Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Tuesday, February eighteenth. No one likes to wait, but today's podcast reminds us that if we jump ahead of God's timing, we're sure to make a mess of things. God loves you and desires to meet the needs of your life, promises to answer your prayers.
But that does not mean that He's going to give you everything you want when you want it. And you see, it's our unwillingness to wait for His timing that gets us in trouble, brings about confusion, and the loss of God's very best blessings in our life. There's a powerful verse of Scripture in Isaiah chapter sixty-four, if you'll turn there. Powerful verse of Scripture that has to do with what we're going to talk about, and that is waiting for God's timing. A very, very important principle in the Word of God.
The sixty-fourth chapter of Isaiah. Hope you'll turn there and that you'll underline it and color it. You can have you mark your Bible and somebody says, well, should I mark up my Bible?
Absolutely. Mark it up good. In fact, a Bible that's all marked up probably is a good indication that somebody's life isn't all messed up.
So, I would mark it up. Look at this verse, if you will. Verse four, for from the days of old they have not heard or perceived by ear, nor has the eye seen a God besides you, who acts in behalf of the one who waits for Him.
Look at that. God acts in behalf of the one who waits for Him. Now, what does the Bible mean by God acting in our behalf?
Here's what it means. It means that God is a personal God. He knows every single one of us and everything about us because He's omniscient. To act in our behalf means that He is willing to become involved in every aspect of our life. And if He's acting in my behalf, He's going to bring about those things that are good for me. He's going to act in such a way as to accomplish His will and purpose.
And many people will live their lives and die in ignorance of this truth. The Bible says that God predestined. He predetermined before He ever saved you, before you were ever born, that when you were saved, He starts working in your life to conform you to the likeness of His Son. He says He predestined us to be conformed to the image of His Son, Jesus. And if He's acting in my behalf, that means that whatever I'm facing in life, He's going to be there to give me guidance and direction for it. So, timing with God is important.
He's a wonderful, awesome, giving God, but on His schedule and His timing because He knows what's best. Now, when we're confronted with these situations and we always have three choices. That is, I ask God for something and if I don't get it when I want it, I can manipulate it.
And there are many people who are smart enough to go around this and to go around that and to skip this and to undermine that and to work all kind of deals in order to get what they want. Listen, you can get what you want out of the will of God, but remember this. When you get what you want out of the will of God, you get the consequences of that disobedience. There are consequences to disobedience to God, no matter who you are and what you believe, you can't alter that. And this is what's so important. God is willing to act in your behalf, but when you act in disobedience to God, there are consequences.
And what is He doing? He not only wants to give you His best, He didn't want you suffering the consequences when it is absolutely unnecessary. But, I'm confronted with three choices when He shows me what to do. I can manipulate the circumstances and move ahead and get what I want. In other words, today it's not the will of God for some people to have things that they buy.
It's not the will of God, but you know what? Pull out your credit card. God, what about this? Well, you can have a credit card for this, that, you can buy an expensive card, you can buy an expensive. In other words, you can just go on and on and on with your credit card. But what happens? There's a payday.
And what I want you to see is this. God doesn't, listen, He doesn't want you in spiritual debt. He wants you to be free. He wants to provide what you need. He wants to provide you for what you need emotionally, spiritually, and physically as it fits His will and purpose. But if you ignore Him and go about it and just get what you want when you want it, let me tell you something. There are consequences, unavoidable consequences. And the second thing you can do when you come to a situation like this, you can say, Well, you know, God didn't answer my prayers, so forget it.
I quit and I walk away. Listen, what I've discovered in life, some of the best things in life I have to wait the longest for. And so, you have to decide, what value do I place on this? And if I'm the kind of person, I've got to have it now and I've got to have it my way, then I'll go through life missing God's best. You don't want to fall into that category. And the third response, which is a possibility is, I can wait and watch God work in my behalf.
And you ought to write that down. Wait and watch God work. Watch what He does. Watch how He changes situations and circumstances. And we've all been in situations where we think, God, what in the world are you going to do?
Give Him a little time. God knows exactly what He's doing. Listen, He's not scratching His head trying to figure out something you did and trying to get you out of it. No, God knows exactly how you got there, why you got there. He knows how to change any circumstance of your life. But I've got to be willing to let Him do it His way, not manipulate the circumstances to get it the way I want it. So, ask yourself the question, wherever you are in life and whatever's going on, did you sort of manipulate the way into that situation? Did you not have any assurance if you did?
