The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it. Proverbs 10:22
That’s where our real help comes from God. King David realized this. He said: “My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.” Psalms 5:3
The prophet Isaiah understood it, he said: “For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.” Isaiah 64:4
It helps when we understand God's word on the lessons as well as the benefits of waiting on God in all things. Our perspective on waiting is perhaps one of the most significant ways the world is out of stride with the biblical perspective of waiting on God. We know that waiting – for anything – is hard on most people. Some people would rather go without than wait. You know what I mean if you’ve ever been to a restaurant and told there was more than a few minutes wait – you decide to leave. But God wants us to know that waiting is far from a passive activity in which we do nothing; it’s not an activity of whining and complaining; mumbling and complaining; sometimes so loud that others are compelled to join in with you.
In our humanistic nature, we don’t start out willing to wait. Our natural response to waiting is often frustration, anger or doubt. Fortunately, God is gracious and merciful in His understanding of our tendencies. Even so, how we think and act must still be in alignment with the word of God; enter the fruit of the spirit: faith and patience. Simply feeling deep, complex emotions in waiting — especially for significant things, like a pregnancy or a job — is not necessarily sinful in itself. But we can decide where those emotions take us. This is another aspect of godly, wise decisions.
So, we can decide to exalt the negative feelings. We might act on them by taking matters into our own hands. Or perhaps we will not act, but we’ll make an idol out of the good for which we are waiting — every passing day is another log on the fires of bitterness, impatience, ingratitude, perhaps even resentment against the God who won’t give us what we want.
Or, by God’s grace, we can choose to wait as He intends. “Waiting on God is the opposite of running ahead of Him, and it’s the opposite of bailing out on Him. What it is, “It’s staying at our appointed place while He says stay, or it’s going at his appointed pace while He says go.
The activity of waiting Is not impetuous [meaning that it’s not done without thought or care], and it’s not despairing [hopeless, bleak or miserable].”
In our wait, we remember to do this daily: . . . seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Matthew 6:33
We have the choice, then, to take a deep breath, release our clenched hands, and let God be God and continue in earnest expectation of his greatness.
So, what do we do while we’re in this activity of waiting? We’ve put the request out and don’t see immediate results. We’re somewhere between give up and quit!
Sounds like a bad thing, right? But if we understand what that means in the context of the word of God, we’ll see that the first part – give up – is a positive move in God and actually prepares us to wait patiently for God.
Our faith increases when we learn to patiently wait on God: Knowing this, that the trying [the testing] of your faith worketh patience. James 1:3
So, what do you mean, give up, sounds like a bad thing but the bible tells us to do just that; to give up every single that that is hindering us in our walk: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. 1 Peter 5:7
To give up is a form of surrender: Then said Jesus unto his disciples, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. Matthew 16:24
√ During our waiting, we have to do some self-examination.
¨ Have I totally submitted my will to God?
¨ Have I released my control, my plans, my false ideologies, the world’s
standards, etc. and am I following fully after God?
¨ Have I quit every sinful thought and action? Because the bible says we are to be: Awake to righteousness, and sin not . . . 1 Corinthians 15:34
¨ Have I quit every sinful thought and action? Because the bible says we are to be: Awake to righteousness, and sin not . . . 1 Corinthians 15:34
This is a standard that should encompass our entire life!
We have to prepare ourselves spiritually and mentally because: The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: John 10:10
- but because we don’t want or believe that things will get better, we practically forget that Jesus said He came that we might have an abundant life! The enemy will try to steal our joy, kill your faith and destroy your hope in Christ Jesus! But we’d rather quit that wait on God! After all that King David lived through, he was able to say: I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord. Psalms 27:13-14
Jeremiah understood when he said: The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. Lamentations 3:25
In our wait, Pray for God to Work in Us, through us and for us
As we seek to accept and rejoice in God’s handling of our lives, including his timing, we can ask God to work in us two main things, so that our waiting is not in vain and that is: humility and trust.
* Humility
Sometimes, when I’ve found myself getting impatient and upset, I have to remind myself that God is the one who put me here. My life isn’t my own. This is humility. It is a reminder that I am poor in spirit and needful of God at all times. It is coming to realize that we are a breath and God owes us nothing: Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah. Psalms 39:5
We are also instructed to: Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you. 1 Peter 5:6
* Trust
Then comes trust, which means believing at least two things about God: he is powerful, and he is loving. “That miserable, uncomfortable, painful silence is one of God’s most powerful tools to set us free.”
Believing God is powerful means that we know He is in charge of what’s happening; things are not arbitrary or out of His control. He is capable of both helping us and changing things for our betterment. What did Shadrach, Neshat and Abednego say:
If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. Daniel 3:17-18
There was no doubt in their mind that they served a powerful God. Much of our anxiety in waiting is because we forget that “God is able to make all grace abound toward us, but the bible tells a different story: And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work: 2 Corinthians 9:8
Contrary to common belief, we are not at the mercy of our circumstances. Believing God is loving means that there is care and purpose behind all that He does. It means that He is faithful to help us right now and bring us blessings in the 5th season. It means that his judgment and timing is always perfectly good. True, He owes us nothing, yet He has promised to give us everything we need.
