Psalm 37:7 Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him;Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way,Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.

Have you ever been to an amusement park and hard to wait in line? Some of them have little signs that say “from here, the wait is 30 minutes.” I’m not sure if they are intended to encourage you or kill you! Maybe you have never had the privilege of waiting at an amusement park so let me ask you this do you enjoy standing in long lines at WalMart? How do you feel about having to wait? If you are like me, you don’t like it. But why do we hate waiting? I think it may have it’s roots in our basic understanding of what it means to wait. We view waiting in a passive manner. “Well, I can’t do much about it so I guess I’ll just have to WAIT.” We think of waiting as wasting time yet God calls us to wait on Him not to waste time but to redeem it. The problem is that we have been conditioned by the world to “get it now.” We have become impatient, impetuous and impulsive and one of our greatest struggles in the Christian life is to wait upon. God’s plan for waiting isn’t wasting our time it is resting in Him. As we read Psalm 37 we see a contrast between the wicked and the righteous. It is easy to get sidetracked with what others are doing and start to wonder and worry. The Psalms remind us of four critical factors, Fear not, Fret not, Faint not, and Forget not. Yet for most of us the words that would describe the world we live in would be frazzled, frantic and frustrated. We are called to live faithful lives not frantic ones and to do that we need a rest that can only come from waiting in the presence of The Lord.
The Hebrew word for “rest” means to be silent, to be still, to wait, the problem is that this goes back to our basic view of waiting. We are taught from an early age to get going and to stay in motion. We believe that being busy is best and because belief always affects behavior we are constantly busy. As a result many Christians lead frazzled lives where there is much fighting and frustration. We seem to prefer keeping the antacid companies in business than rest in the Almighty. Psalm 37 gives us a progressive prescription for heartburn free living, in it we see a chain of living linked together in a relationship with The Lord:

1. Trust in the Lord. Vs. 3
2. Delight yourself in the Lord. Vs. 4
3. Commit your way to the Lord. Vs. 5
4. Rest in the Lord. Vs. 7
5. Wait on the Lord. Vs. 34

Most of us when we think about waiting tend to focus on what we are waiting for but with God why we are waiting is just as important as what we are waiting for. From the time God called Abraham and told him that he was to be a father of a great nation until the birth of Isaac was 24 years. God was teaching Abraham something as he waited those 24 years. From the time that God promised Jacob that his family would leave Egypt and become the nation of Israel was 400 years. God was teaching the Israelites something as they waited those 400 years. In Romans 8 Paul gives us a clue as to why we wait: Romans 8:23 “Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies”
We wait so that God can do the work, so that during the time of waiting we become what God wants us to be. Waiting brings rest because we relax and leave the work to The Lord, but waiting on the Lord requires trusting in the Lord. Waiting puts us in a position where we have to learn to trust God. My problem is that I want what God has for me but I don’t want to wait for it in His timing. We may want His truth but we don’t want His timing, so rather than wait for His timing we settle for what we can do. Waiting brings rest because its not all up to us, the problem here is that we like to be in control. If I am forced to wait then I am not in control, someone else is and I have to yield to their control and that is humbling. This brings us to one of the often overlooked reasons why it is hard to wait, waiting on the Lord requires humility. Waiting with grace by its very nature requires humility. As a husband I might wait for my wife because she is not ready and I have to but how do I wait, is it with grace? Waiting on God reminds us that He is the One who does the work because He is in control. When we forget this we end up leading frantic hurried lives where instead of resting we are revving up the motor. This world is so deceiving, it entices us to move up the ladder of success by causing us to buy into the belief that the higher we move up the less we will have to wait. Yet no matter your position or your power in this world you still need to wait on the Lord. Many of us forfeit the gift of rest because we will not wait on the Lord. We need to be reminded that waiting is not wasting, so are you going to wait or work?

Exodus 33: 12-16 “Moses said to the Lord, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor with me.’ 13 If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.” 14 The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” 15 Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. 16 How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”

In Exodus 32 when Moses has been gone for a while and the people start to worry they turn to Aaron and ask to make a golden calf so they will have something to go before them and something that they can follow. As a result there is a plague and Moses pleads with God for His presence and in Exodus 33:14 we have these reassuring words of rest “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Peace is always a product of God’s presence but just like the children of Israel we too can seek idols and try to find peace in their presence. Rest is a result of relationship with the Redeemer yet so often God’s children trade real rest for results. Several years ago Rick Warren wrote the book the “purpose driven life” it was a great book in which he explained that we are here for a purpose and this purpose should motivate and move our lives. What I find fascinating about Moses is that He desire God’s presence more than purpose. Why, because when we have God’s presence the purpose will follow in place. I am not slamming the purpose driven life or saying that purpose is not important, I am saying it’s not primary it’s secondary. I think today Christians have forgotten they are first and foremost followers of God, this means that the priority must be placed on His presence. I am purposing in my heart to seek His presence above His purpose. We have traded a relationship for results; in our mad dash to chase after the product (peace) we have left His presence. Is it any wonder that we are worn out, we can’t rest today because we are too busy working for that idol that will bring us “peace” from its presence! We shake our heads at the sheer stupidity of trading God for a golden calf yet we do it every day. What are you trading for His presence? What if they had just waited on God instead of working on the gold? They would have gotten to relax and rest, what if we would wait on God, I mean really wait on God?  I think it’s more about a presence driven life than a purpose driven life. What does it mean to be “Presence driven” you ask? Well if the President of the United States were coming to your town then there would be a protocol in place because of his presence. What would be done would be driven because and by His presence. Moses was a presence driven man, He responded based on relationship, purpose was a result of presence. He was so presence driven that he would not move without the presence of God, in Exodus 33:15-16 Moses said: “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. 16 How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?” Moses asks several great questions that reveal the power of God’s presence:

1. How will anyone know that you are pleased with us unless you go with us?
2. What else will distinguish your people from others?

Here Moses reminds us of our purpose to reflect God to the world yet even this is still secondary to the primary issue, the presence of God. Moses knew it was the presence of God that separated them from all the other people. That it was the presence of God that made all the difference and nothing else would matter! Moses knew the presence of God would guide them better than just a purpose. What happens when we chase purpose and forget presence is that we get the cart before the horse and then we wonder why it’s so hard to push. God’s purpose was never meant to be pushed but pulled along by His presence. Moses knew God’s purpose was to move the people from slavery to singing yet He could not drive them. These were the hardest bunch of hard-heads on the planet, kind of like you and me. They had to be led and that could only be accomplished by the Lord, His presence. Without the presence of God we try to do it by force and flesh. What was it that guided them? It was a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. It was the presence of God not the power of Moses. God’s presence moved His people day in and day out. What was it that governed the people? God – His commandments that were given to Moses in the presence of God. What was it that fed the people? God – His manna from heaven. Who was it that clothed them? God – in His presence their clothes or shoes never wore out. Purpose is good but when has it ever led you, fed you and clothed you? Today many in their desire to be purpose driven have left His presence and when we leave His presence we forgo His peace, His protection and His provision. If you seek His purpose it sounds good but it’s not primary, it is with His presence that His purpose is accomplished. To be presence driven is to be move by Him and with Him and God promises that His presence will bring peace; rest is the result of relationship. How does it bring rest, we stop striving and start surrendering, we don’t have to sweat and work to have idols to follow, we have the Father. In I Corinthians 1:29 Paul reminds us that “no flesh should glory in His presence” we need His presence for in His presence we find His pleasure not ours. What is it that you desire, what do you seek most purpose or presence?