devotion: blessings of waiting on God's provision and timing

October 7th

Blessings in Waiting on God

³Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; And His greatness is unsearchable. ⁴One generation shall praise Your works to another, and shall declare Your mighty acts. ⁵I will meditate on the glorious splendor of Your majesty, And on Your wondrous works.⁶Men shall speak of the might of Your awesome acts, And I will declare Your greatness. ⁷They shall utter the memory of Your great goodness, And shall sing of Your righteousness. ⁸The LORD is gracious and full of compassion, Slow to anger and great in mercy. ⁹The LORD is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works.¹⁰All Your works shall praise You, O LORD, And Your saints shall bless You. ¹¹They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom, And talk of Your power,¹²To make known to the sons of men His mighty acts, And the glorious majesty of His kingdom. ¹³Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and Your dominion endures throughout all generations. ¹⁴The LORD upholds all who fall, and raises up all who are bowed down. ¹⁵The eyes of all look expectantly to You, and You give them their food in due season. ¹⁶You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing.¹⁷The LORD is righteous in all His ways, Gracious in all His works. ¹⁸The LORD is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth.¹⁹He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He also will hear their cry and save them. ²⁰The LORD preserves all who love Him, But all the wicked He will destroy. ²¹My mouth shall speak the praise of the LORD, and all flesh shall bless His holy name Forever and ever. Psalm 145:3-21 NKJV

If we think on God’s attributes, we will begin to realize that God is everything that we need. Since God has unlimited resources and power, we need not run into sin looking for happiness and satisfaction. Consider the attributes of God that David describes in this psalm:

God’s greatness is unsearchable (3)
God is gracious and full of compassion (8)
God is slow to anger and great in mercy (8)
God is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works (9)
God reigns forever (13)
God upholds all who fall and those who are under heavy burden (14)
God will satisfy the desire of every living thing (16)
God is righteous in all his ways, gracious in all his works (17)
God is near to all who call upon him in truth (18)
God will fulfill the desire of those who fear him, and he will hear their cry and save them (19)
God will preserve those who love him (20)

I found verses 16 and 19 especially applicable to addiction recovery. God will satisfy our desires for sex, union and intimacy, provided that we call on him in truth and that we wait on his provision and timing for our needs and desires. Waiting on God goes against the grain of our human will, because we have a natural desire to be in control of things and to take care of ourselves. When we submit our will to God and place the control of our lives in his hands, we open ourselves up to his blessings on our lives. We live in the age of instant satisfaction, but with God’s help, we can learn patience and begin to discover the amazing things God has in store for our lives.

Whatever your specific situation is in life, God is inviting you to place your full trust in him. For example, sexuality is often an area that people have difficulty entrusting to God. If you are a teen, you may have to wait several years for sex in marriage. If you are married, you may need to surrender your sex life to God and ask him to teach you how to love your spouse without giving lust a place in your marriage. If you are single, you may have to give your sexual hopes and fantasies to God for now, trusting that God will lead you either into marriage or a curbing of your sexual urges so that you can live contentedly without sex for now. Whatever your situation, God promises us that if you trust in him, he will strengthen us and satisfy you with good things (Psalm 103:5).

Questions for further thought:

What does it mean to call on God in truth?
James mentioned that we are to submit to God before we try to resist the devil. How does waiting on God relate to this?
What are some other promises linked to waiting on God? (Isaiah 40:31, Lamentations 3:22-26)

Prayer:

“Heavenly Father, Thank you for your promises of blessing and provision for me. Lord, I want to be truthful with you and I confess any sins that I’ve been tolerating in my life: __________ (specify). Please forgive me of those sins on account of Jesus, who died for me on the cross. Thank you, Lord! I receive your forgiveness. I commit to waiting on you for provision and timing for the things that I need and desire. I submit my will to your will. I follow and obey your Spirit’s promptings. I am your child and I delight in doing your will. Thank you, Lord. I praise you now and forever, Amen.”

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