We Have Hope In The Waiting

Don't Hate The Wait

Psalm 130:5 “I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in His Word, do I hope.”

We all have something that we have been waiting on God to answer. You need a healing? Salvation for your children? A financial need? Whatever it may be, we find that the seasons of waiting can be some of the hardest seasons. It is so difficult not to get impatient and go ahead of God. It can be tough in “God's Waiting Room”.

In Hebrews 11, which we refer to as the Faith chapter, there are many mentioned who graduated from “faith university”. Many who waited: Abel, Enoch, Noah, Sarah, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Rahab...to name a few. In verse 36-39 it mentions that there were some who..." having received a good report through faith, waited yet received not the promise".

If you read Psalm 6 and Psalm 13, you can see how David became impatient with the waiting. But you see, it's okay like David, to “lament to God” about the wait. It's okay to “ask how long”. If you're there in "the waiting room" and growing weary, Pray what David prayed. Pray the Word. When you pray the Word, you can be sure you are praying the will of God. Cry the tears. But when you get up, be sure your trust and faith is steadfast.

The one thing we need to be careful of is not to fall prey to the danger of the waiting. Because you see, with John, it was a different story. In Matthew 11, John questions, is Jesus really who he says he is or should we send for another? Jesus is healing MANY, yet John remains captive, growing weary in waiting. And Jesus sends a message back to him in verse 6, “Blessed is he who is not offended in me”. You see, it was complaining, that David did, but it was the danger of the offense in the waiting that Jesus sensed coming through John's question. You noticed that Jesus healed MANY, not all. So I am sure that there were many standing by waiting, yet He passed them by, healing the person next to them. Doesn't seem fair, does it? BUT...God always has a plan.

In Matthew 13, we read about the Parable of the Sower. In verse 21, the seed (Word) is sown on a stony heart, does not take root, it dureth for awhile, but when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, by and by he is offended.

You see … Life, time and circumstances try to overtake during the waiting. We get impatient because we don't see anything happen. We start to feel like God isn't even hearing us. We can even begin questioning if what He says is really true. That is where the danger lies, “in the waiting”. We become offended towards God because He is doing this and that for someone else but not for us. Please be careful! Don't let the danger of the waiting overtake you to the point you develop an offense toward God.

Hebrews 12:12-13 “Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down; and the feeble knees; And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed. Follow peace with all men, and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord: Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you; and thereby many be defiled.”

Pray, lament to God. Cry the tears, but get back up still believing and with the attitude of “Thou he slay me, yet I trust in him”. Job 13:15

We must remember that we have HOPE in the waiting........and GOD HAS A PLAN.

 I Have Hope

Psalm 33:20 "We wait in hope for the Lord. He is our help and our shield".

We are all familiar with Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not evil, to give you an expected end.” (8615)

Let me share a little bit here from Strong's Concordance.

Expected End - 8615 tiqvah from 6960; lit. a cord (as an attachment - comp. 6961); fig. Expectancy: - expectation, hope, live, thing that I long for.

6960 to bind together, to expect, gather (together), look patiently, tarry, wait (for, on, upon)

6961 a measuring cord (as if for binding)

Psalm 130:5 “I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in His Word, do I hope.”

Hope - 3176 primitive root; to wait; by impl. To be patient, hope: - (cause to, have, make to) hope, be pained, stay, tarry, trust, wait.

Now I want to share about Rahab. Read her story in Joshua 2:15-18

In Joshua 2:21 take notice that this verse of what Rahab said, is similar to what Mary said to the angel when he told her she was going to have a child (Jesus) verse 21 - “And she (Rahab) said, according unto your words, so be it”, she sent them away, they departed. She bound the scarlet line in the window. (she activated her hope)

Luke 1:38 Mary said, “behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed. She agreed with the Word, establishing that fact upon the earth, and it came into being. The Word of God came into Mary, and said, “it will be so” and Mary received it by saying, Let it be done.

