WAITING ON GOD

Consider it joyful when you encounter various trials. Understand that the trial of your faith brings patient endurance. Allow patience and endurance do a perfect work in your hearts so that you may fully develop, be complete, lacking in nothing’ (James 1:2 to 4). We see here, God uses patience to help us develop and growConsider it joyful when you encounter various trials. Understand that the trial of your faith brings patient endurance. Allow patience and endurance do a perfect work in your hearts so that you may fully develop, be complete, lacking in nothing’ (James 1:2 to 4). We see here, God uses patience to help us develop and grow‘Teach me Your ways O Lord, lead me on a straight path because of my enemies … Wait for the Lord; be brave and let your heart take courage.

Yes, wait for the Lord’ (Psalm 27:11 & 14).  ‘Show me your ways O Lord; teach me your paths. Guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation. I wait for You all the day long’ (Psalm 25:4 & 5).

God is the God of our salvation, and two of the ways we relate to Him is to trust Him and wait patiently for Him; if necessary all day long or sometimes, for years. Twice in the above Psalms we are told to wait for the Lord. King David had to wait years and exercised an enormous amount of patience for the Lord to deliver him from his enemies, including from King Saul and his own son Absalom, both of whom wanted to kill him. ‘I waited patiently for the Lord; He turned to me and heard my cry’ (Psalm 40:1). Waiting for God is the key to learning His ways. If we are not prepared to wait for Him, there may be some things we can never learn. There is a form of spiritual discipline that is mentioned many times in the Bible but is not generally understood or practiced by many Christians.

There are many scriptures that speak of waiting on God or waiting for God and are essentially the same; it is a form of waiting that is specifically related only to God. There are two forms of waiting; one is waiting for a prayer to be answered in our own lives and the other is what all Christians are waiting for – the second coming of Jesus. ‘From ancient times, no one has heard, nor has the eye seen any God but You, Who acts on behalf of him who waits for You’ (Isaiah 64:4). The distinctive mark of the one true God is this: He acts on behalf of those of His people who wait for Him, and one of the ways we need to relate to God the Father, is by waiting for Him to act on our behalf. What is really involved in waiting for God? Doing nothing until we are directed by Him to act.

Why is waiting so very important? It increases our respect for His sovereignty and teaches us to be patient and wait for His will to unfold. Why is there so much emphasis on waiting for God in the scriptures? The scriptures say, ‘My soul waits for God alone. My salvation comes from Him. He alone is my Rock and my Salvation, my Defence and my Fortress. I will not be greatly shaken … My soul, wait in silence for God alone for my hope is from Him. He alone is my Rock and my Salvation; He is my Fortress. I will not be moved’ (Psalm 62:1 & 2, 5 & 6). If we wait for God to act and trust in Him, we will not be shaken when difficulties come our way. We are told to be silent before Him. What is involved here, is the need to focus our whole attention on God. Waiting on God is looking to Him and continuing to look to Him. Waiting is important so we do not make hasty or unwise decisions or actions; not yielding to outward pressures but focussing all our attention on God and waiting for His will and His outcome. That is why there is so much emphasis written in the scriptures regarding waiting.  What are the results produced by waiting for God?  We are acknowledging God in a very special way and are giving Him His rightful sovereign place in our lives. Waiting produces patience and endurance. Waiting builds a relationship with Him that cannot be built in any other way. He is our Source and all our answers can come only from God. He is our King and Sovereign and we need to acknowledge His sovereignty. The initiative and timing is with God. We cannot tell Him when to act. We have to wait until God – in His wisdom – is ready. We have to acknowledge the fact, we are completely dependent on God and that is very difficult for some of us to accept. Most people have a deep desire to be independent of God and waiting for God deals with that desire for independence. Waiting for God develops stability and is mutual.

As we are waiting for Him, so He also waits for us. ‘The Lord waits to be gracious to you so He will be exalted. He waits to show mercy for the Lord is a God of justice. How blessed are all those who wait for Him’ (Isaiah 30:18). We often think it is only us who waits for God, but we can be encouraged by that scripture. It says God waits for us. We need to be patient. Waiting patiently deals with our tendency to fret. The opposite of fretting and feeling anxious is peace, acceptance and serenity. We are told to cease anger and forsake wrath. We cannot be peaceful and wrathful at the same time, so if we put away our anger we will have peace. The difference between anger and wrath can be seen like this: anger is like a pressure-cooker of water that slowly comes to the boil. Wrath is when the water and steam explodes all over the kitchen, scalding anyone who is too close. If we give in to anger, in due course, wrath will come and hurt those closest to us. We need to nip anger ‘in the bud’ so it does not develop into full-blown wrath. We need to turn the heat off, but how do we do that?

By waiting patiently for God. Waiting and trusting deals with fretting, anger, wrath and anxiety (along with high blood pressure, stomach ulcers, eczema, heart problems and stress). Learning to wait on God develops peace, serenity, humility, meekness and gentleness which brings joy and good health (Proverbs 3:8) and a massive inheritance. The inheritance (the earth) is for those who have learned to wait. Jesus said, “Blessed are the meek (gentle, humble) for they will inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5). 

spiritually. When we are tried by fire and endurance has done its full work, we become mature and complete not lacking anything in Christian character. It is the Lord’s plan for us to endure anything that comes our way in life, in an attitude of hope. If we shrink back or become bitter, God will not be pleased with us (Hebrews 12:15). Jesus endured the cross (Hebrews 12:2) and that is an ordeal we will never have to go through, but we need to follow His example and patiently endure whatever our ‘cross’ is. Jesus said, “If anyone desires to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross and follow Me” (Matthew 16:24). Waiting patiently cultivates endurance and perseverance. There is a specific process in which the element of patience can develop. ‘Let us rejoice in our sufferings knowing that suffering (that is pressure, affliction, hardship, persecution) brings endurance. Endurance develops a mature character. Character produces the hope of salvation’ (Romans 5:3 & 4).