The Hall of Faith: Faith Waits On God

EXPOSITORY ARTICLE | Marshall McDaniel | Athens, Alabama

Do we trust God, even when He asks us to wait? Scripture repeatedly issues the command to wait on the Lord and often associates it with divine blessing. The Bible affirms that believers who wait on God will experience His goodness, joy, salvation, and strength (Lamentations 3:15; Psalm 27:13-14; Isaiah 25:9; 40:31). Hebrews 11 mentions several notable people – Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Joseph, Moses, and the Israelites – who waited for God and received His gracious gifts. In this study, we will consider the perseverance of moses, Joshua, and Israel. Their examples show us thhatt waiting on the Lord always yields the best results.

Untouched by the Destroyer

The Israelites sojourned in Egypt for centuries, and even after the birth of their deliverer Moses, they still had to wait eighty years before God released them from Egyptian oppression. Following a forty-year “exile” in Midian, Moses returned to Egypt and ordered Pharaoh to release God’s people. Because Pharaoh refused to acquiesce, God punished him, the Egyptians, and their so-called gods with terrible plagues. The writer of Hebrews focuses on the last of these plagues, the death of the firstborn: “By faith he [Moses] kept the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood, so that he who destroyed the firstborn would not touch them [the Israelites]” (Hebrews 11:28 NASB). The night of the first Passover, God judged Egypt and so delivered Israel from slavery (Exodus 11–12). Passover therefore became an annual, memorial feast and “commemorated the turning-point in Israel’s existence” (David McClister).

Passover revealed the faith of Moses and Israel. They believed the warning and the promise of God, specifically that judgment was coming on the disobedient Egyptians but that salvation from the destroyer was available to the obedient Israelites who smeared the prescribed blood on the doorposts of their houses. They recognized the necessity of submission, even before God gave them the written law, and obeyed without excuse or doubt. They did not question God’s word by raising objections like, “Surely God will not kill the children,” or “We didn’t have to do anything like this for the other plagues,” or “Why in the world would God ask us to put animal blood on our doors?” Moses and Israel understood that God had reasons for doing what he was doing and that their faithfulness to God would stay the hand of the destroyer.

Several months had lapsed from the first plague and the last plague. During that time, Moses and Israel had to wait (and suffer)! Their loyalty to God led them to victory. God protected his people even as he punished the Egyptians. The Israelites would probably have preferred immediate deliverance, but God was showing them (and everyone else) that they were his special people and that he would fight for them. The ultimate proof of this was Passover. The continued observance of this feast reminded Israel of its privileged relationship with God and previewed the salvation that we enjoy in Christ (1 Corinthians 5:7).

Fear Not, Stand Still, and See the Salvation of the Lord

Following Passover, the exodus began. The Egyptians drove out the Israelites, and God took his people to the shores of the Red Sea (Exodus 13:17–14:9). Meanwhile, however, Pharaoh hardened his heart (again) and pursued Israel. When the Israelites saw the Egyptians, they initially acted in unbelief (14:10–12). “[They] were anything but heroes here. They panic[ked], turning to Moses with harsh complaints” (Daniel R. Lockwood).

Moses, on the other hand, responded in faith, commanding Israel to wait on the Lord: “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the LORD which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. The LORD will fight for you while you keep silent” (14:13–14; see vv. 15–18). The angel of God barricaded the camp of Israel so that the Egyptians could not overtake them (vv. 19–20). Moses then stretched his hand over the sea, and God caused a strong wind to blow overnight, parting the water and allowing the Israelites to walk through the sea on dry ground (vv. 21–25). And when their foes tried to follow, God released the waters and drowned the Egyptians (vv. 26–31).

The Israelites were slow to believe. They needed the reassurance of Moses. They had to feel the divinely wrought wind and see the watery corridor. But they learned trust—at least for a time! Their faith was “driven by necessity and confirmed by physical evidence, but it [was] … faith just the same” (Daniel R. Lockwood). The writer of Hebrews affirms the saving faith of Israel: “By faith they passed through the Red Sea as though they were passing through dry land; and the Egyptians, when they attempted it, were drowned” (Hebrews 11:29). Israel needed to stand still and be quiet. When they did, God rescued them from disaster.

