Waiting On God

“I am weary with my crying; my throat is parched; my eyes fail while I wait for my God (Psalm 69:3).

Can you relate to the words of the psalmist?  Have you experienced your own season of waiting on God?  If so, you likely know just how difficult it can be.  What does “waiting on God” even mean?  Is it sitting back and doing nothing?

Abraham had to learn how to wait on God.  Early on in the story of the Bible, God promised him that he would be the father of a great nation (Genesis 12:2).  Exciting stuff, right?  But as time wore on and the promise remained unfulfilled, Abraham began to have his doubts (Genesis 15:2).  He began to run ahead of God in his own efforts to facilitate God’s plan (Genesis 16).  Soon, the chimes of his own biological clock began to ring in his ears.  Abraham pleads with God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!” (Genesis 17:15-18).  But God’s answer was still “not yet.”  Waiting on God can be so hard!

The time finally did come when God fulfilled His promise to Abraham. “Then the LORD took note of Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah as He had promised.So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him” (Genesis 21:1–2).  And to his credit, Abraham maintained his loyalty to God in spite of his own doubts and failures during the interim.  He remained faithful.

G. Campbell Morgan shares some wisdom for those who are waiting on God: “Waiting for God is not laziness. Waiting for God is not going to sleep. Waiting for God is not the abandonment of effort.  Waiting for God means, first, activity under command; second, readiness for any new command that may come; third, the ability to do nothing until the command is given.”

Waiting on God is anything but passive.  It is an active and enduring patience.

God loves you!

Mike