WEEK 38, Day 5, Friday, 17 September 2021

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Observations from today’s readings and today’s S-WOD, Friday, 17 September 21:

Isaiah 33:2 – “O Lord, be gracious to us; we wait for you. Be our arm every morning, our salvation in the time of trouble.”

In times of trouble or uncertainty, sometimes it is hard to wait on the Lord, but just like being lost in the woods, when you don’t know where you are going, traveling aimlessly faster just makes the problem worse. In life, the world will tell you, “Don’t just stand there, do something!” The assumption is your fate is in your control, and your inactivity is indecisiveness and weakness. God often says, ‘Be still! Wait for my lead.’ Waiting is decisive, a choice that often takes a great deal of faith.

Passions, presumption and fear often incite us to take the lead from God, to be led by the flesh rather than the Spirit, and to make poor, sinful decisions. Abram’s failure to wait on the Lord gave birth (literally and figuratively) to great global conflict that endures to this day. (Genesis 16, 17, 22) King Saul’s failure to wait upon the Lord cost him the kingdom and led to his demise. (1 Samuel 13) When in your life do you wish you had waited upon the Lord? Are you willing to wait upon the Lord now?

When you don’t know what God wants you to do next, be faithful to the word God has already given you, remain obedient in the moment, and pray. Trust Him.

What about when you have been patiently praying for clear direction from God on a matter, you haven’t heard clearly from God, and you must decide right now? If you absolutely must decide, ensure your decision is consistent with God’s word, remain in prayer, seek the counsel of other faithful Christians, and trust Him with what you don’t know and understand. God will honor your intent, and if later you wish you had made a different decision, you will recognize, wherever that decision took you, God has been with you along the way and has used the experience in some way to draw you closer to Him.

Waiting is active! It is actively seeking the Lord and His guidance and remaining obedient even when obedience seems unprofitable. Undoubtably, if you wait with your eyes and heart open, God will keep you plenty busy and fruitful as you make the most of the opportunities around you for His glory. “Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” (Matthew 6:31-34)

While we wait with patience, endurance, and perseverance upon Christ’s return, wait with a sense of urgency to share the Gospel with as many as you possibly can.

• Genesis 8:10, 12 — He waited another seven days, and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark…. Then he waited another seven days and sent forth the dove, and she did not return to him anymore.
• Genesis 49:18 — I wait for your salvation, O Lord.
• Numbers 9:8 — And Moses said to them, “Wait, that I may hear what the Lord will command concerning you.
• Psalm 25:3 — Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame; they shall be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.
• Psalm 25:5 — Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long.
• Psalm 25:21 — May integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for you.
• Psalm 27:14 — Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!
• Psalm 31:24 — Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord!
• Psalm 33:20 — Our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and our shield.
• Psalm 37:7 — Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!
• Psalm 37:9 — For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land.
• Psalm 37:34 — Wait for the Lord and keep his way, and he will exalt you to inherit the land; you will look on when the wicked are cut off.
• Psalm 38:15 — But for you, O Lord, do I wait; it is you, O Lord my God, who will answer.
• Psalm 39:7 — And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in you.
• Psalm 40:1 — To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry.
• Psalm 62:1 — To the choirmaster: according to Jeduthun. A Psalm of David. For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation.
• Psalm 62:5 — For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him.
• Psalm 106:13 — But they soon forgot his works; they did not wait for his counsel.
• Proverbs 8:34 — Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors.
• Proverbs 20:22 — Do not say, “I will repay evil”; wait for the Lord, and he will deliver you.
• Isaiah 8:17 — I will wait for the Lord, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him.
• Isaiah 25:9 — It will be said on that day, “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.
• Isaiah 26:8 — In the path of your judgments, O Lord, we wait for you; your name and remembrance are the desire of our soul.
• Isaiah 30:18 — Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.
• Isaiah 33:2 — O Lord, be gracious to us; we wait for you. Be our arm every morning, our salvation in the time of trouble.
• Isaiah 40:31 — but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
• Isaiah 42:4 — He will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his law.
• Isaiah 49:23 — Kings shall be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. With their faces to the ground they shall bow down to you, and lick the dust of your feet. Then you will know that I am the Lord; those who wait for me shall not be put to shame.
• Isaiah 51:5 — My righteousness draws near, my salvation has gone out, and my arms will judge the peoples; the coastlands hope for me, and for my arm they wait.
• Isaiah 64:4 — From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him.
• Lamentations 3:26 — It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.
• Micah 7:7 — But as for me, I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.
• Habakkuk 2:3 — For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.
• Luke 12:36 — and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks.
• Acts 1:4 — And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me;
• Romans 8:25 — But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
• 1 Corinthians 1:7 — so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ,
• Hebrews 6:15 — And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise.
• Jude 1:21 — keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.
• Psalm 37:7 — Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!
• Psalm 46:10 — “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”

“Cross” Fit S-WOD (Spiritual Workout of the Day) – 17 September 21: Today, wait upon the Lord, seeking His guidance in decisions and remaining faithful to His word in all that you do. Make the most of the opportunities God places in front of you today, and see where God takes you in your fidelity towards His plan rather than your plan.