"Well, I'm just wait'in on the Lord..."

I’ve realized I am waiting in the wrong way.  That’s right, there is a correct way to wait.

Have you heard people say, “Don’t pray for patience God will teach you a lesson in being patient.” But  we confuse patience and passiveness; patience means waiting without complaint, your willingness to suppress your restlessness, or steady perseverance. It is not being passive or inactive.  

“Meanwhile, friends, wait patiently for the Master’s Arrival. You see farmers do this all the time, waiting for their valuable crops to mature, patiently letting the rain do its slow but sure work. Be patient like that. Stay steady and strong. The Master could arrive at any time.” James 5:7-8 MSG

I 'm sure you know someone that has been praying for years for something, they'll say "Well I'm just waitin' on the Lord..." 

You see it’s not all about waiting on God, we can’t just pray and then do nothing. The farmer is weeding and fertilizing while waiting.  If you are waiting for the right job, make sure you are filling out applications and in the mean time volunteer.  I have several things I have been praying about, yet I seem to focus on one and forget that I need to be cultivating the others. I imagine God looking down saying- 

“Yep, I hear you Sherry, I know you want that and I want it for you too. But what are you doing to make it happen? This is going to hurt a little but-No, you aren’t ready yet.” 

We are like God’s teenagers whining because He didn’t give us what we wanted.

“Oh snap! I didn’t realize I actually had to w-o-r-k for it!"

Or how about this one- "Well I've been pray'in for it, Bible says God'll give it to me if I just ask."

Matthew 7:7  does say, "Ask and you will receive". Sort of makes God sound like a vending machine doesn’t it? I’ll put my money in and press B-2, out comes the answer to my prayer.  But read the entire verse-

“Ask, and you will receive. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you.” Matthew 7:7

There are requirements to receive the answer to your prayer: search to find it; knock to get the door to open. Read verse 8

“For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” Matthew 7:8

So can we get positive results just waiting on God? Without a doubt God loves us just like we love our teenagers, but no, God wants us to do our part too.

That means I have a lot of doors to start knocking on and a lot of searching to do. Oh, geeze I’m so far behind!