What Does it Mean to Wait on the Lord?

Most of us don’t like waiting. We get impatient, restless, perhaps even anxious. We want our packages to arrive TODAY, which is why Amazon is offering same day delivery now. We want our food quick, so we use the drive through, never even getting out of our car.

Is that how we also wait on the Lord?  Are we impatient and restless with Him too?

Abraham understood waiting.  He waited on the Lord to deliver on his promise of a son.  He must have struggled with impatience wondering if God was ever going to come through on his promise, while Abraham just kept getting older and older. Was God going to run out of time? Would Abraham die before God remembered His promise?

Do you ever feel like you’ve prayed and heard God’s answer and then even though you try to stay faithful and expectant, as the days, weeks, and perhaps years go by, you struggle more and more with waiting.  You try not to be impatient. You tell yourself, “all in God’s timing.”  But you still struggle. Why does it have to take so long?

I don’t know about you, but I write notes in my Bible.  The Bible I have now is falling apart from a decade of use.  I underline, I write notes, I record dates when I feel God has spoken a particular verse into a season of my life.

Psalm 27:14, which says, “Wait for the Lord, be strong and let your heart take courage; yes, wait for the Lord,” is a verse God has used over and over in my life.  I have five different dates written beside that verse that span a six year period.  I can’t tell you what was going on when I wrote each date. It really doesn’t matter too much now. The point is that when I needed to hear from God, He was faithful to remind me what was important. He helped me redirect my attention to His faithfulness when I was faced with a difficult situation. In fact, I have this verse written, along with some other scriptures, on my whiteboard right now so I can see it everyday and be reminded of God’s faithfulness.

Read that verse again. What sort of waiting is God asking you to do?  Can you take that verse for yourself and surrender your timing to God’s, believing that He has a perfect plan? Perhaps you can write today’s date beside it in your Bible and be reminded that God has not forgotten His promises to you.

And in the meantime, while you wait, you can follow this advice that I learned many years ago.  Just keep doing what God last told you to do until He tells you otherwise.

Micah 7:7 But as for me, I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.