Or did you ask God to give you that position and give you that privilege or whatever He's given you in life and you thank Him for what He did? Then you can feel very safe about it. Now, there are requirements for waiting on God and we don't like these.
We want it now, this instant generation. And if you'll think about it, and I think sometimes if things get any faster, I won't think I can handle it. In other words, if it's everything is just like this, just like this.
There's no time to do anything but just move, move, move, move. That's not the way you live a godly life. And I wonder when is the last time you sat down alone, just you and God, and got real quiet and said, Lord, I want You to speak to me.
If there's anything you need to say to me, Father, I want to hear it. And I want the spirit of obedience to rule in my life. The reason many people are out of the will of God and suffering and hurting and in pain and all kind of terrible mixed up affairs and so forth, you know why? They're not listening to God. They're responding to their desires absent of the will and plan and best that God has provided for them.
You don't have to live that kind of life. God's best is what He prepares for His children, God's very best. And it doesn't make a difference who you are and what your place in life is. That is, what's best for your life? That's what God has in mind. And only what's best for your life is the only thing that's going to bring you peace and joy and happiness and a sense of fulfillment in life. So, if I'm up here scratching around for this and that and so forth to make me happy, the issue is do I have the courage to sit and be quiet and say, Lord, what do you want?
When's the last time you sat in your favorite chair and you inquired and no TV, no body, no doggies, no nothing around, nothing to distract you and you said, Lord, I'm listening. What do you want to say to me? You said, I don't believe God will speak to me.
Well, you started out with the wrong attitude. He says, I will instruct you. I will teach you in the way which you should go. I will guide you with my eye upon you. That's God's awesome promise to His children.
And so, what does it take? First of all, I've got to trust Him. If I don't trust Him, I won't obey Him. And we sing that song, Trust and Obey. There's no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey.
We've been singing it for years and years and years and few people believe it. Listen to that. Trust and obey, for there is no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey. Well, if I want God's best and I want Him to act in my behalf, then I have to trust Him. He doesn't say I'll always understand. He doesn't say I'll always like it. If I'm willing for Him to bless me with His best, I've got to trust Him to do it His way. And I've got to trust Him when He says no and trust Him when He says yes. You say, well, yeah, but you don't know what I've been through. You don't know what I've been through. I can tell you, my friends, exactly what we're saying because I know exactly how God operates at the bottom of the barrel and the top.
And you know what I discovered? He's the same awesome God no matter where you are and what's going on in your life. So, it takes faith and this is something else it takes, humility. Because, you see, if I'm not trusting Him, what am I saying? I know better than God for myself.
Listen, what you and I know would be like one grain of sand if you piled up all the sand of all the beaches in the world, one grain wouldn't even begin to match it. Pridefulness. I've got to have it my way. I don't, it's God business.
Forget this God business. I'm going to have it. Well, you can have it. You can manipulate and have it, but you'll pay an awful consequence. And the fact, some of you who are listening and maybe some of you who are sitting here are saying, yes, that's correct because I'm in one of those consequences right now.
Because you disobeyed God and wouldn't allow Him to do it His way. And so, I've got to trust Him. I have to have a humble spirit that He knows better than I know. And then, I've got to be patient.
You ask God to do something in your life. Well, you know what? He's not an errand boy. Yes, sir, I'll be right there.
That's not who He is. And patience means I wait for further direction. God, what's Your timing? And so, sometimes we have to wait a long time. But He goes back, you have to ask this question.
Is what I'm, watch this, I just love this. Is what I'm waiting for worth the wait? And nobody can tell you that but you. And when you place high value on what you're waiting for, you can wait and wait and wait knowing that your Father who loves you unconditionally will provide in His new time, in His right timing, exactly what He has in mind for you. So, to be patient.
And if I'm not, I get in trouble. Then, of course, it takes courage. It takes courage to wait on God. Now listen, courage in what way? You've got to have the courage to resist three things.
The temptation to follow your schedule and forget about what God desires for your life. And sometimes what God does for us, it takes patience to wait for Him to make the way. Listen, He can pave your way anywhere He wants you. He can get you anywhere He wants you. And I think about sometimes pastors who they write churches and want to be the pastor and this and that and so forth. And I think sometimes where is your faith to wait for God? God can place you anywhere He wants you. Anytime He wants you.