But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19
Even during that long road of silence, God cares deeply for us. We can be like David and remind ourselves, “Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!” Here’s two life scriptures for you:
Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord. Psalms 27:14
You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock. Isaiah 26:3-4
Sometimes, when I’ve found myself getting impatient and upset, I have to remind myself that God is the one who put me here. My life isn’t my own. This is humility. It is a reminder that I am poor in spirit and needful of God at all times. It is coming to realize that we are a breath and God owes us nothing: Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah. Psalms 39:5
We are also instructed to: Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you. 1 Peter 5:6
* Trust
Then comes trust, which means believing at least two things about God: he is powerful, and he is loving. “That miserable, uncomfortable, painful silence is one of God’s most powerful tools to set us free.”
Believing God is powerful means that we know He is in charge of what’s happening; things are not arbitrary or out of His control. He is capable of both helping us and changing things for our betterment. What did Shadrach, Neshat and Abednego say:
If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. Daniel 3:17-18
There was no doubt in their mind that they served a powerful God. Much of our anxiety in waiting is because we forget that “God is able to make all grace abound toward us, but the bible tells a different story: And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work: 2 Corinthians 9:8
Contrary to common belief, we are not at the mercy of our circumstances. Believing God is loving means that there is care and purpose behind all that He does. It means that He is faithful to help us right now and bring us blessings in the 5th season. It means that his judgment and timing is always perfectly good. True, He owes us nothing, yet He has promised to give us everything we need.
But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19
Even during that long road of silence, God cares deeply for us. We can be like David and remind ourselves, “Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!” Here’s two life scriptures for you:
Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord. Psalms 27:14
You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock. Isaiah 26:3-4
Lastly, When We’re Waiting on God have you ever had to wait on God for something? Are you waiting on God right now for him to come through in some way? Do you ever feel like God has forgotten about you or abandoned you? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, then this word is for you!
Waiting on God can test our faith and stretch it to the limits. Patience is a major factor in the process of waiting on God. Sometimes our timing doesn’t match God’s. When God’s promise, or “answer”, or whatever it is we’re waiting on takes longer than expected, it’s easy to grow weary and lose heart. We can get tempted to doubt, quit and/or stop doing what God has told us to do while waiting. But, if we do these things, if we surrender to ourself, we could lose the very thing that God is trying to do for us or bless us with.
- Somewhere between give up and quit, you find out exactly what you’re made of. Give up to God; Don’t quit on God!
Regardless of how frustrated, doubtful and weary we get, we shouldn’t quit when we’re waiting on God. God promises us that we if we don’t quit, even when we’re tired, that we’ll be recompensed for it. He tells us that He will refresh and satisfy us if we will hold on. Then he also promises to renew our strength and give us power to endure. God will give us strength to press on if we will continue to wait on him. Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. James 1:12
And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. Galatians 6:9
For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul. Jeremiah 31:25
He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. Isaiah 40:29-31
Remember, Jesus endured, so we can endure. We can also receive encouragement to push through with patience. If we fix our eyes on Jesus (not our surrounding circumstances) we can endure. He endured more opposition than we will ever face, and He did it so that we would not grow weary, lose heart and quit. Jesus doesn’t want us to grow tired of waiting on God and quit. He’s seated at the right hand of God in a place of power and authority working on our behalf and interceding for us.
Waiting on God can test our faith and stretch it to the limits. Patience is a major factor in the process of waiting on God. Sometimes our timing doesn’t match God’s. When God’s promise, or “answer”, or whatever it is we’re waiting on takes longer than expected, it’s easy to grow weary and lose heart. We can get tempted to doubt, quit and/or stop doing what God has told us to do while waiting. But, if we do these things, if we surrender to ourself, we could lose the very thing that God is trying to do for us or bless us with.
- Somewhere between give up and quit, you find out exactly what you’re made of. Give up to God; Don’t quit on God!
Regardless of how frustrated, doubtful and weary we get, we shouldn’t quit when we’re waiting on God. God promises us that we if we don’t quit, even when we’re tired, that we’ll be recompensed for it. He tells us that He will refresh and satisfy us if we will hold on. Then he also promises to renew our strength and give us power to endure. God will give us strength to press on if we will continue to wait on him. Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. James 1:12
And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. Galatians 6:9
For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul. Jeremiah 31:25
He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. Isaiah 40:29-31
Remember, Jesus endured, so we can endure. We can also receive encouragement to push through with patience. If we fix our eyes on Jesus (not our surrounding circumstances) we can endure. He endured more opposition than we will ever face, and He did it so that we would not grow weary, lose heart and quit. Jesus doesn’t want us to grow tired of waiting on God and quit. He’s seated at the right hand of God in a place of power and authority working on our behalf and interceding for us.
Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Hebrews 12:1-3
. . . It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Romans 8:34
As King David said, So, wait, I say, on the Lord! Be encouraged in your wait!
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