The God who works...for us who...wait

I've been spending a lot of time in Isaiah 64, and was struck by verse 4:

Since ancient times no one has heard, 

no ear has perceived, 

no eye has seen any God besides you, 

who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.

It's a great reminder of God's sovereignty. Firstly, it tells us that God is a God who wills to work for us. Obviously he's not our pet genie, waiting on our beck and call to supply us with our petit wants and needs. He works for his Glory, to fulfil his purposes, for his great redemptive plan in human history. But he works it "on behalf of those who wait on him". That is, for us! And he is a god who gives us good gifts, as a loving father.


So what's our response to the God who works for us? It tells us to wait for him. Psalm 40:1 tells us:

I waited patiently for the LORD; 

he turned to me and heard my cry.

David here is telling how he waited, how he endured, totally dependent on the Lord, to deliver him out of "the slimy pit...out of the mud and mire". So David too was waiting patiently on God to save him, to restore his joy and hope in God. 


So we need to do the same! One of the fruits of the spirit is patience (Gal 5:22), the trust, and obedience to wait on God,  for all things that we pray for which are inline with his will. It's his timing, not ours. Once we can do this, then we will be living lives which show that we are truly living as if God is sovereign, rather than us. 


But how are we to wait? Sitting on our hands, in our rooms, looking up expectantly? No, that's not only lazy, but also not how God has ordered his world. Rather we wait, like the first two servants in Matthew 25 (14-28). We wait, expecting our masters' return, and working for his glory and gain, serving him before he returns. 


So let's be patient, and wait with endurance and perseverance on God, serving him with joy, and working for His glory in the meantime, in our obedience to him, in our endeavours for the gospel!