Pastor John D Jakes

The verse in Isaiah goes, "But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."  The question I want to tackle today is, "When is it wise to wait, and when must we act?"  Or maybe a better question is, "What does it mean to wait on the Lord?"  Is waiting on the Lord passive or active?  When does God’s work end and ours begin?

 

If you have asked similar questions, then let me point out a common misconception: we separate God’s work from ours.  It is a common temptation to make what God is doing and what we are doing two different spheres of activity.  We treat God like a boss or manager and we are the workers.  Each has their task.  We wait for God to give us direction and then when He gives it we go to work.  I do believe that this is an incorrect understanding of waiting on God.  I think that the key thought being conveyed is more like a master craftsman and his apprentice.  They two work together.  The Master understands everything that goes into the process of creating a masterpiece and the apprentice is steadily learning the craft.  The waiting in this way of thinking is two-fold.  Yes, there is some waiting for direction when the apprentice does not know what the next step entails.  However, most of the waiting becomes trust in what the Master has taught when the apprentice encounters a project that he has already been led through.  At that point, the apprentice trusts his training and is open to the Master’s correction as mistakes are made.  The apprentice is always listening to the Master’s voice, but he is not afraid to act because the Master has taught him well.  They are working together in the shop.  They are making beautiful pieces together.

 

How are you following the Master?  How have you thought of following Him?  Are you a worker who needs projects assigned to you by the boss or are you an apprentice working with a Master craftsman?  Do you trust in what God has taught you and thus can work freely or are you constrained and needing constant permission to work?