Waiting Upon the Lord
Alan Yerkey
Table of Contents
Waiting Upon the Lord
One of the most humble statements that I have heard in recent years was from a self-confessed “babe” in Christ: “Just about everyone I meet new to Christianity wants to be a pastor or an evangelist. It seems that everybody today feels called to the ministry for some great purpose, few simply want to sit at the feet of Jesus or wait upon others in their need.”
Focused Upon the Lord
Luke 10:38-42—Mary sat at the feet of Jesus, focused upon her Lord and all that He had for her of Himself; Martha was distracted. It was not because of the need of her service that was the distraction, but by Martha’s service taking her focus off of the Lord in all she felt was necessary to be done.
To be “cumbered about much serving” (KJV) is for a believer to be in their own way—and that of the Lord’s in what “good part” He would have for us at the time. It is to be distracted, anxious, even agitated in thought as to everything a believer sees as being necessary for them to do, or to where (or, what) they feel their faith should be (“thou art careful [merimnao, 3309] and troubled [turbazo, 5182] about many things”). As such, we keep ourselves from our presence before the Lord in being dependent upon Him in seeking His mind and will for us.
Instead of our focus being upon Him, at our place at His feet in prayer, worship and learning, we obsess over our work and service as being what’s important. Some of us even to imply that without OUR service, the Lord would somehow be held-up or prevented in His will and purpose towards others. In contrast to this however, of the Greek word turbazo previously noted, is the idea in context of disturbing or disrupting what truly the Lord would have had done at the time.
True, what actually needs to be done must be done: a believer cannot say “be warm and filled,” to someone who has neither clothing nor food and ignore providing for their needs. But the purpose in helping others is not simply for the need of the service or work performed, but of the love of Christ and in testimony to Him according to His mind and heart. It is to be Christ’s love and will working through us and not simply to be that of a task performed and our own identity therewith (Jas. 2:14-26; John 15:2).
In the Lord’s Presence But Not Listening
Through certain examples we are given of various failures among the disciples within the Gospels, we have a resounding lesson: they were in the Lord’s presence, but often without fully seeking the Lord’s will and mind with the patience to either listen or wait. They often were abrupt, even brash, in their assumptions as to what it was to be concerning the Lord, His ministry, and their place within it (Mark 8:27-38; 10:35-45; Luke 9:51-56).
The twelve disciples had all been chosen and called out from the others (the seventy). Even among the twelve, there were yet three called out for an even greater revelation of their Lord. They enjoyed a place of privilege and closeness greater than that of the other disciples at the time. Yet, even in the closeness and privilege held, they fared no better in standing against Satan when their eyes were turned from the Lord back onto themselves and all that they either thought as to their own ministry or what they desired for themselves. Yes, they are beloved of the Lord and of all the saints which have since lived; but they were also men, given both through their strengths and their weaknesses as an example for us from whom to learn. They were men, who were each in his own way at one time or another, until the Lord brought them away to Him in a more personal manner (Mark 6:30, 37-44, 47-52; 8:1-9, 14-21; 9:2-8, 17-29, 33-42; John 13:6-11; 21:3-21).
Old Man Saul – New Man Paul
But there is another example as well: an apostle whom some may or may not think of in this context.
“Circumcised the eighth day, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee, concerning zeal, persecuting the church, touching the righteousness of the law, blameless” (Phil. 3:5-6).
Saul was one in his own way; busy about doing what he felt was necessary to be within God’s will. “And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, and desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they be men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem” (Acts 9:1-2) —in the Apostle’s own words:
“I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Which thing I also did in Jerusalem: and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them. And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly [enraged] against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities.
“Whereupon as I went to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests, at midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me. And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And He said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest” (Acts 26:9-15).
Christ called Saul to be a new man, Paul: called him out from his own way and made him to be the Apostle to the Nations. All that Saul thought was necessary to be done had kept him from the truth of what actually was needed, until Jesus Himself intervened and created a new man in him—Paul.
This may seem an extreme comparison to some, as Saul was a non-believer at the time that he had persecuted Jesus. But are we not acting in the same vein when we go along under our own willful desire in insisting upon what we feel called to or that which we seek of our own interests? It is not necessarily that we don’t pray enough for the Lord’s will or guidance over something, but it is our actual need to wait upon Him for His direction in order to be certain that what we seek is of Him.
Saul was “blameless” as to the righteousness of the law that he was able to ‘touch’. Yet it was neither God’s righteousness nor life, but his own, in operating under the assumption of being within God’s will in what he thought was right. It was all of Saul. His heritage had given him claim to all of God’s promises, God’s Word, and accordingly, what Saul thought was God’s will in persecuting the church in his own understanding of the Scriptures.
Because he was not in communion with God, however, not simply in failing to seek His direction, but in not heeding His word of prophecy in the coming Messiah and His purposes, Saul was acting fully within his flesh and for his own glory (Rom. 9:4-5; Gal. 1:13-14; Phil. 3:4). Sadly, there are many yet walking about in the same spirit and haughtiness of Saul.
The Rich Young Ruler: The Necessity of Self-renunciation
There are even certain similarities with this to that of the rich young ruler, however, but in a different context and with a different result—drawing from the account given in Mark’s Gospel (10:17-22).
Just because we may be owned of Him, or that of some portion of our service be recognized, does not mean that it is either of His mind or heart for us what it is we seek. This is the same as to our way in going about to accomplish it. In considering the rich young ruler, that though he was thoroughly searched in what was true as to his observance of the law, he still was found lacking as to what was truly necessary to be within the mind and will of God. Yes, he was as the unsaved at the time of this meeting, but there is more for us here, and that an important lesson for us.
There are those things naturally occurring within a person’s ability that are rightfully recognized and commendable in their place, and the same is true of any necessary service one can accomplish in His name—no matter how simple or small it may seem. In part, the rich young ruler was not lacking in the keeping of the commandments as given by the Lord (Mark 9:38-41; 10:19).
That the Lord “looked upon him, and loved him,” is not a simple thing to dismiss. It is that He “searched him thoroughly,” as only He could, and in love knew the things he had answered as true. However, to lose sight of the eternal weight of things, whether for us in witnessing that of the gospel, or in the purpose of the ministry and service which is rendered, there is danger to both ourselves and that of the soul of another.
Unlike Paul, who fully submitted to the Lord’s glory, the rich young ruler turned back in sorrow. Though he was once certain that he would be able within himself to do all that Jesus would require of him, he was turned about in refusal of the necessity of self-renunciation that only comes about in holding ourselves crucified in Him. The young man was righteous in himself and held all that he possessed as his witness to that fact—it was, in short, the man’s very identity. Jesus sought for him the righteousness of God, and his identity as being found in Him. This is at the heart of waiting upon Him. It is the heart in fully recognizing His purchase of us, and more, the intimacy of the relationship we are now in and our responsibility to Him. It is that we are one in the Beloved.
Wanting His Will to Be Our Will
When we already know that we are out of communion with the Lord due to sin, it is a simple matter of our conscience in testimony against us which brings us before the Father in confession and ownership of the grace we have been given in our presence before Him in Christ. But it is not simply in the application of His Word to our conscience, it must also be of application within our emotions and our desires. Without this latter application, we can often become blinded to the truth of what we seek.
Sometimes when we want something so desperately to be His will and we are unable to see how it could not be otherwise, we often find ourselves blinded to what His true will is. This is most often due to our desire being greater than our patience and willingness to wait until a definitive answer comes. It is not so much as a blatantly open sin, but more so offensive as a hidden one of an impatient spirit or of a selfish intent.
When our proposed willingness to accept that His answer may actually be in the negative becomes eclipsed by the joy we would feel over what good we believe would come if our prayer was affirmed according to our desire, we often end up in haste in operation in the flesh as to our desire. Self becomes the ruling factor in our decision: our place before Him in waiting is sacrificed for immediate gratification.
Even if the service or ministry would be a blessing to those it is directly towards, as Martha’s in making dinner, it could be at the cost of something greater for all. It is truly of a presumptuous spirit to think that simply by presenting something in prayer, we then have the right to act along a course we would have chosen for ourselves anyway, as being of the Lord’s mind for us.
Yes, there is great liberty in service on behalf of our merciful Savior. We are to wait however, even perhaps bringing the question before Him as to if what we are seeking the answer to is of our flesh and personal desire, or if it is what He would truly have of and for us. We must know Him through His Word and in tune with His Spirit in the revelation thereof, in worship, prayer, and in thankfulness in dependence and praise, then faithfully act as to the mind He gives.
How We Wait Upon Him
Christ has our purpose and is our life. We cannot minister to others in truth and of genuine purpose without at the same time being before our Lord seeking His mind and His heart in everything we do. It is meant for us of a continual presence before Him even in the midst of the service or work performed. In other words, it is a relationship of submission and dependence, with lives of progression in the purity of our walk in direct relation to our increasing apprehension (understanding and possession) of our place before Him at all times—as even in the heavenlies at this present time and place (Eph. 2:4-6; Col. 3:1-3).
It is at His feet and in His presence (in the closet, at His table, among the saints, or in ambassadorial service), where we learn in privilege from Jesus of all which He is, who He is, and all that He has already done and will yet accomplish. It is how we wait upon Him. In personal worship, prayer, praise and thankfulness, in study of His Word, in fellowship, worship and study within His family, the greater our fellowship and desire is to be like Him. All of which we are and have becomes focused on Jesus. The ministry that He would have of us, both within His body and in the world around us, is then more fully of His design, and of His use and purpose.
“That Good Part”
That Mary had chosen “that good part” which would not be taken from her, is not just as to her place at that time. It is also in regards to both the testimony she would later have and the love for which she served Him, even in not running to her brother’s grave, but to be before Jesus, at His feet in her sorrow and in full expression of her confidence and dependence in and upon her Lord. Mary looked not to herself, neither what she had or thought to do. She patiently looked for and to her Lord: she waited upon Him.
Too many people have the idea that some form of professional ministry automatically outweighs, or is more important than simply living a life of faith. However, the most powerful and practical ministry that one can have is how they live daily before others as before the Lord. In truth, there is no genuine good to any form of ministry where the Lord has neither gone before, nor where the life of the person in ministry contradicts the truths we are supposed to uphold. As many have said before, “Preach the Gospel! If necessary, use words.”
Let us be consumed with our Lord, continually walking in His presence throughout the day with a heart of worship and thankfulness, and a will instant in prayer to discover and to hold His will in action to His desire in what He alone would give as necessary in our lives. Let us receive of Him all which He has for us to know and do. Even more, to be within His presence in love for the privilege of drawing near to the One who has given His all to bring us unto Himself and our Father.
If it becomes necessary that a reproof is given by Him to correct us upon our path, whether as the still, small voice as to Elijah, “What doest thou here?” or, as a gentle statement in witness as to Jonah, “Doest thou well to be angry?” or even of the Glory that met Saul along the path of further destruction, let us not answer with our own interests at heart, but with a heart for Christ as which was formed in Paul, “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?”