TRUST IN AND WAIT ON THE LORD
The biblical Word of God tells us repeatedly to trust in and wait on the Lord: Trust in the Lord and lean not unto your own understanding, and he will direct your path (Proverbs 3:5-6). Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord (Jeremiah 17:7). Wait for the Lord (Psalm 27:14). The Lord’s way and time is always right for glorifying him and blessing us (John 11:1-45).
NOT TRUSTING AND WAITING ON GOD CAUSES TROUBLES
Saul did not trust and wait on the Lord. He missed a lot of God’s blessings by not waiting on the Lord. Before Saul went to war against the Philistine, God told him to wait on the one God chose to offer a burnt offering to the Lord. Because Saul saw God’s prophet Samuel was running late, and fearing his army would abandon him, Saul offered a burnt offering to God. When Samuel arrived and saw what Saul had done, the prophet told Saul he had disobeyed the Lord’s command and the Lord had rejected him as king (1 Samuel 13:8-14).
God chose his sinless Son Jesus Christ to be the sacrificial offering for our sins; and to be our great high priest before God once and forever (Hebrews 4:14-16).
TRUSTING AND WAITING ON THE LORD BRINGS BLESSINGS
David trusted and waited on the Lord. The Lord greatly blessed him. God saw David as “a man after his own heart,” even when David was only boy (1 Samuel 13:14). God anointed him to be the next king of Israel at the time he was a boy (1 Samuel 16:13). However, David waited patiently for years, allowing the Lord to grow and prepare him for the throne of Israel. God enabled him to kill a giant who was and enemy of God’s people; and to fight and win many battles. But David refused to move ahead of God when he had opportunity to kill Saul, the reigning king, who sought to eliminate him. David saw Saul as the one God had chosen to be king before David (1 Samuel 24). David waited and was blessed to be King (2 Samuel 5:1-3).
TRUSTING IN THE LORD EVEN IF YOU FALL
David committed adultery and murder.Nevertheless, God forgave him when he repented and confessed his sins. However, God allowed David to have troubles in his family all his life (2 Samuel 12). Yet David said, “It was good for me to be afflicted, that I might learn (Psalm 119:71).
God forgives us when we repent and confess our sins, because his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, died for us who believe in him and repent and confess our sins (John 3:16; Act 2:38). However, He might chasten us for our good.
Saul, however, showed no signs of true repentance and confession of disobedience. He disobey God by offering God a burnt offering, acceptable only from God’s chosen priest, before going to fight the Philistines. Saul disobeyed God when the Lord sent him to fight the Amalekites and told him to destroy everything including cattle and sheep. Saul spared the king of the Amalekites, the best of the cattle and sheep, and all that valuable. When he was confronted by the prophet of God, Saul said, “the soldiers…spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the Lord your God.” (1 Samuel 15:18-23). God rejected Saul because he knew Saul did not have a heart to obey him.
God knows our hearts as he knew the hearts of David and Saul. He always deals with us in love; but he deals with us according to our heart (1 Samuel 16:7).
TRUSTING AND WAITING ON THE LORD FOR ALL YOUR NEEDS
There is many things we might need or want—money, recognition, companionship, house, car and you-name-it. However, in our anxiousness to get what we feel we need or want, we might find it challenging to seek first the kingdom of God and its righteousness, and believe God will add all other things (Matthew 6:33; Psalm 37:4). But if we trust in the Lord with all our heart, and lean not to our own understanding, he will lead us in the right path (Proverbs 3:5-6).
The Lord gives us a demonstration of his responding to his people in his perfect way and time, when he raised Lazarus from the dead. Mary and Martha, who were friends of Jesus sent word for him to come and heal their brother Lazarus who was terminally ill. Jesus delayed in getting there. When he got there, Lazarus had been dead for four days. Mary and Martha felt disappointed. But when Mary and Martha and many of their friends witnessed Jesus resurrecting Lazarus from the dead, the Lord was glorified by their learning to have greater trust in him. (John 11:1-45).
The Lord may not do things in the way or time we want or expect. But he works all things together for good for us who trust in and wait on him (Romans 8:28). And In the process of working all things together for our good, he glorifies himself through our lives (Colossians 1:16).
If God gave his only begotten Son to die for us while we were still sinners, will he not give us all other things that are good for us now that we are his children (Romans 5:8; 8:32; 1 John 3:1)?
Are you willing to trust in and wait on the Lord?
