I will wait for You, O You his Strength; For God is my defense.
My God of mercy shall come to meet me; God shall let me see my desire on my enemies. Psalm 59:9-10
Wait (H8104): to keep, guard, observe, give heed, have charge of, keep watch and ward, protect, save life, to hedge about.
The word “wait” in the above scripture is about being kept. A great benefit of waiting on God is that it protects us from impulsive and bad decisions. The above Psalm is David’s quiet confidence that God would deliver him from his enemies. David declared God’s deliverance and His defense in the midst of the pressure of being chased by Saul. There were moments that David feared for his life and wondered if he can escape from Saul’s hands, but he always reminded himself of God’s mercies and faithfulness. Waiting became a guard that saved him from bad decisions. Waiting hedged him in and helped David not to move in the flesh by eliminating his enemy.
God had already anointed David to be the future king. Now, it was time for David to believe God and trust His timing in bringing forth the prophetic word. It would have been easy for David to justify killing Saul by calling it self-defense. However, David depended on God to bring forth His purpose and to defend him in the process. Waiting on God prevented David from making a terrible mistake and from killing Saul in his own power. The scripture tells us that David had the opportunity to kill Saul twice, but David did not touch him. Instead he waited for God to deliver him.
How do you handle bad behavior from others? Do you defend yourself before you give an opportunity for God to work on your heart and in the situation? When people gossip about you and talk behind your back do you wait on God to be your defense? Do you wait on the Lord to be delivered from unjust situations? Some people because of major hurts and disappointments from their past have made a vow that they are not going to allow anyone to treat them unfairly. This stronghold has to be brought captive to the obedience of Christ, or one will continue to struggle with waiting on God to deliver them from a bad situation.
The truth is that it will never be easy to remain silent and allow for God to fight our battles. It will require faith and self-control to wait on God. If we expect waiting to get easy before we do it, we will never wait for God to defend us! Lack of waiting sets people up for a cycle of strife and self-preservation. Self-preservation destroys trust and brings every form of evil in relationships. If we want to grow as spiritual people, we have to make a decision to believe God in protecting and delivering us from tough situations.
