“Wait on the Lord; be of good
courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord.”—Psalm
27:14
Are you currently waiting for the
Lord to intervene in some way in your life, or in the life of a loved one? One of the struggles we face as Christians is
trying to understand sometimes there are delays over matters that seem so
urgent to us. Only the Lord knows all of the reasons. However, there are some lessons that we can
learn from when Peter and John were arrested and put into jail.
Peter and John were arrested and
jailed because they preached in the name of Jesus, the resurrection from the
dead, and people were being healed. When
they were brought up before the authorities they refused to compromise and
would not cease to give their testimony.
They were threatened and released.
Peter and John returned to the people that they were with, and then began
to worship and praise God. The place was
shaken where they were all gathered and they spoke the Word of God with
boldness (Acts 4:1-31).
The first lesson is: Determine Your Focus. In the urgency of the moment, it is easy to
center your attention on the need instead of on God. Peter and John remained focus on their
message, not on getting out of jail. We
may start out waiting for the Lord, but end up waiting for the answer we
want. Soon we become more interest in
what God can do for us, rather than our focus remaining in Him. Sometimes God delays until we get our focus
back on Him. He wants us to delight in
Him; not in just what He can give to us.
Secondly, Release Your Expectations into His Hands.
Peter and John said, “Whether it
is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. Fore
we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard” (Acts
4:19-20). The Lord is working on
your behalf, but sometimes we cling so tightly to a desired outcome that He
must wait until we open our hands and let go of our own expectations. Holding onto
your own assumptions about how the Lord should intervene is emotionally
exhausting. But peace awaits those who
trust that He will do what is in our best interests in every situation that we
encounter.
