Waiting on the Lord

God gave me an epiphany at church. Sorry Phil, it was during your sermon but I wasn't in the sanctuary. I was praying with a person who'd stood up for prayer earlier in the service.

During his prayer, he refered to the Parable of the 10 Virgins found in Matthew 25:1-13. He mentioned them in the context of waiting on God to fulfill the incredibly huge dreams He's given both of us.

That's when a light went on. I've often avoided saying "I'm waiting on the Lord." because it can sound so hokey. Sort of a sugar coated cop-out for sloth. But in this parable (and the one right after it) Jesus is teaching exactly about waiting on God by giving examples of what to do and what not to do.

Our waiting is really waiting but it's also active. The wise ladies were prepared for a wait. They brought extra oil with them. When the bridegroom showed up, when the kingdom broke in, they were ready.

I can easily relate this to financial stewardship. My wife and I worked our butts off for the first five years of our marriage to get out of debt. At one point, a full 50% of our paycheck was going against credit card debt. All the while we kept tithing and building up a savings.

So when God radically called us to a whole new life in January 2003, we were ready. We had 3-6 months salary in the bank which made us much more flexible than if we'd been strapped down by debt. I guess you could say we had oil in our jars.

So what's my point? I'm not entirely sure but, hey, it's my blog so I can ramble, right? *grin* I guess my point is that "waiting on the Lord" is both active and passive. In our hearts and beings, we know we're waiting for God to break in. With our actions and time, we're making the most of whatever we have so that we'll be ready when He does break in.

I'm so glad Jesus has given us examples of how waiting on Him is not the same as being lazy!