Jeff McCall is a Faith Baptist Church Member, serving faithfully as the guitar player in our worship team and is a volunteer teacher in our Kids Klub program! This is his thoughts for our October edition of the Faith Baptist Blog.

Wait on the Lord
“Wait on the LORD, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land…”
Tom Petty may not have been a Christian but he got one thing right; the waiting is
the hardest part. It takes faith to wait. “Faith is the substance of things hoped for..”
If you think about it many of the events in the Bible are lessons in waiting. Saul
failed a test of waiting. In 1st Samuel 13 we see him in a distressing situation. He
had just attacked the Philistines and all of Israel was bracing for the retribution.
“As for Saul, he was still in Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling. Then
he waited seven days, according to the time set by Samuel. But Samuel did not
come to Gilgal; and the people were scattered from him. So Saul said, “Bring a
burnt offering and peace offerings here to me.” And he offered the burnt offering.
Now it happened, as soon as he had finished presenting the burnt offering, that
Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him, that he might greet him. And Samuel
said, “What have you done?” Saul said, “When I saw that the people were
scattered from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that
the Philistines gathered together at Michmash, then I said, ‘The Philistines will now
come down on me at Gilgal, and I have not made supplication to the Lord.’
Therefore I felt compelled, and offered a burnt offering.” And Samuel said to Saul,
“You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your
God, which He commanded you. For now the Lord would have established your
kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom shall not continue.”
What a tragic story, Saul realized too late what was at stake. Just as the first verse
says “wait on the Lord and he will exalt you to inherit the land.” Saul was literally
only a few hours away from being established as king, and his sons after him
forever.
What about Abraham? He had the promise of being a father, and that in his Seed
(which we now know is Christ) all the world would be blessed. But even with his
great faith the waiting was difficult. His wife was barren, and they were old, from a
human perspective there was no way that God could keep his promise. When
Sarah had the idea to have a son by her handmaid Hagar Abraham was already
well into his 80’s. But they had no verification from God that Hagar’s son was the
one God promised, and Sarah was sorry she ever said anything. It wasn’t until
Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah was 90 that they finally received the
promise.
There are so many more examples; Job’s patience waiting for an answer from God
while enduring innumerable hardships and insults. The children of Israel waiting for
an answer on where their water would come from. Jeremiah waiting faithfully in the
mire at the bottom of the pit. Even the Lord himself waiting in the garden, and
knowing all the agony he would face so that he was sweating blood. And I guess

the idea with all these situations, is that we need to wait on the promises of God as
Jesus also did “who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its
shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.“
Very often we are in a position of waiting and hoping situations resolve
themselves. We may know that “all things work together for good to those that
love God” but cannot see how that will actually play out. This can be a source of
great stress. “….to every purpose there is time and judgment, therefore the misery
of man is great upon him. For he knoweth not that which shall be: for who can tell
him when it shall be? …” Sometimes there isn’t just an external problem, but an
internal one as we feel far from the Spirit of God. Like when Jeremiah said “The
comforter which should relieve my soul is far from me.” Or David when he said. “…
my soul thirsteth after thee as a thirsty land.” If only we can have at all times
success and health in this world along with “the peace of God that passes
understanding.” But when things fall apart, can we believe in the good God
promised us enough to endure and keep his way?