We forget who He is. So, one thing we have to resist is we have to resist the temptation to follow our own schedule. And we have to resist the temptation of the pressure of others. Well, now here's what I think you ought to do. The next time somebody says to you, well, now here's what I think you ought to do. I got an answer for you. You say to them, thank you very much, but you're not me.
Because they, listen, you're not me. You can tell me what you think, but don't expect me to just jump up and do it because you're not me. You don't know where I've come from. You don't know the will of God for my life. And oftentimes, listen, I guarantee you any one of us could come up with something and get a number of people to say yes.
It depends on what it is. But what you have to ask is, do I want to hear from God or from my friends or my enemies or people who don't care? And I think about many of you, for example, who watch and you listen. When you hear a message and it's all over, what do you do?
You just turn on the ball game or something else and all of a sudden, you have this sudden change. I'll tell you what'll happen. It'll drive out the truth of God's Word. I'm not opposed to watching good things. But I'm saying the truth is like seed.
It grows fast when you're willing for it to grow fast, when you're willing to feed it with prayer and listening to God and waiting upon Him and trusting in Him. And God's blessings, God's blessings await those who are willing to wait for Him and to receive them in His time and in His way. But I must resist the temptation to listen to other people. And then I must resist the temptation to be afraid. But suppose it doesn't turn out for me that way. Well, listen, I don't want anything in my life that God doesn't want. And if I said to you, I'm not going to do this or do that and so forth and it didn't happen that way, you'd say, well, would you be embarrassed? No, first of all, I'd be crazy to say what I'm going to do apart from God.
That doesn't fit who we are. And so, you have to resist the temptation to get ahead of God's schedule and listening to other people and being afraid. You don't have to be afraid. Listen, when you are walking in God's will for your life, you don't have to be afraid of anything because the sovereign God of this universe is your protector. And anyone who harms you has to deal with God. And God knows how to protect His children and He knows how to defend them, whatever they're facing in life. Now, what can we expect when we wait for God's timing? First of all, God's going to express His goodness toward us. And I think if you will go to Lamentations chapter three and look at this verse.
I'm going to give you a verse for each one of these points here. Verse twenty-five of Lamentations three, the Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him. It is good that He waits silently for the salvation of the Lord. He says it's good to wait on Him. That's what God said. God says, you want to know my attitude? It's good to wait for me because I have the best for you. And then, of course, when we wait on Him, He'll answer our prayers. And Psalm forty reads in the very first verse or two here, listen to what He says.
I love this. I waited patiently for the Lord, and He inclined to me and heard my cry. You know what that means?
Humanly speaking, it means this. He listened. He inclined to me and heard my cry. He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the mess I'd made, out of the miraclay. He set my feet upon a rock, making my footsteps firm. And I love this part. Listen, here's what He says, He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to my God. Many will see and fear and will trust in the Lord.
Why not live it God's way? See, put a new song. Don't raise your hand, but how many of you need a new song in your life this morning?
You look to see where you are, what's been going on in your life, the things that are there that shouldn't be there, the consequences you're suffering from. You want a new song? You want God to put a new song in your life? You want God to change all that?
Commit yourself to being obedient to Him and watch Him work. And then, of course, we'll see the fulfillment of our faith when we obey Him. So, Isaiah forty-nine, look at that for a moment, and verse twenty-three, look at this promise He gives us here. Those who hopefully wait for Me will not be put to shame. Somebody says, suppose I make a mistake.
We all make mistakes. But He says you only put to shame because you know what, even in our mistakes, He takes our mistakes and turns them for good in our life in such a way that it has to be something that He does. Then He will enable us to win over the struggles of life in Psalm thirty-seven. All of us go through struggles of life, and so He promises when we wait for Him that He'll help us to get through these struggles. And if you will look in Psalm thirty-seven, and look if you will in the ninth verse, and then the thirty-fourth verse.
Listen to what He says. For evildoers will be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land. God always will bless. If you absolutely ignore God's rightful place as sovereign in your life, Lord and Master of your life, Lord and Master for our own good, for our own good in every single solitary situation, to ignore Him, the consequences that are unavoidable. If you trust Him and obey Him, you can watch Him work in ways in your life that you would never expect it. That's who He is, this awesome, loving Father who says to us, He'll act on your behalf if you'll wait for it. Thank you for listening to part two of Waiting on God's Timing. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or InTouch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of InTouch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia. .
