Meditations for Difficult Days - No. 26 - Wait on God
Our Sunday Devotionals are written by our assistant Pastor, Mike Loveridge
Wait on God
The difficultly this week was picking a song. With it being Easter Sunday, the theme of the song was obvious but there are so many to choose from. Some great songs that almost made it were:
Christ our hope in life and death by the Getty’s
Resurrecting or O Come to the Altar by Elevation worship
Jesus paid it all by Matt Maher
Death was arrested by North point Worship
But the song I chose in the end was I will wait for you by Shane and Shane.
You can listen to it here:
It is a song based on Psalm 130. I love songs that take scripture and turn it into a song. Like last week, I suggest you listen to the song, dwell on the words and then read through my brief comments. I hope this song blesses you as it has me.
I will wait for you by Shane and Shane
Out of the depths I cry to You
In darkest places I will call
Incline Your ear to me anew
And hear my cry for mercy Lord
Were You to count my sinful ways
How could I come before Your throne
Yet full forgiveness meets my gaze
I stand redeemed by grace alone
I will wait for You, I will wait for You
On Your word I will rely
I will wait for You, surely wait for You
Till my soul is satisfied
So put Your hope in God alone
Take courage in His power to save
Completely and forever won
By Christ emerging from the grave
I will wait for You, I will wait for You
On Your word I will rely
I will wait for You, surely wait for You
Till my soul is satisfied,
Now He has come to make a way
And God Himself has paid the price
That all who trust in Him today
Find healing in His sacrifice
I will wait for You, I will wait for You
Through the storm and through the night
I will wait for You, surely wait for You
For Your love is my delight
Jordan Kauflin | Keith Getty | Matthew Merker | Stuart Townend © 2018 Getty Music Publishing (Admin. by Music Services, Inc.)
The song begins by talking of the need of every human being, the need for God to hear my cry for mercy. I am always surprised when a tragic event happens how many of my non-Christian friends start writing ‘Praying for…’ on their Facebook pages. Have you noticed that during the coronavirus pandemic? In dark times, people often look for something bigger than themselves. They are brought fact to face with the unpleasant fact that they cannot solve all their own problems. Those of us who believe in God have come to realise that we are living in darkness, the darkness of our sin, and we need the mercy of God to save us.
Next, the lyrics remind us of the gulf our sin has created between God and mankind. I don’t know about you, but if I begin to count my sinful ways, I am left feeling extremely downcast. Listen to how Paul describes our sinful natures…
“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.”
We are all by nature sinful human beings who, despite our best efforts, mess up and get it wrong. But we are reminded in this song that although our sin means we cannot come before God’s throne, He has done something about it. He sent His own Son to die in our place. What is the result of Jesus’ death and resurrection? Full forgiveness. God no longer looks on us and sees a messed up, sinful human but instead looks on us with the loving eyes of a father. He sees us as righteous and perfect because of Jesus.
We must never forget that we stand redeemed by grace alone. Later in the same chapter of Ephesians, Paul writes…
“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.”
We play no part in our salvation. It is all the work of Jesus upon the cross. God himself has paid the price on the cross for all who trust in him. The gospel is so incredibly simple and yet so astounding. God does it all and offers eternal life as a free gift through faith in him. I often wonder how people can resist?
For those of us who do believe in God there is also a challenge in this song. The chorus calls us to wait on God. In our lives how often do we ‘wait on God’ and how often do we steam ahead and think we can do things ourselves? This Easter, why don’t you come back to God, thank him for your salvation or ask him for salvation? If you already know Jesus, then waiting on him means spending time listing to God. We listen to God by reading the Bible, His word, as that is God’s primary way of communicating with us. This weekend, why not choose to read the Bible and spend time meditating on what it has to say for you today. Spend time with God ‘til your soul is satisfied. We don’t just do this in the good times either. There is all the more reason to wait on him through the storms and in the night to remind ourselves of his sovereignty and goodness!
The other challenge is to consider where your hope is really found. Is it in God alone? We are currently living in challenging times but I think it is helping us to see where our true hope really lies. So many of the worldly things that we put our hope and trust in have been stripped away leaving many feeling like they have no hope. The hope of a Christian is in an unchanging God and that hope will never fail. We can have confidence in God because the result of that first Easter is that we are completely and forever won. Do you know that? Your salvation is safe if you call upon the name of Jesus in true repentance!
This Easter weekend take some time to wait on God. He is faithful and will hear your cry.
Prayer for today
Dear Loving Heavenly Father,
We thank you for all of your goodness to us, and above all for sending your Son to pay the price for our sin and providing us with forgiveness. Thank you that because of Jesus we can come into your presence with confidence because we are completely saved. We were lost in darkness but now we are children of God.
We pray that this Easter we will take time to wait on you. We pray that you will remove from our lives all that distracts us from you and may we look only to you to satisfy our souls.
May you increase our love for you and use us in these days for your glory and honour.
In the glorious name of Jesus we pray,
Amen.