That is why it is important what we speak, during our waiting. And definitely speaking and declaring His Word is speaking the will of God.

It is important to speak His Word back to Him (praying the Word) because we have that promise in Isaiah 55:10,11 that His Word will not return void but will accomplish what it's sent forth to do.

As we learned in Strong's Concordance, the Greek word Tiqvah is Hope. And Hope is a whole lot more than just wishful thinking. It's not just a state of mind. It's a covenant He has made with us. We may wait and may even die before seeing the promise, but if we will “hang our cord out” for all to see, no matter the ridicule, if we may not see the promise, know that there is a new world coming and we will be a part of it.

This is where it gets exciting. The Scarlet cord means HOPE. Rahab was to hang out the cord from the window. That Cord was her line of hope!

God gives us Hope but we have our own responsibility as Rahab did. She put the cord out and her family was saved. It took her act of believing, and trusting and standing on the promises. Visibly and physically, it took a physical act of displaying (the cord) her hope to any who cared to see.

Her acquaintances and loved ones saw the cord and had no clue what it was or why she was doing it but she did it anyway. She knew that the cord was not just a nice gesture. She knew it was a matter of life and death. That red cord either meant the end or beginning of her lineage. It either meant end or death OR hope and a future.

We don't know how long she waited. We don't know how many came in to her home and was saved.

The red cord activated her hope. Her promise. The cord did not mean that war was not going to come. War came. It meant though that her household was saved. It didn't mean that she was going to escape the circumstances of war, but it meant that she would be counted worthy to suffer in His lineage and His bloodline.

John 16:33 “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” Tribulation is going to come but take heart for He has overcome the world!

Tiqvah (hope) doesn't mean it will happen because we “will it” to happen. It just means that when we connect with it and we declare it and we activate it and audibly claim His promises, and join with His Hope, we join with an eternal future, and the bloodline and lineage of Jesus.

Once you get the revelation of HOPE, doubt cannot stay. Stress is no longer allowed. We have a guaranteed investment of His Promises.

There might be something that you've been waiting on for a very long time and you feel God has forgotten you. He hasn't. He knows. (Psalm 139) He knows you. He knows where you are at. He knows what you are going through.

He offers you HOPE, but you have to activate it! Live by faith, not by sight. Trust the word even when you don't see the promise. Activate your portion of the promise!

Here are several Hope Scriptures for you to read and hide in your heart, daily praying back to God.

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not evil, to give you an expected end.

Job 6:8 Oh that I might have my request, that God would grant me the thing that I long for. (hope for)

Psalm 9:18 For the needy shall not always be forgotten, the expectation (the hope) of the poor shall not perish forever.

Psalm 71:5 For thou art my hope, O Lord God: thou art my trust from my youth.

Proverbs 24:14 So shall the knowledge of wisdom be unto thy soul: when thou hast found it, then there shall be a reward, and thy expectation shall not be cut off

Lamentations 3:22-26 22 It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.

Psalm 62:5 My soul wait thou only upon God, my expectation (my hope) is from him

Zechariah 9:12 Turn you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope: even to day do I declare that I will render double unto thee;
Jeremiah 31:17 And there is hope in thine end, saith the LORD, that thy children shall come again to their own border.

Romans 15:4 For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

vs 13 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.

We have a scarlet cord (hope) of eternal promise! Our Hope! An Expected End! A Hopeful Future!

The answer is not in what you see, feel or wish for, but our hope is what has been declared in His Word from the foundation of the world.

Let me ask you this: What if the healing never comes? What if you die before you see your children come to God? What if life circumstances are rough and you aren't seeing things getting better? Are you still going to serve Him? Why do you serve God, for what He can give or for who He is? 

Now I understand this Scripture, that Hope is the Anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast!

Hebrews 6:19 "Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil".

If you are reading this from email, visit this link to listen to the Song, by Kutless "Even If" (The Healing Doesn't Come)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiYAUNJPrMU