Have you ever been to a restaurant? If you have, you must have noticed some young men or women called waiters’ who were always ready to attend to you. They were in uniform all the time and their job was to make you as comfortable as possible. You didn’t have to get up from your seat to get anything, you just called on them and whatever you wanted was done. Now, what were these waiters doing to you? They were waiting on you! This is what waiting on the Lord is about too.
In John 4:1-34, Jesus’ disciples went shopping because the Master was hungry since He’d been ministering a long while. By the time they got back they found Him preaching to a lady and He didn’t look like He needed food anymore. His response to His disciples was, “…My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work” (John 4:34). Some people have always wondered how I’m able to handle my many responsibilities as the pastor of a fast-growing church and the president of an international ministry. Well, I’m only waiting on the Lord. The strength to do all these things comes from doing everything He’s told me to do. We do not take a holiday from the ministry because we are the ministry!
The Lord Jesus said, “…My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too, am working” (John 5:17 NIV). He didn’t say, “I’m resting,” because there was so much to be done and very little time to do it. So, waiting on the Lord really means working for and together with the Lord, and that is where the renewal of strength Isaiah talked about in Isaiah 40:3 comes from.
