Waiting

In buying decorations for my apartment, I wanted to have many scriptures on the wall. I bought this beautiful painting of an old dock extending into a smooth-as-glass lake surrounded by some mountains at sunset. The following scripture is inscribed at the top.

“Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for Him.”         - Psalm 37:7

There is a lot of Christian mumbo jumbo that is tossed around out there. Some of these phrases are sprinkled into conversation like Hanny puts salt on chips at Café Del Rio. However, when I really listen to fellow believers talk, I wonder if we really know what we are talking about. One phrase in particular that I have often wondered about is ‘waiting on the Lord’ or ‘resting in the Lord’. I guess in principle I understand what it means, but it has just come up so much recently in my life that I want to know what I mean when I say that.

Even the most casual reader of the Bible has most likely come across this phrase. David and other psalmists refer to waiting on the Lord, or being patient, or entering His rest or being still and waiting. James talks about it in the New Testament as well as Paul. God created a specific day just for resting and waiting on the Lord called the Sabbath, which has little significance in most Christians’ lives today including mine but was the most important day of the week to the Jews and Hebrews. So what is waiting on the Lord? I am not so much writing this to explain this truth, but more to have a chance to study God’s Word and seek wisdom from Him.

This past year I spent about 6 consecutive months reading five chapters from Psalms and one chapter from Proverbs every day, which allowed me to read through the entire books once a month. I was at a time in my life where I was seeking comfort, peace, and wisdom from God. I gravitated to these books because of the wisdom, but also because of the character of David; a man after God’s own heart. Now, truthfully David was as jacked up as the rest of us, if not more. He had many triumphs on the battlefield and in the mind, but also had as many dark valleys and struggles. In the Psalms, he goes from praising the faithfulness and majesty of God in one chapter to outright questioning God asking, “Why have you forsaken me?” I think that is why I love to read the Psalms. I see those quick changes of heart in myself as well. I go from unshakeable to shaken without even realizing it. David reiterated many phrases and words throughout the Psalms and one of those is waiting on the Lord. (Ps. 9:9-10, 25:5, 25:21, 27:14, 31:24, 33:20-22, 37:7, 40:1, 62:1-2, 62:5-8 – these are just a sampling of the ones that I have underlined in my Bible)

What exactly does waiting encompass? What exactly am I supposed to be waiting for? How long do we wait, before we act? What is God’s purpose is making us wait?

Waiting is teaching us that God is ultimately moving and acting for His names sake, not ours. (Psalms 25:11, 79:9) If I truly understood this, then waiting on God would not feel so burdensome. The true Christian also knows that he is utterly helpless and desperately needs God to act, because anything he does without God will fail.

Waiting is teaching us perseverance and discipline. (James 1:2-3, Romans 5:3-5) Waiting happens over a period, and thus has a sense of perseverance and discipline in it. Waiting on the Lord involves patience and trust. People, who wait and rest well, have the right perspective and heart. They know that God, our great Father, is working and moving even when we do not see or feel Him.

Waiting is teaching us that we are small and He is big.

Waiting is not being idle. Waiting has a sense of seeking in it and these two ideas are often paralleled in David’s Psalms. Waiting is not inactivity, but a change in activities. Waiting involves much laboring in prayer and daily laying down our requests before Him. God seems to desire that we learn to submit control completely.

Waiting does not involve anxiety or worry. Waiting encompasses all that it is to trust, just as the birds trust in God for their daily food. Waiting is teaching us to trust in God through the good and the bad.

In many ways, the entire Christian life is waiting; waiting for our Savior to come back for us. The true Christian realizes that this world is not our home, because we are not in a perfect, redeemed relationship with our God as we will be in heaven. (John 17:3) Therefore, we wait with eager expectation for the day that He returns and redeems those whom He loves. Not only should we wait for the big things, but also for the daily bread and aching desires of our hearts.

Waiting is hard for me, especially in our day of instant gratification. I confess I do not know what true perseverance is. I confess that my heart is easily turned away from God, when I feel that He has forgotten me or is not listening. I confess that I quickly abandon Him when I do not understand His purposes instantly. I confess that I really do not like waiting on Him to move. I confess that I like to have control over my situation, and waiting forces me release that false sense of control that I have. I confess that I grow impatient and do not trust God. I confess that I often move without waiting on God.

Father, help me to learn to wait on you as I am strengthened in your Word. Father, help to not move until I know that Your presence is where I’m going. Father, teach me to wait and rest in You.

“And He [God speaking to Moses] said, ‘My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.’ And he [Moses] said to Him [God], ‘If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here.’”          - Exodus 33:14-15