Wait on the Lord or Walk by Faith

Have you ever been in a situation where you’re not sure whether you should wait for the Lord to give you a sign in order to do something, or, whether you were supposed to do something in faith, trusting it’s what He wanted?

It can be hard to know when to step out in faith and when to wait on the Lord. How do you know when He’s asking you to do either one? Should you always wait for a sign?

While preparing next week’s faith post, something stood out to me in the text that I never noticed before. Let’s look at Exodus 3:4-12 and see if you can find the place where this situation of walking by faith came into play.

“When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called out to him from the bush, “Moses, Moses!”

“Here I am,” he answered.

⁵ “Do not come closer,” he said. “Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” ⁶ Then he continued, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God.

⁷ Then the Lord said, “I have observed the misery of my people in Egypt, and have heard them crying out because of their oppressors. I know about their sufferings, ⁸ and I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and to bring them from that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the territory of the Canaanites, Hethites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. ⁹ So because the Israelites’ cry for help has come to me, and I have also seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them, ¹⁰ therefore, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh so that you may lead my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.”

¹¹ But Moses asked God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and that I should bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

¹² He answered, “I will certainly be with you, and this will be the sign to you that I am the one who sent you: when you bring the people out of Egypt, you will all worship God at this mountain.”

Did you find it?

Moses was told to return to Egypt and bring the Israelites out from slavery to the land the Lord had promised them. God assured Moses that He would be with him throughout the process.

You might have said that the sign was God’s command for Moses to go in the first place. It was very important that Moses had direction from the Lord rather than going in by himself on his own time to try and save them. He did that once and it didn’t work out so well.

Read verse 12 again,

“¹² He answered, “I will certainly be with you, and this will be the sign to you that I am the one who sent you: when you bring the people out of Egypt, you will all worship God at this mountain.”

Moses’ sign wouldn’t come until after the Israelites had escaped Egypt!

Israel returning to the very mountain Moses received his commissioning from would be the sign that it was this powerful God that delivered him and them.

He was assuring Moses that this mission would be successful, but he wouldn’t truly find out until he obeyed God’s command and returned to Egypt in faith that God would do what He said He would. He had to trust the Lord when he went to Pharaoh to release the Israelites. He had to continue to trust that this powerful God would deliver them when they approached the Red Sea with the Egyptians closing in on them.

Moses’ conquest to Egypt and back was an entire test of faith that would be accomplished when he returned to that mountain with the Israelites.

God always finishes what He started. Moses’ relationship with the Lord was minimal before he returned to Egypt. He barely knew of this Hebrew God. By the time he returned the Israelites to Mount Sinai, that relationship greatly deepened which prepared him for the next phase of faith building through the wilderness.

We can see God’s evidence of His goodness and Moses’ growth in faith and dependency on Him throughout the entire books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

This is what happens to you as well when you’re obedient to walk in faith towards whatever the Lord calls you to. You may not receive your sign until after you’ve accomplished the task, but you can be assured that He will deepen your faith along that journey. What a reward it’ll be when you return to your “Mount Sinai” and look back on the blessing of what the Lord did through your obedience.

As I shared this passage with my husband Michael, he pointed something interesting out to me as well. The Lord also didn’t give Moses the next steps until he returned to the mountain. Moses knew the Israelites were headed towards Caanan according to God’s promise to Abraham, but he didn’t know how the Lord wanted him to lead the people or what they were supposed to do in the meantime. It wasn’t until they all returned to Mount Sinai that God would give Moses the next steps of the Law, tabernacle, priesthood, and other prominent information that gave the nation of Israel their identity.  

Have you experienced a situation like this in your life yet? I’m certainly in a season of being reminded about this very thing right now. Something that I may share in the future with you. Until then, thank the Lord for His great work, listen to His leading, walk in obedience, and enjoy His great visible blessings when you accomplish the assignment He’s given you.