waiting for the promise

And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

Acts 1:4-5

Waiting on the Lord is not just an Old Testament concept. At the very birth of the church in the New Testament there was a short period of waiting for the promise of the Holy Spirit to come upon the disciples. Jesus Himself commanded His disciples to wait for this to happen. This must have been difficult and yet they waited. They had to be thrilled with their resurrected Savior. They had to be slightly rattled after they watched Him ascend back to the Father. But they were encouraged to obey the command to wait for the promise from Jesus that a coming baptism of the Holy Spirit would fall upon them.

And not many days later, at Pentecost, as they waited, God’s promises to them in Christ was fulfilled. The waiting was rewarded. The Holy Spirit blew into their house, filled the disciples, and enabled them to speak the gospel clearly in all the languages of all the scattered Jews gathered in Jerusalem for the feast. The promised Spirit led them to see three thousand conversions to the gospel as Jesus’ promise to them was wildly fulfilled. This was a work of God well worth the wait!

As evidenced in Acts, waiting on what God promises is rewarded. Obeying with patience so that God’s power can provide gives God all the glory. It is SO worth it! And the rewards of waiting are the work of God. We should be encouraged in that knowledge when we wait. The power of God provides while we wait and the work of God moves forward when He moves after the wait. Both of those experiences grow us as we obey Jesus.

Lord,

In seasons of waiting, Your power will be known. I rest in that. I trust You. I will wait. You will blow into this life and show Yourself wonderful!

Amen