WISDOM FOR LIVING DEVOTIONAL
JANUARY 15, 2021
TOPIC: WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF WAITING PATIENTLY FOR THE LORD? (1)
BY T. O. BANSO
“Then Abraham waited patiently, and he received what God had promised” (Hebrews 6:15 New Living Translation).
David, the writer of Psalm 40 opens the psalm by saying, “I waited patiently for the LORD; and He inclined to me, and heard my cry” (New King James Version). This simply tells us waiting patiently for the Lord is not in vain.
What does David say in this psalm that the Lord did for him? “He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps. He has put a new song in my mouth — Praise to our God; many will see it and fear, and will trust in the LORD” (New King James Version).
In James 5:11, the Bible says, “Behold, we call them blessed that endured: ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, how that the Lord is full of pity, and merciful” (American Standard Version). This again is a testimony that there is a great benefit in waiting for the Lord.
Similarly, the Bible tells us how Abraham benefitted from waiting patiently for the Lord. “Then Abraham waited patiently, and he received what God had promised” (Hebrews 6:15 New Living Translation). The conclusion we can make from the lives of Bible characters that patiently waited for the Lord is that it pays to wait for Him. This serves as an encouragement for us to emulate them.
What do you benefit from waiting for the Lord? In other words, what are the benefits of waiting for the Lord – trusting Him, depending upon Him, looking unto Him, counting on Him, and longing for Him?
1. You will be blessed. Isaiah 30:18 says the LORD is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for Him. The Hebrew word translated blessed in that scripture is esher and it means happiness or blessedness. Proverbs 16:20b says, “Those who trust the LORD will be happy” (New Living Translation).
Also, Jeremiah 17:7 says, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, and whose hope is the LORD” (New King James Version). As I have said, to wait for the Lord also means to trust Him. Such a person will be blessed. However, the Hebrew word used in the last scripture is barak, which means to bless or to kneel. You will be happy and be blessed if you wait for the Lord.
2. You will not be put to shame. In Isaiah 49:23, the LORD says, “They shall not be ashamed who wait for Me” (New King James Version). People may laugh at those who wait for the Lord but, eventually, their wisdom will be known to all. Those who mock waiters on God will soon acknowledge their own folly.
In Psalm 25:2-3, David prayed: “O my God, I trust in You; Let me not be ashamed; let not my enemies triumph over me. Indeed, let no one who waits on You be ashamed; let those be ashamed who deal treacherously without cause” (New King James Version). He prayed a similar prayer in Psalm 69:6. God answered the prayers of David. He didn’t allow him to be put to shame. He won’t allow you, too, to be put to shame as you patiently wait for Him.
3. You will experience the Lord’s goodness. God satisfies those who wait for Him with His goodness. Lamentation 3:25 says, “The LORD is wonderfully good to those who wait for him and seek him” (New Living Translation). God is good and Good things from the Lord will come to those who wait for the Lord and seek him. “Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach (unto thee), that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, Thy holy temple” (Psalm 65:4 American Standard Version).
The Bible says, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning” (James 1:17 (New Living Translation). If you wait for the Lord, you will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living (Psalm 27:13). He will surround, compass, encircle or adorn the year for you with His goodness and His paths will drop fatness or overflow with abundance(Psalm 65:11). Goodness and mercy shall follow you all the days of your life (Psalm 23:6).
4. You will receive answers to your prayers. If you wait for the Lord, you will receive answers to your prayers. Answers to prayers encourage believers and the beneficiaries of the answers to continue to have faith in God. The prophet Micah says, “Therefore I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me” (Micah 7:7 (New Living Translation). God does not deny those who wait for Him answers to the requests that are in line with His will (1 John 5:14).
God will not deny you of answers to your prayers if you wait patiently in faith for Him. He says, “Keep on asking, and you will be given what you ask for. Keep on looking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And the door is opened to everyone who knocks” (Matthew 7:7-8 New Living Translation).
5. You will obtain the blessings God has promised. This benefit and the previous one are interrelated. One thing anyone who has enjoyed the fulfilment of the promise of God will tell you is that they had to wait patiently. Those in a hurry frustrate themselves.
God has His own timetable for the promises. Not even fasting and prayer can make God fulfil His promises prematurely. Ecclesiastes 3:11 says He makes everything beautiful in His (its) own time. While you fast and pray, wait for His time. You need both faith and patience to inherit God’s promises. Hebrews 6:12b says believers should be imitators of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
The Bible says in Acts 1:4, about the disciples of Jesus Christ, “And, being assembled together with them, he charged them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, (said he,) ye heard from me” (American Standard Version). There was no short cut; the disciples must wait and they did and received the promise.
When you wait for the Lord, He will fulfil His promises in your life. As we have seen, Abraham waited patiently, and he received what God had promised (Hebrews 6:15). “Those who wait on the LORD, they shall inherit the earth” (Psalm 37:9b New Living Translation). The Psalms for Today: A New Translation from the Hebrew into current English says, “Those who trust in the Lord shall obtain their promised blessings.”
Wait for the Lord. Don’t be weary in waiting. There are great benefits waiting for you. I will share the remaining benefits tomorrow. Wait patiently for the Lord.
TAKE ACTION!
If you are not born again, you need to give your life to Jesus now. I urge you to take the following steps: *Admit you are a sinner and you cannot save yourself and repent of your sins. *Confess Jesus as your Lord and Saviour. *Renounce your past way of life – your relationship with the devil and his works. *Invite Jesus into your life. *As a mark of seriousness to mature in the faith, start attending a Bible-believing and Bible-teaching church. There they will teach you how to grow in the Kingdom of God.
Kindly say this prayer now: O Lord God, I come unto you today. I know I am a sinner and I cannot save myself. I believe that Jesus is the Son of God who died on the cross to save me and resurrected the third day. I repent of my sins and confess Jesus as my Lord and Saviour. I surrender my life to Jesus now and invite Him into my heart. By this prayer, I know I am saved. Thank you, Jesus, for saving me and making me a child of God.
I believe you have said this prayer from your heart. Congratulations! You will need to join a Bible-believing and Bible-teaching church in your area where they will teach you how to live your new life in Christ Jesus. I pray that you flourish like the palm tree and grow like the cedar of Lebanon. May you grow into Christ in all things and become all God wants you to be. I will be glad to hear from you. The Lord be with you.
PRAYER POINTS: Holy Spirit, help me to overcome weariness in waiting for the Lord. Satan, you will not rob me of the benefits of waiting for the Lord. I shall wait for the Lord to make everything beautiful for me in His (its) time in Jesus’ name.
(For over 400 in-depth and powerful messages by T. O. Banso, visit www.cedarministry.org).
T. O. Banso is the President, Cedar Ministry International, Abuja, Nigeria.
Phone No: +2348155744752, +2348033113523
WhatsApp No: +2349081295947
Email: cedarministryintl@yahoo.com,
cedarministryng@gmail.com
Website: www.cedarministry.org
  
  
  
  
