Isaiah 64:4

New International Version (NIV)

Since ancient times no one has heard,
no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides you,
who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.

For meditation

“The doctor doesn’t even look my way when he comes on his rounds,” my sister complained. She was on admission for a heart surgery to replace her valves. I encouraged her to look to God and wait for his timing. What was expected to last only a week became a nightmare; but all we could do was to continue to pray and wait. I got to the hospital in time one afternoon to see her being wheeled into the theater and her face brightened when she saw me. She knew we were praying. To the glory of God, the surgery went well and she lived for a little over fifteen years before she succumbed to another condition. We later learned why the few cases they took up during her waiting period ended in fatalities. The theater lacked some critical equipment; but they replaced them before my sister went in. Isn’t God good?

Isaiah wished that God would rend the heavens and come down to make his name known to His enemies by His miraculous deeds (Is. 64:1-3). He recalled the times when God “did awesome things that [they] did not expect … and the mountains trembled before [Him]” (3). Then Isaiah declared: “Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for Him” (4). How true that is!

God is the only One who loves, cares, and has the authority and ability to act powerfully on behalf of those who look to Him in every situation. The gods of Egypt could not help Pharaoh when God struck his country with the deadly plagues (Ex. 7:14-11:10). The prophets of Baal couldn’t get Baal to consume their sacrifice with fire on Mt. Carmel (1 Kings 18:25-29). Nebuchadnezzar’s astrologers couldn’t tell him his dream in order to interpret it (Dan. 2:10-11). Sennacherib boasted that none of the gods of the nations he had destroyed was able to deliver their people from him (2 Chron. 32:15). “How much less will your god deliver you from my hand!” he concluded. But God did (21-23)!

In every one of the cited cases and more, God acted on behalf of His people who looked to Him.

1. What, then, is your problem that God can’t solve?
2. Have you taken it to Him?
3. Can you patiently wait for Him?
4. To whom can you turn anyway?
5. Can you or anyone perceive what God can do for you when you wait for Him?

I pray you remember that God is able to follow through on every promise He makes and surprises those who wait for him.

So: May you soar on wings like eagles, because you waited for God (Is. 40:31); and may His faithfulness encourage you, as you look to Him in Christ.

God never disappoints the patient faithful.

Shalom