Waiting on the Lord
by Annalene Holtzhausen
Recently I was reading about Moses in Exodus 24:1-18. The Lord gave him instructions to remind the people about His covenant with them. Moses did everything the Lord required, building an altar, making burnt offerings to the Lord, and confirming the Lord’s covenant by the sprinkling of the blood from the offerings.
The Lord then told Moses to come up to Him on the mountain and ‘stay’ there (Exodus 24:12). (The ASV uses the words ‘be there’). Moses obeyed and went up the mountain which was covered in the cloud. He was there for six days, and on the seventh day the Lord called to him.
What was he doing there during those six days of waiting? The Bible doesn’t give us the details. We can only try to imagine what he was experiencing and thinking. It wasn’t until the seventh day that the Lord spoke to him. He then stayed there with the Lord for a further forty days and forty nights.
This got me wondering what it really means to wait on, and just be with, the Lord. In our desperation, we’re so inclined to expect the Lord to react quickly to our petitions and struggles. We ask and expect a fast answer or solution. In the process, we’ve forgotten what it means to just ‘be’ with the Lord; to seek Him first of all, and not what we want Him to do for us. John 15:9 says: ‘As the Father has loved Me, so I have loved you. Now remain in My love’.
The Lord’s deeply involved in our struggles and knows all we’re going through. His heart is to help us and fight for us. But there’s a godly order to His ways. John 15:7 explains this: ‘If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you’. When we learn to know Him by spending time with Him - just being with Him - His peace fills our hearts and minds. This assurance will help us when trials come our way, since we’ll know that He’s our safe place. Then we can say: ‘Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see’ (Hebrews 11:1).
Prayer: Dear Lord, please teach me what it means to just be with You; to learn to know You and hear Your voice. Show me who I am in You, because in You there’s truth, and Your truth is what guides me through life, and helps me in every decision I make. I long to learn how to wait on You, Lord, and seek Your Kingdom above all else. Amen.
Annalene Holtzhausen is on the Associate Team at Ellel, Africa. She is married to Renier, who introduced her to Ellel Ministries. She is a full-time mother to their two boys. Her passion is for the restoration of women’s hearts and for people to find their worth in the Lord.
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