Andrew Murray in his book Waiting on God offers the following;
There may be times when we feel as if we know not what we are waiting for. There may be other times we say we do know, yet it would be so good for us to realize we do not know what to ask as we ought. God is able to do for us exceedingly abundantly above what we ask or think and we are in danger of limiting him when we contacting our desires and prayers to our own thoughts of them. It is a great thing at times to say with Psalms 39:7 “and now Lord what we do wait for”? I scarce know or I can tell this only I can say “My hope is in thee”
When Moses promised meat to Israel in the wilderness, they doubted saying “can God furnish a table in the wilderness behold he smote the rock that the water gushed out….. can He give bread also? Can he provide flesh for his people? Psalms 78: 19-20
If they had been asked whether God could provide streams in the desert they would have answered yes. God had done it; he could do it again but when the thought came of God doing something new they limited him; their expectation could not rise beyond their past experience or their own thoughts of what was possible.
Even so we may be limiting God that our conceptions of what he has promised or is able to do. Let us be aware of limiting the holy one of Israel in our prayer. Let us believe that the very promises of God we plead have a divine meaning infinitely beyond our thoughts of them. Let us believe that his fulfillment of them can be in a power and an abundance of grace beyond the largest grasp of thought and let us wait on God for all that his grace and power are ready to do for us.
As we wait for the next news of the virus and its impact on our world, may we boldly ask God for what He has for us. An article I read earlier today mentioned that in the aftermath of the virus, our world will be much different in its future. As I read it I began to pray that God would speak to us His church as how we might be an influence to the community and how we might creatively preach the gospel. I realize that we are for the most part being moved dramatically out of our comfort zone. I totally confess that for me to try to give sermons and Bible studies through electronic means, to be in the empty sanctuary trying to preach is challenging. I freely admit that things like livestream and other forms of electronic connections intimidate me since I didn’t grow up in that world and frankly while recognizing the value and potential of its use, I have leaned heavily on others to make that happen. I feel like I’m sure you do a sense of surreal. Life feels wrong not being able to physically gather as the church. As a communicator I feel awkward trying to speak to an imaginary audience. Yet I believe that we are going to experience an incredible move of the Holy Spirit touching and calling people to God in unprecedented ways. I ask that you pray with me that I and you can be stretched like new wine skins to embrace the new future of the church. I leave you with this verse Romans 8:28 For we know that all things work together for the good to them who love His appearing.
May you and your house be blessed and covered by His hand of protection.