06/02/2026
Even before we wait on the LORD He is waiting on us. I know a man who would like to think that God’s mercy and grace is bestowed “cart blanche” to even those who do not believe in Him... the one true God of Abraham, Moses, and Isaac. This man I know would like to think that he can obtain the grace and forgiveness associated with Jesus without believing in Him as the Son of God or obeying His commandments and teachings. However, this is not so, and yet despite his disbelief, God waits on this man with open arms… just like he once waited on us.
“Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.”
Isaiah 30:18 ESV
I love this verse because it tells us that God not only waits on us to come to Him, but when we finally do, and He is able to forgive us, and show us mercy, that He exalts Himself in that moment; in the very instant of our acceptance of Him as our God He exalts at His being able to do so. It makes Him feel grand, and lifted up. Yet this verse also tells us that He is a God of justice, and can’t do so until we come to Him in confession, repentance, and contrition... calling out to Him as our God, and His Son Jesus as our Redeemer, and savior. He waits on us until we come to know Him, and we begin to wait upon Him.
Waiting and waiting... this sounds a great deal like a conundrum of logic that I am very familiar with. I am trained in writing computer programs, and this requires a mastery of logic. One of the things you learn about is something called a “deadly embrace.” This is a condition in which one process (or in our case, person) asks if something has been done, and if it hasn’t then it loops back, and keeps checking until it has. The deadly embrace comes when the second person is waiting on something the first must do before it can continue and satisfy the condition that the first is waiting for, yet it can’t accomplish this task because it too is waiting… it is waiting on the first to complete a similar task. So, both processes (or persons) wait on each other indefinitely with no hope of breaking free of the loop they are in.
Many people get into this vicious loop in their faith... they ask God to have mercy and show them grace, but don’t believe in His Son Jesus Christ, or don’t approach Him with a fullness of belief and contrition. So, they loop their way through much of their life waiting on grace, and forgiveness, while God waits on their true belief in Him, and Jesus Christ. This continues on until something supernatural happens that breaks the embrace… and God will do this. We might call it a catastrophe or hardship but the end result is a miracle… a sinner’s confession and tears of contrition.
As men we are basically intransigent in nature... stubborn beyond belief, so God creates a situation that forces us to confront Him, and to call out to Him. It might be a situation of health, the impending loss of a loved one, or some other dire circumstance that breaks our inbred stubbornness. You have probably heard the wartime saying “there are no atheists in a foxhole” which means that when faced with impending doom and death on the battlefield soldiers come to God. This is an example of a way that the deadly embrace is broken, and a relationship is born and continues on. It is not God’s first choice; He would much rather have us read His Word, and believe, but sometimes Satan leads us astray, and the loop called a “Deadly Embrace” is entered. Have you ever been there? Are you there now?
When we convince ourselves that any imagined god is good enough, or that they are all the same, we enter the loop of deadly embrace. When we convince ourselves that sin is forgiven by grace without belief in the God of Abraham, or our contrition, we have entered into the loop. When we convince ourselves that God doesn’t exist at all then we enter the loop. Anything, including disobedience, can bring us to a point in which we are waiting for God to act, but He can’t because our flawed belief has initiated a deadly embrace. To break out of this condition is not hard... but what makes it seem hard is convincing ourselves that we come first. What makes it hard is our own pride and obstinacy.
So, God waits, and He does so with great anticipation because, even in our fallen state, He loves us. And man waits on God, because he confuses God’s love for him with His own acceptance of sin. In this way, the deadly embrace is initiated. How long has your disbelief kept you from Jesus Christ? How long has your inability to accept God’s willingness to love you kept your faith from growing further? How long have your misguided feelings of unworthiness kept you locked up within yourself waiting on God, while He is waiting on you?
Prayer:
Father, thank you for my belief in you, and your Son Jesus Christ. Thank you Gracious Father for your Word, and for teaching me to obey you through it. Thank you Holy Father for those times when you have confronted me with life itself in order to break an impasse of faith that I have found myself in. You are merciful LORD, and wait upon me in my unbelief. You love me enough to continue asking “Who am I?” until at last I respond: “You are my God and the Great I Am!” and the deadly embrace is broken. You are exalted in that moment Father, and I lift you up in praise and worship as my one true God. Great are you, and great is your grace which awaits me, and flows from the wounds of your Son Jesus. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you my God who waits upon all mankind, and loves us unto yourself. I pray Father, that your waiting on those I love so much is not in vain, and that all of them will conclude that you are sufficient, and worthy of their eternal faith and praise. Hear my prayers, and let every saint pray for their children.
“Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.”
Mark 9:23-24 KJV
Amen, Amen, Amen!
Rich Forbes