The Egyptians, on the other hand, persisted in unbelief. They put their confidence in Pharaoh to devastating results. “It was their belief in God and in his word that saved the Israelites, and it was the unbelief and persistent disobedience of the Egyptians that brought on their ruin” (Robert Milligan). Both the Israelites and the Egyptians had to wait on God, but only the former received the reward of salvation because of their faith.

We too must learn to wait on the Lord—putting aside our fears, standing still, keeping quiet, and watching God work. When we do, he does the “impossible” in, for, and through us. In this sense, the exodus from Egypt and the crossing of the Red Sea foreshadows the Christian experience (1 Corinthians 10:1–4). The same God who saved Israel from Egypt can and will rescue us from sin and peril—if we wait on him!

A Glaring Omission

Following his description of the crossing of the Red Sea, the author of Hebrews skips to the conquest of Jericho (Hebrews 11:29–30). Why omit forty years of Israelite history? He may do so because the journey through the desert is a period of national infidelity. Though God providentially cared for his people as they traveled from Egypt to Sinai and on to the border of Canaan, the Israelites doubted and refused to enter the promised land (Numbers 1:1–14:19). God therefore forced them to wander in the wilderness south of Canaan for forty years, until the faithless generation died (14:20–38).

The New Testament rarely mentions the wilderness wandering, but each time it does, it reminds us that unbelief results in tragedy and heartbreak. Jude warns “that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe” (Jude 5 ESV). Paul instructs Christians to learn from the failures of the wicked Israelites (1 Corinthians 10:5–11). The writer of Hebrews comes to a similar conclusion: “Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. … Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience” (Hebrews 4:1, 11 NIV; see 3:7–19; 4:2–10). These warnings urge us to trust the Lord, wait for his salvation, and look expectantly to the true, promised rest.

The Walls Came Tumbling Down

Hebrews 11 next moves to the destruction of Jericho (Hebrews 11:30). Following the conquest of the land east of the Jordan River, Joshua replaced Moses as the commander of Israel, the people renewed their covenant with God, and God promised to fight their battles for them, if they would put their confidence in him (Joshua 1–5). Jericho was the first city of the campaign.

God gave the Israelites a strange battle plan. He told them to march around the city for seven days (6:1–11). David McClister draws attention to the divine intention behind this unorthodox strategy: “There was no logical connection between the method and results, and God used this method because it required that his people act in faith in his orders.” God wanted Israel to trust him. Thankfully, Joshua did not question the Lord, and the army did not object. They obeyed, and the walls collapsed (vv. 12–27). Faith secured victory: “By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days” (Hebrews 11:30). Israel had to wait on God, but by trusting him, they conquered Jericho.

We may likewise face seemingly unwinnable battles. The divine path to victory may seem to be illogical and ineffective (e.g., “God wants me to turn the other cheek?!” “Forgive him after what he did?!” “Pray?!”). God knows what he is doing. He never disappoints those who put their faith in him (Isaiah 28:16; Romans 10:11). He breaks down satanic barriers, makes us more than conquerors, and bestows on us an eternal inheritance in the true land of promise. “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? … But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us” (Romans 8:31, 37). We need only to wait on the Lord.

Conclusion

Moses, Joshua, and Israel waited on God. His timing and methods often did not make sense, but they always yielded the best results. We too must learn to trust the Lord, even if it means we must wait. F. B. Meyer offers the following insightful comment: “If God told [us] on the front end how long [we] would wait to find the fulfillment of [our] desire or pleasure or dream, [we would] lose heart. … But He doesn’t. He just says, ‘Wait. I keep My word. I’m in no hurry. In the process of time, I’m developing you to be ready for the promise.’” Faith waits on God.

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July 2024 | GROW magazine