Lisa Barry: I wonder if I'm talking to anyone today who's feeling frustrated. Is there some issue in your life that just doesn't get solved? Have you prayed as much as you can about it and yet it doesn't budge? If that's the case then it's no accident that you've tuned in today because the entire focus of this week will be on waiting. Not waiting for resolution of the problem, as Elisabeth Elliot will explain, simply waiting on God. How, you ask? Stay tuned for 15 minutes of practical ideas for waiting on God next on Gateway To Joy.

Elisabeth Elliot: "You are loved with an everlasting love." That's what the Bible says. "And underneath are the everlasting arms." This is your friend Elisabeth Elliot, talking today about waiting on God. If you're anything like me, you are at time impatient. I'm impatient most of the time because I like to get things done, and I want to get them done right, and I want to get them out of the way. Of course, God in His wisdom and mercy, very often requires that we wait quietly.

Someone sent me this poem, which is anonymous:

Now for whom do we wait? Where does our security, our confidence, our trust, lie? In Isaiah 40:21 it says, "Did you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the earth was founded? He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers; he stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in: he brings peace to naught; and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing. No sooner are they planted; no sooner are they sown: no sooner do they take root in the ground: than he blows on them, and they whither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff."

Do you believe that God is trustworthy? Or is there in you, as there often is in me, a spirit of resistance that can never wait? Someone once reminded me that God is in the waiting. God is in the waiting.

My grandfather, Philip E. Howard, wrote a book called When Days Seem Dark, and I found this in there:

"Standing still on some occasions is the paramount duty of the follower of Christ. There are times when we must be merely onlookers--when the flesh and the brain refuse to work, hopes shrivel like autumn leaves, and we simply do not know which way to turn. It may be just then that we shall learn for the first time how to stand still in perfect peace and quietness of soul. Not idling away our time, not hopelessly limp and heedless of the outcome--but working on in such ways as may be given to us. Observing with eager joy the way in which God will work it all out to a perfectly glorious ending.

"All our little fussiness and haste, all our strong anxiety and warping care are as futile as the tugging of a little child's hand at the great iron knob of a closed and barred gate through which his loving father does not to care to have him go just then."

I love these words from Ugo Bassi, "If impatient thou let slip thy cross, thou wilt not find it in this world again." Listen again to those two lines. "If impatient thou let slip thy cross, thou wilt not find it in this world again."

In Revelation 3 God is speaking to the church of Philadelphia. "These are the words of him who is holy, and true, who holds the keys of David, when he opens, no one can shut; I know your deeds: I know that you have a little strength, yet you have kept my word. I have loved you. You have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial, that is going to come upon the whole world, to test those who live on the earth."

I wonder what that hour of trial, that is going to come upon the whole world, is for us? We can look back over human history since those words were written so many hundreds of--perhaps thousands of--years ago, and we can realize that there have been a good many hours of trial. But the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth, what is that going to mean?

Are we ready? Are we willing to wait on God and to remember that God is in the waiting? You and I are in His hands. What a comfort that is to realize "He's got the whole world in His hands. He's got you and me sister in His hands. He's got the tiny little babies in His hands. He's got the tiny little babies in His hands. He's got the--what is it--roaring drunkard in His hands. He's got the whole world in His hands."

Encircled with fatherly care. Look to God, wait in patience and light will come along. Psalm 18:28 says, "You, O Lord, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light." Verse 30 says, "As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the Lord is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in him. For who is God besides the Lord? And who is the Rock except our God?" My God knows how to turn darkness into light. "It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to stand on the heights. He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You give me your shield of victory."

These are all spiritual tests for each of us. Again and again and again in my long life I have seem to come to what appeared to be just a totally blank wall. And I did not know what to do. I often go back to that verse in 2 Chronicles 20, "Lord, we do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you." So our lesson today is learn to wait on God. He's never late. He never overlooks our situation, but He wants us to learn to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings.

May God enable us quietly and confidently to wait.

Lisa Barry: Before we go, I want to thank you for your support of Gateway To Joy. And that support consists of listening to this program, praying for Gateway To Joy, and financial gifts. And it's my prayer that you're involved in all of those means. If you send a financial gift, I hope you also send a prayer to God about it when you put that stamp on. If you listen regularly, I hope you also support the financial needs of the program. And if you pray for our needs, I hope you also listen regularly to Gateway To Joy so you can hear how your prayers are being answered. In other words, we just want you to know that you are the support network God has put in place for us. So thanks for remembering our needs today. If you'd like to send a gift, you can mail it to:

Gateway To Joy, Box 82500, Lincoln, Nebraska 68501. The book that dovetails with our topic this week is called God's Guidance. For information on how to purchase it you can call 1-800-759-4JOY. That's 1-800-759-4569. Or you can also find us on the Internet at gatewaytojoy.org.

Gateway To Joy is a listener-supported production of Back to the Bible. Tomorrow Elisabeth talks more about waiting on God, so you just sit tight until we have the opportunity to meet again on Tuesday. This is Lisa Barry thanking you for listening to Gateway To Joy.