Stripped Naked – Waiting for God

“But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord,

I wait for God my Savior;

my God will hear me.”

~Micah 7:7 (NIV).

The Word of the Lord comes to us—affirmed and confirmed—in many ways. This has been a Word of confirmation and affirmation for two friends in recent days, and that’s how God works in so many ways!

There are so many passages in God’s Word that speak of waiting on God, and it seems these come to facilitate, in their own way, seasonal forbearance in our lives. The words leap from the page—so to speak—into our hearts and we carry them with us, clutched as close to the heart as possible.

A Change of Heart

Not unlike the psalmists, in the subset of Micah 7:1-7, Micah here seems to have rapidly departed from his previous melancholic mode to present one single concluding verse of hope and trust in God.[1]

And this newly heralded theme is continued through many of the verses following—the next section—to the end of the book.

We, too, have many opportunities to change our own hearts for good and choose to wait patiently on the Lord.

Faith and Faithfulness

Having faith and presenting that in ways that is faithful implies the sentiment of Micah. Trust is due the awesome Lord God. We can afford to trust him because God has never let us down.

The enemy, of course, is so personally apt at accusing God—and lest our own hearts—and we’re debunked in a second, at times, it seems.

And, still, we can choose quite easily to trust the nature and character of God—who loves us perfectly; ‘on time, on budget.’

Waiting for Something We Hope for

“Waiting is an expression of personal inability to bring about progress in the situation, and an expression of God’s ability to hear and help.”[2]

As we wait, we acknowledge we have no choice but to wait—it’s out of our hands. This is a resigned sense of acceptance, which is never usually a bad thing, as we understand we must simply get out of our own way and let God do ‘the talking,’ via one or more ways within his many modes of life-delivering action.

And as we wait, we know that God will hear us; indeed, he does hear us. He has heard us.

© 2010 S. J. Wickham.

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[1] Bruce K. Waltke, Micah – The Minor Prophets – An Exegetical & Expository Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House Company, 1993), p. 751.

[2] John L. Mackay, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk and Zephaniah – Focus on the Bible (Fearn, Great Britain: Christian Focus Publications, 1998), p. 129.