Philippians 4: 6-7  Isaiah 64:4

How many times do we observe in the examples in scripture how some of God’s people became impatient, couldn’t wait, and missed His blessings?

Eve –  Didn’t wait to talk to God before falling into Satan’s trap.
(Genesis 3)
Saul –  Couldn’t wait (trust) for Samuel to make intercession before going into battle. (1 Samuel 13)
Sarah – Couldn’t wait (trust), taking things into her own hands to have a child.
(Genesis 16)
Israelites – Couldn’t wait (trust) and missed the Promised Land

When we become anxious, and take things into our own hands, we miss God’s best and the situation becomes worse. But this is how we operate in a “Got to have it” and “Do it Now” culture.  Instead of pausing to think before we act, we run head long with our plans and decisions into discouragement, disappointment and consequences.

The Lord has been teaching me how to pray whenever I become anxious instead of reacting presumptuously and prematurely.  According to Philippians 4: 4-7 we are always to pray whenever we become anxious, listen for His voice on the subject and be still until we have clarity and further instructions.

Remember how the Lord led the Israelites through the wilderness?  It was a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night (Exodus 13:21).  In the meantime, they were to camp (wait) right where they were until the Lord moved forward.  If they picked up and moved prior to His divine signal it resulted in disaster (Numbers 14:39-45).  Even Jesus warned His disciples that apart from Him they could do nothing, and to wait for the power of the Holy Spirit to come upon them before they went out to witness. But still it is our nature to leave the Lord behind as we hurl forward into discouragement, disappointment and failure.

I love the way Jesus taught the people using object lessons. He would point to metaphors, analogies and types familiar.  And this is the way the Lord sometimes teaches me (Matthew 6:28).

A year ago our Freezer’s Icemaker stopped working.  It was among many malfunctions occurring randomly all at the same time.  Therefore, instead of impulsively hiring a repair man to fix it, I took pause. It was just getting too expensive with the number of malfunctions and especially my husband’s truck needing repair.  Instead of putting the pressure on my husband to “Do Something”, I decided to bite the bullet, “wait” and just use ice trays.  As it turned out, filling ice trays was not such a big deal or inconvenient, and so the urgency faded further and further from my mind.

Then it happened, a few nights ago we woke up during the night to the familiar sound of flowing water and the clump of ice dumping once again. Could it be? Without doing anything to fix it? Our icemaker began working on its own?

Now I know this sounds silly to anyone who might be thinking this wasn’t exactly a major issue.  And you are right. But it was a joy to see without putting out any money, or taking matters in our own hands, it just happened. As I opened the freezer door and saw the bucket filled to capacity,  I realized,  waiting was the way to go. And that blessing came just in time before Thanksgiving and Christmas when we would need the rapid production of ice the most.

The Lord began to teach me through this small incident, but happy one, about Waiting for His best while receiving His grace. The ice trays were like God’s grace. We didn’t have ice automatically dispensing every day, but we still had ice whenever we filled the trays.

God does everything good, on time, and in His Way.  If I had insisted on pressuring my husband to pay for the repair, we would have paid out money, unnecessarily, and who knows whether or not it would even be fixed.  But most importantly, I would have missed out on God’s best and His gift which not only was a physical, tangible blessing but a spiritual one as well.

I learned another lesson on how “Waiting” on the Lord reaps a harvest of Christ’s joy and bounty.

As I continue to  witness the ice multiplying without my work, I am reminded  how God causes everything to work for good, as I learn to rest and trust in Him, being anxious for nothing, but with supplication and prayer, make my requests known, receiving His grace and peace which surpasses all understanding.
(Luke 9:16-17, Romans 8:28, Genesis 49:26, Hebrews 4:10, Ephesians 2: 4-10, John 10:10, Philippians 4: 6-7).

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