Wait Because God Does

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Read Isaiah 30:18

Our loving God has demonstrated His own patience in waiting. How can we do less? Isaiah 30:18 says “Therefore the Lord is waiting to show you mercy, and is rising up to show you compassion, for the Lord is a just God.”

“Just" means fair – imposing sentence when needed. We sometimes lose sight of this quality of God, overemphasizing His love to the point of distortion. I’ve heard people wonder why a loving God wouldn’t just allow everyone into heaven, or allow only good things to happen. To even begin to understand, we must go back to the illustration of the parent and child. Does a loving parent never impose discipline or punishment? Does she always protect her child from the consequences of her choices? We have all seen the results when love is not balanced with fair discipline of children. This gives us just a little hint of the reason we must acknowledge both God’s love and His justice. Both are essential parts of God’s character and cannot be ignored.

Isaiah 30:18 says God is waiting for you because He is just. That puts justice in a different light than we sometimes see it. God’s justice also makes Him patiently wait because acting now doesn’t give us time to respond to His call to repentance. His justice, without mercy and patience, leads to our eternal separation from Him – and that is NOT what He wants. God wants to show us mercy and compassion, and that takes time. He is waiting. Patiently waiting for you, for me, for future generations to respond to His great love.

It is this great love, along with His goodness and mercy, which makes Him wait --

  • Wait to send a Savior
  • Wait for our response
  • Wait for Christ's second coming

2 Peter 3:9 sheds more light on this concept. “The Lord does not delay His promise as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance.” It is God’s greatest desire that we come into eternal relationship with Him. Waiting is necessary. In our stubborn human way we resist surrendering to His will. We don’t learn lessons except the hard way. We don’t see the wisdom of God until we have lived awhile. So He waits. 2 Peter 3:15 tells us to “regard the patience of our Lord as an opportunity for salvation.”

God waits and that gives us opportunity – to respond, to grow, to learn, to mature. Don’t miss the opportunity.

·         Are you still waiting to respond to God’s gift of a Savior?

·         What’s holding you back from starting that relationship, or from deepening it?

·         What is one small step you are willing to take in your life now to draw closer to God?


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