Isaiah 49:23

Isaiah 49:23

“WAIT ON THE LORD”

Isaiah 49:23, “…for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me.” Today I want to talk to you about two things, waiting upon the Lord and not being ashamed. What does it mean to wait on the Lord?

I think it means you don’t make a decision and then do something unless you know through prayer and the Word that it is God’s timing for you to do that particular thing. It could be anything. It could be big decision in life like when to get married. Or it could be a simple thing like going to the grocery store this week or spending money to buy a new pair of shoes. Let all things be done by prayer. Philippians 4:6 says, “Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.”

If you are waiting on the Lord, then you are waiting for Him to do something, not for you to do something, before he does it. If you are not praying about it, you possibly may not be waiting on the Lord like you should be.

Waiting on the Lord has to do with following the will of God. Waiting on the Lord means waiting For God to move and do something in your life, to open a door of opportunity for you. It may be a door of opportunity in the gospel, and it may be something else. There are many things we wait on God for. Some examples of things we wait on the Lord for in life are things like when to get married, when to move, and when to change jobs. We wait on God to answer our prayers. Sometimes when it comes to answered prayer, we wait years for God to answer a prayer. The more you pray, the more you will wait on the Lord.

Waiting on the Lord keeps us from sinning. This is why it says in Isaiah 49:23, “…for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me.” Would could you be ashamed of if you fail to wait on the Lord and thus have a failure in your faith? A failure in the faith is always something to be ashamed of, but thankfully God always forgives his children.

One of the biggest things we wait on the Lord for is his return. All believers are waiting for the return of the Lord. If you can wait on the return of the Lord then you can wait for God’s timing on other things. Sometimes we wait very briefly and sometimes we wait years and even a lifetime for things. God wants us to wait on him so we will not be ashamed. The Lord’s timing is perfect in all things.

God knows when is the perfect time for you to get married. God knows when you should change jobs. God knows when you should witness to people. God knows when you should read the Bible. Go knows when you should move. God knows when you should even make small decisions in life like when it is time to do yard work or repair a fence or go over to your neighbor’s house and help them with their yard work.

Whenever you make a decision to do something, it would be best if God was involved in it. Even smaller and less important decisions in life like going to the grocery store this week. When does God want you to go? It is true God gives us a lot of freedom in life to make our own decisions but he that is faithful in little is faithful in much.

In thinking about waiting on the Lord we should realize that God also waits. 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 judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him.” The Lord waits. God waits. One great example of God waiting is how in the fullness of times God sent his Son Jesus to die on the cross of Calvary for our sins. God waited for the perfect time, 0 A.D., to send his son. And in 33 A.D. Jesus died on the cross of Golgotha for the sins of the world. God didn’t send Jesus in the year 2000 or in the year 500 B.C. but his timing was perfect. It was the fullness of times.

It is true we look back to the cross, and in the days before Jesus they looked forward to the cross and the Messiah the Shepherd of Israel. The old believers of afore times had to wait for the first coming of the Messiah. We wait for his second coming.

Isaiah 40:31, “But they that wait upon the LORD, shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”

This is one of the greatest verses in the Bible on waiting upon the LORD. If you want to be a strong Christian, then wait on God. If you want to endure the challenges of life by faith, then wait on the Lord. All we like sheep have gone astray, but they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength. We are sheep and Jesus is the great Shepherd. Sometimes we go astray but God has a way of bringing us back to him. We are weak, but he is strong. To live for Jesus, to serve Jesus, and to love Jesus as you should day by day is the greatest challenge of this life and we all have times we need our strength renewed. If you wait on the LORD, he shall renew your strength. Wait on the Lord today and you will have the strength to serve him today.

They shall mount up with wings as eagles. This speaks of freedom, great freedom. There is great freedom in love and great freedom in serving Jesus.

Sometimes we wait all our lives to see God work in our lives or to see God work in another person’s life maybe to be saved or to overcome some flaw or some obstacle. But those that wait upon the Lord shall not be ashamed. Waiting on the LORD will teach you about freedom. No matter what happens to you in life, you will always have the freedom to do what is right and the freedom to trust in God. No one can take that from you, not any government and certainly not the devil. “But they that wait upon the LORD, shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles.”

They shall run and not be weary. Life is a spiritual race. It starts by kneeling at the cross for salvation and it ends when the Lord Jesus comes to wrap his loving arms around you and take you home to heaven. It is a race of faith. Hebrews 12:1 says, “wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.” If you are waiting on the Lord, you will run the race of faith in this life with patience.

A Christian who is waiting on the LORD will pray and read their Bible.

God works in mysterious ways, and when you wait on him how do you know that it is his timing for you to do something? When God wants you to know something, believe me you will know it. God is a great God and the works of God are all mighty works. When God does something in your life, it is always a mighty work just like the parting of the red sea or the shutting of the lion’s mouth or the building of the temple in Jerusalem or the forgiveness of sins that is found in Jesus Christ. His name is exalted. Call upon his name, wait upon his name. Isaiah 50:10, “who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? Let him trust in the name of the LORD, and stay upon his God.”

Those that wait upon the Lord are trusting in the Lord and doing his will, not their own will. God’s Spirit beareth witness with our spirits that we are the sons of God. And if you wait on the LORD, God will give you peace. Jesus is the prince of peace after all.

They shall walk and not faint. Abide in me and I in you said Jesus. Walk with Jesus by day by waiting on him. Abide in Jesus day by day by waiting on Him. Wait for God to work in your life. Wait for God to touch that person’s heart. Wait for God to heal that person. Wait for God to give you love. Wait for God to answer your prayer. Wait for God to open the door. Wait for God to close the door. Wait for God to part the Red Seas in your life. But most importantly, wait for God to build up and grow your faith so that you can do great things for him one day. Isaiah 49:23, “…for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me.”

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