These days, we are so accustomed to move in a swift, fast-moving, turbo-mode all the time.  Everyone desires instancy and urgency.  It is as if we miss so many things when we do not get into this fifth-gear speed.   Even our food are already within the scope of the suddenlies, instant coffee and instant noodles to name a few where one only has to pour hot water and boooom … it’s ready!  hahaha!

Moreover, have you noticed how we react when our internet fails to deliver an expected speed?  Hmmm … how about when someone drives slowly in front of us?  Or maybe when the cashier at the counter seems new at her or his job and is carefully scanning item per item that causes a lengthy queue before and after us?  

Yes, there may be situations where it is needed to accelerate things, but on many other cases, I believe we have the capacity and ability to slow down and enjoy the day that the Lord has made for you and me.  We slow down to see and appreciate the beautiful things around us or maybe stop to smell the roses.  The present is His gift to us where His Presence is most actively engaged in our every step.

We have many plans to go, many things to do, many decisions to make, and many at time, have we ever thought of stopping and inquiring of Him?  Most of the time, we rush into doing things and later on find ourselves maybe in a good place, but not in the best place He wants us to be.  Hmmmm … don’t worry, we all are qualified and guilty hahaha … but thank You, Jesus, there is NOW no more condemnation to those who are in Christ.  When things like these are revealed, it only shows how much He cares for us and He wants us to know how much He earnestly desires to be involved in our daily living.

This is one thing I loved and learned from David.

“One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek, inquire for, and [insistently] require: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord [in His presence] all the days of my life, to behold and gaze upon the beauty [the sweet attractiveness and the delightful loveliness] of the Lord and to meditate, consider, and inquire in His temple.”  (Psalm 27: AMPC)

Before David and his troop went to battle, He inquired of the Lord if he was to conquer the place and the people or not without exception.  When the Lord answered him, he heeded His voice, obeyed and walked in the victory that the Lord already won for him.

There is always a lesson to gain understanding of each day and maybe today, the Holy Spirit is issuing us an invitation to learn how to dwell and linger in His presence, commune, ask and wait what He has to say.  If there is no special guidance given, then we are called to stay connected with Him in the ever abiding presence of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, savorly walking and talking with Him in the cool of the day just like what Adam did in the garden before the fall.

The art of waiting needs to be reintroduced to us, with patience and endurance with ALL JOY! 

“But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” (Isaiah 4.:31)

Waiting upon the Lord is worshiping Him. 

To wait is to be intertwined and to be tied up with our Partner.  To wait is to be in sync with Him.   When He pauses, we pause.  When He walks, we walk.  When He runs, we run.  When He speaks, we speak. 

It is those who are interwoven with Him, who wait upon Him and who tie up their lives with Him, are those whose strength are renewed.  Why?  Because apart from Him we are and can do nothing.  Our dependency on Him moment by moment, recognizing, believing and accepting that His grace is sufficient and His strength is made perfect for our weaknesses is where our pure potency and stability come from.

To wait is to serve, just as to wait at a table, expecting, anticipating, actively waiting with rising intensity, attending constantly, steadfastly and patiently. 

To wait means to remain, to abide, to stay and to bind together.

Oh wow …. intimacy is what this speaks of and we see how Jesus powerfully demonstrated His connectedness with the Father. 

“So Jesus explained, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what He sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does.   For the Father loves the Son and shows Him everything He is doing. In fact, the Father will show Him how to do even greater works than healing this man. Then you will truly be astonished.”  (John 5:19-20 NLT)

Moses knew and spoke to God face to face.  The people may have known God’s acts, but the Bible says, Moses knew His ways.  “He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the children of Israel.” (Psalm 103:7)

The Lord our God was the One leading Moses and the Israelites in the wilderness by a pillar of cloud during the day and a pillar of fire at night.  Oh how the Lord our God is rich in mercy and abounding in love that even if He called them stiff-necked people, He still was leading them in the way that they should go.

Take time to meditate on these verses how the people moved as the Lord led them to move.  This I believe is what it ideally and wonderfully means to wait.

“When the cloud moved from its place over the Tent, the Israelites moved, and wherever the cloud stopped, the Israelites camped.  So the Israelites moved at the Lord’s command, and they camped at His command. While the cloud stayed over the Tent, they remained camped.  Sometimes the cloud stayed over the Tent for a long time, but the Israelites obeyed the Lord and did not move.  Sometimes the cloud was over it only a few days. At the Lord’s command the people camped, and at His command they moved. Sometimes the cloud stayed only from dusk until dawn; when the cloud lifted the next morning, the people moved. When the cloud lifted, day or night, the people moved.  The cloud might stay over the Tent for two days, a month, or a year. As long as it stayed, the people camped, but when it lifted, they moved.  At the Lord’s command the people camped, and at His command they moved. They obeyed the Lord’s order that He commanded through Moses.” (Number 9:17-23NCV)

We may not be physically seeing a pillar of cloud nor a pillar of fire to guide us nowadays, but we have a better covenant with better promises.   For God sooooooo loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ,  that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but will have eternal life. 

Jesus said, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. You know Him, for He dwells WITH you and will be IN you.  I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” (John 14:15-18) 

When we believe and receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit comes to make His permanent residency in us.  We become His holy temples.   “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price.” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

What’s more is when Jesus said, “I have told you these things while I am still with you. But the Helper (Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor—Counselor, Strengthener, Standby), the HOLY SPIRIT, whom the Father will send in My name [in My place, to represent Me and act on My behalf], He will teach you all things. And He will help you remember everything that I have told you.” (John 14:26-27 AMP)

This is what it means to have been given the GOOD NEWS!!!!  All that we need, HE IS!

We may have questions and doubts if we will ever hear Him speak in leading us in the way that we should go, but as we meditate His Word day and night, night and day, our thought patterns change and will eventually be in alignment to His Word as the Holy Spirit reveals to us each time.   He moved in in us so that we can be under His direct influence.  Remember, it is not by our might nor by our power, but by the Spirit of God at all times.  So, we BE ANXIOUS FOR NOTHING!!! 

In addition, Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” (John 10:27)  The Voice translation says, “My sheep respond as they hear My voice; I know them intimately, and they follow Me.” 

Therefore, when He invites us to move, we move with Him.  When He says, “chill and relax”, we do so.  His love fuels us and His joy strengthens us in the journey.  This intimacy and merging of our wills and lives with His postures us to a victorious living all because God always causes us to triumph in Christ.  Victory is always a guaranteed outcome.

In quiet days, when nothing seems to be moving, just like Moses, we pitch our tent where His Presence dwells.  We worship and wait.  We seek Him continually.  We enjoy lingering, meditating, singing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, making melodies in our hearts to the Lord.  We do not despise not being in action, for the Lord our God is surely making invisible transactions that speak volumes in spiritual realms while we seek to grow deeper and deeper in the knowledge of Him as we drink daily from the river of His delight that flows from the throne of God and of the Lamb.  Times of refreshing, rejuvenating, regenerating and restoring in His presence is indeed a vital part of our lives. 

“For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel,
“In returning and rest you shall be saved;
    in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” (Isaiah 30:15)

We are richly blessed when we wait and walk fully trusting the Lord with all of our hearts, leaning not on our own understanding, in all of our ways we acknowledge Him and He surely will direct our paths.

“Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you,
    and therefore He exalts himself to show mercy to you.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
    BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO WAIT FOR HIM.” (Isaiah 30:18)

Photo Credits: Anaj Paz; Philippines