input??? you’re trying to give us a practical object lesson aren’t you?
mandy — i’m a little worried that you’re not gonna like the “real me”. that squeal was just the beginning.
By: alece on June 10, 2008
at 11:03 pm
Alece:
Not really. I hadn’t intended to give an object lesson, but it seems to have turned out very well–ironically enough. Oftentimes, when I read a post, I think to myself, “I need to write about that!” Or I start commenting and think, “Gosh, this is turning out to be pretty deep. Maybe I should save it for a post.” So, I delete my comment and then I end up with pages and pages and pages of notes when I’m at work–hence all those drafts. But I’ve done so much reading lately and I have so many drafts it’s getting hard to organize everything in my head. I end up writing three posts at a time so I lose focus. But I do have some “fillers” that I keep filed so people don’t forget about my blog in the meantime. Heh. I could never post something every day like Mandy. I would go crazy just trying to come up with the stuff the puts on there. (No offense, Mandy!)
By: TheNorEaster on June 10, 2008
at 11:34 pm
i’ve got 20 posts in my own drafts folder, so i completely understand your process for that!
By: alece on June 10, 2008
at 11:42 pm
To all who responded: Thanks! :-)
By: Andrew Ronzino on June 10, 2008
at 11:47 pm
I had a thought… and then was laughing so hard at the jpg that I got distracted..and didn’t sift through the comments…
thanks for the smile
By: Julie on June 10, 2008
at 11:58 pm
hmmmmm
I want to know why Mandy is so excited she’s squeeling like a little girl. ;-)
By: Brandy on June 11, 2008
at 12:33 am
Brandy: hmmmmmm indeed! ;)
By: mandythompson on June 11, 2008
at 1:12 am
crap. ;-)
By: Brandy on June 11, 2008
at 2:05 am
uh oh. Can I say that in here???? eeks.
By: Brandy on June 11, 2008
at 2:05 am
I haven’t had the opportunity to sift through the comments but my understanding of waiting on the Lord is first and foremost to remove ourselves from situations, decisions, conversations and to allow Him to supercede in all of those areas in our life even if it means that some time may pass by. An example would be an argument where you feel compelled to say something that you know God wouldn’t be pleased with; not saying it and waiting for what the next step should be would be an example of waiting. That is literal waiting but I believe in spiritual waiting as well. When God promises us something, to understand that His timing is not our timing and that we have to be prepared to wait. I always think of Abraham and the promise that he would be the father of all nations and how much earthly time that took to manifest but in God’s mind, it was already done and He relayed that to Abraham.
My answer was sort of disjointed but hopefully it made some sense.
By: gchyayles on June 11, 2008
at 2:15 am
Wait on me????
I’m waiting on you!
You’re my one Hope!
All you on this little blue/green planet!
By: GOD on June 11, 2008
at 3:35 am
That Ronzo boy sure can write… Does he have a blog yet?? :-)
<B
By: lovewillbringustogether on June 11, 2008
at 10:46 am
Lovewill: Thanks. No. I have a Facebook, but that’s it.
By: Andrew Ronzino on June 11, 2008
at 9:44 pm
Hey Andrew - since you’re checking in here - that really was a great story. Very well put together. And I didn’t see it coming either. (Hard to do and therefore impressive.) Yeah. Thanks.
By: annie on June 11, 2008
at 11:47 pm
Thanks.
By: Andrew Ronzino on June 12, 2008
at 12:47 am
So… Andrew… what are you waiting for - you already have two blog-readers ready and waiting :-)
maybe three if we can con your sis into it? ;-)
<B
By: lovewillbringustogether on June 12, 2008
at 11:05 am
For me it means not knee jerking in my decisions or reactions or remarks back to people. Just waiting. I know that I represent so much more then just me so I wait. Not like for an eternity…sometimes I have to just make decisions. But if I can pray about whatever it is, then I pray and seek guidance. I have been so rash in my past and I am pretty quick witted so it is no wonder I have alienated a few friends along the way. But to “wait on the Lord” and seek Him in response or in choices doesn’t seem like a bad thing. I know this is probably a lesson I should have learned a long time ago, but I am a slow learner sometimes. Bummer.
By: Kristiapplesauce on June 12, 2008
at 2:08 pm
LOL, she wont be.
I don’t know. I’m not much of a blogger.
By: Andrew Ronzino on June 12, 2008
at 4:22 pm
julie — did your thought ever come back??? and a laughter-distraction is probably the best kind!
brandy — you can most certainly say crap in here! what? you really think i’m one of *those* missionaries?! :wink:
ayles — i love hearing your beautiful thoughts; thank you for sharing.
God (???) — WWJB will be my new motto. (what will jesus blog?)
andrew — you totally should be blogging. i love the way you wrote that story (and hearing that you made it up on the fly impressed me out the wazoo!).
KA — i tend to be a slow learner of things like this, too… :sigh:
By: alece on June 12, 2008
at 11:25 pm
Who cares if you are not much of a blogger A? you’re a damn good writer… and i think Sis might just ‘drop by’ a few times if you start :-)
-Little Al seems to have brought out her soft and gooey side :-)
But… up to you - no pressure… well… not a lot of presure anyway ;-)
Go oooonnnnnnn!
<B
By: lovewillbringustogether on June 13, 2008
at 12:35 pm
Okay, okay! You all win!
http://greaterthanknowledge.wordpress.com/
By: Andrew Ronzino on June 14, 2008
at 12:51 am
Who says Democracy’s don’t work?? ;-)
<B
By: lovewillbringustogether on June 14, 2008
at 2:02 am
So, I’m thinking I need to “borrow” your coffee cup up there for a post. ;-)
I had a TON of coffee this morning, no food. Then we went shopping at the mall.
NOT.
GOOD.
JUST.
SAYIN.
By: Brandy on July 13, 2008
at 10:08 pm
go ahead and steal it, brandy.
i laughed at your description of the morning… ha!
By: alece on July 15, 2008
at 9:47 pm