Key Bible Verse: For since the world began, no ear has heard, and no eye has seen a God like you, who works for those who wait for him! (Isaiah 64:4). Bonus Reading: Hebrews 11:11-12, 24-29

At age 75 Abraham was told he'd be a father of nations. After 11 years of waiting, he took matters into his own hands (Genesis 16:1-4) and birthed Ishmael through his maidservant Hagar. God forced him to wait another 14 years before the promised child was born. The public and private humiliation he suffered transformed him into a father of faith for all history.

After murdering a man and failing to deliver the Israelites, Moses spent the next 40 years learning to wait on God. In the desert God transformed him into the humblest man on the earth (Numbers 12:3).

After a stunning victory over Goliath, David was forced to flee the mighty army of King Saul for 10 to 13 years. In the wilderness God transformed him into a man after His own heart.

Jesus learned to wait in obscurity and silence, both as a lowly carpenter's son and in the wilderness, resisting the temptation of the devil to act before His Father's time. Out of this waiting Jesus emerged from the wilderness in the power of the Spirit (Luke 4:14).

We can trust God to do the same in us—if we will learn to wait on Him.

—Peter Scazzaro in Emotionally Healthy Spirituality

My Response: What am I waiting for? Can I trust God for it?

Thought to Apply: We must wait for God in the wind and wet, in the thunder and lighting, in the cold and dark. Wait, and He'll come.—FREDERICK FABER (English writer)

Adapted from Emotionally Healthy Spirituality (Integrity, 2006) by permission.

Prayer for the Week

Teach me, Lord, to leash in my drive to make things happen and wait expectantly for Your move.

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