Isaiah 8:13-16 (NKJV) 13 The LORD of hosts, Him you shall hallow; Let Him be your fear, And let Him be your dread. 14 He will be as a sanctuary, But a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense To both the houses of Israel, As a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 15 And many among them shall stumble; They shall fall and be broken, Be snared and taken.” 16 Bind up the testimony, Seal the law among my disciples.
This week we are talking about waiting. Waiting and faith go hand in hand. Faith requires that we wait for God or whatever channel he chooses to bring good things into our lives. We must trust and believe God to do something that we cannot do. Yesterday we began looking at how we wait.
The first thing we must remember as we wait on God is not to give in to the temptation to listen to the voice of fear. In Isaiah 8:12 the prophet is exhorted not to give in to the tendency to say “conspiracy, conspiracy.” In our day, this is like the constant bombardment with bad news we undergo from the media. We should not be ignorant or uninformed. We cannot, however, give in to the voice of fear. Particularly the fear of man or the fear of circumstances.
Verse 13 says we need to fear the Lord. We are not afraid of him in the sense we might be afraid of bad news. Instead, we understand that he is the real power in the situation. Anything we might fear is nothing compared to the Lord. We “hallow” him or magnify him in our sight. When we are waiting for the Lord, we must do it in the fear and awe of the power of almighty God and not in the fear of the voices, whether inward or outward, that are telling us he will not give us victory this time.
In verses 14-16, the Lord reveals some other important aspects of our waiting on him. First, he will be a sanctuary to those who trust him and a trap to our adversaries. Waiting on the Lord should not be a time of anxiety or impatience. I love the picture here. He says we can see our time of waiting as a sanctuary. We are safe as we wait on the Lord. He will not leave us and he will not forsake us. I am reminded of the three Hebrew children from Daniel who had to go through a severe trial. Their time of waiting was spent in the “fiery furnace prepared by the king of the land. However, they were not alone.
Daniel 3:24-25 (NKJV) 24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished; and he rose in haste and spoke, saying to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” 25 “Look!” he answered, “I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.”
Sometimes our waiting may seem like a fiery furnace. It may seem like nothing is happening and there is no escape. Just remember that if “one like the son of man” was with the Hebrew children, surely the Lord of the church is with you in the midst of your fire. When we wait in the sanctuary of the presence of God, the flames themselves can be the instrument that will burn off our bonds.
In this same story, we read in verse 22 that the king had heated the furnace so hot that it killed the soldiers who threw the Hebrew children into it. Our waiting time is a sanctuary of protection to those who trust the Lord but it is a stone of stumbling to the enemy of our souls. If we wait in faith, God will use the time to cause the enemy to stumble and even what he means for evil will work out to our good. (Romans 8:28)
Next, the Lord tells the prophet to bind up the testimony and seal the Law among his disciples. I see this as two basic elements that must be in place if we are going to wait successfully for the Lord. First, the idea of our testimony speaks of relationship. I must make sure that as I am waiting, I am cultivating my relationship with the Lord. Praise and worship are an important part of this process. Meditation in the Word is key to anything we do in God, especially while we are waiting.
Too often, our waiting consists of worry. Worry is a very natural reaction to trials for most people. However, worry is unproductive. Jesus tells his disciples to take no thought for tomorrow saying, “What shall we eat?” Replace worry with praise during your waiting. Remember how God has moved for you in the past. Thank him for the answer to the current challenge. As you do these things, faith will rise in your heart and the waiting time will become a strengthening time.
Second, he tells them to seal the Law to themselves. We are not under the Mosaic Law. We are, however, under grace and we have found that the only response to grace is to live according to the will and the ways of God. If we are going to wait successfully for the Lord to move, we must do so living according to the principles of God’s Word. We cannot expect to continue to wait in faithful expectation if we allow sin to dominate us.
There is tremendous pressure from the enemy to discourage someone who is waiting on the Lord. That is because he knows that if we allow the Lord to do what he needs to in our lives and circumstances, we will inevitably be victorious. The only way Satan can defeat a waiting Christian is to get him to leave the sanctuary of relationship and quit trusting God. That is why the temptation to sin can be very strong when we are waiting.
The devil tells us God has abandoned us. He pressures us by declaring nothing will ever change. We begin to feel it is worthless to serve the Lord and the temptation to satisfy the flesh becomes more and more attractive. Do not give in to this lie of the enemy. Hebrews 13 tells us that the Lord will never leave or forsake us. He is right there with you in the fiery furnace. If you do not quit you cannot lose!
When the temptation rises, remind the devil that it is the Lord who is the real power. Remind yourself that he is working for you to bring the victory. Increase your time with the Lord and with the People of God. The Devil loves to get us alone so he can speak to us without challenge. When we are in the house of the Lord, we will hear the Word of the Lord. We will experience the fellowship of the saints. This is why the exhortation in Hebrews 10 is so important to the waiting Christian.
Hebrews 10:24-25 (NKJV) 24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.
What will happen if we wait the right way? Verse 18 tells us.
Isaiah 8:18 (NKJV) 18 Here am I and the children whom the LORD has given me! We are for signs and wonders in Israel From the LORD of hosts, Who dwells in Mount Zion.
I believe that this is a promise to the faithful waiter. We will be for signs and wonders in our generation. While we are waiting, there are many voices that will tell us we are being foolish. They will say we need to do something to help God solve the problem. If we wait without fearing man or circumstances but knowing that the Lord is the great power in our situation, we will see the victory. If we wait in the sanctuary of relationship, the Lord will use the trial to bring freedom and cause the enemy to fall. If we keep our relationship and our lifestyle strong during the time of waiting, nothing will be able to keep us from overcoming in every situation.
Our victory in the midst of waiting on the Lord will be a sign and a wonder just as the deliverance of the three Hebrew children is a sign and wonder for their day. We read about them today and are encouraged. You cannot avoid waiting. It is a part of life in the natural and a great part of life in the spirit.
Wait on the Lord and he will bring deliverance.
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