5 Effective Ways to Wait on the Lord
Are you waiting on the Lord the right way? Sometimes when we wait on the Lord it feels like an eternity. So, how do you wait when God is silent and you desperately need to hear from Him? Do you get frustrated and give up or do you endure patiently until the end? Waiting on the Lord is His will and waiting on His timing is a must. God knows best, that’s why we must have faith in Him and wait; He gives us the courage and strength to endure.
On the other hand, we live in an impatient world where society deems waiting unnecessary. So, things are created for us to eliminate the waiting. A lot of things are now fast-tracked and made convenient for us to consume as soon as possible. However, waiting is a natural part of life; whether waiting for the train to come and take us to work, waiting in the doctor’s office when they are delayed, or waiting for our food at a restaurant. We may get frustrated and become impatient, but we must wait as we don’t always have a choice. You won’t get up and walk out of your doctor’s appointment because you need to be seen by them. Yes, you may get frustrated but if you leave, you’ll have to go back another time because only the doctor can evaluate, diagnose and treat you.
Similarly, only God has the power to work out things in our favour. Therefore, we must wait on God if we trust that His ways are everlasting and His timing perfect. The key to waiting, though, is practicing patience and having the right attitude toward waiting; enduring until it’s your time to receive your blessing from Him. If you give up, you’ll never know what kind of blessing the Lord had in store for you? Keeping your mind focused on positive things, and rejecting fear and worry makes a great difference in your waiting experience.
In this post, I encourage you to learn how to wait on the Lord the right way. I will give two great examples of faithful men of God who exemplify effective patience and endurance during their time of persecution and suffering until the end when God was ready to restore and deliver them. Also, I will suggest five effective ways to wait on the Lord for answered prayers.
King David and Job Had to Wait on the Lord
Consider King David in the Psalms, to whom the Prophet Samuel referred to as “a man after God’s own heart.” David was God’s most faithful servant, always seeking after God’s heart. Loving what God loved and hating what He hated. He had great reverence for God. Many times throughout his reign as King he had to wait on God for help because his enemies were persecuting him; always attacking or hunting him down to kill him. Thus, he lived a life of total dependency on God for everything, most of all protection. David knew, all too well, that waiting was a requirement of God, and he knew how to wait effectively; he had faith in God. That’s why he admonishes us to “be of good courage and wait on the Lord. (Psalm 27:14). He said that he’d never seen the righteous forsaken.
Likewise, Job was God’s most faithful and upright servant in his time. God gave him wealth and made him the richest man in the part of the land in which he lived during his time. He reverenced God so much that he did no wrong against Him. Then, Job lost his health and wealth seemingly overnight, and he didn’t know why. He suffered mental, emotional, and physical anguish, and even long silences from God when he sought Him in prayer for healing and restoration, and understanding of his suffering. Although God took a long time to heal and restore him, he endured until the end. Because he had faith in God. Considering his physical pain and affliction, and long silences from God, Job’s suffering exemplifies effective patience and endurance. In the end, the Lord restored him with much more than he had in the beginning. Even the apostle James references his situation as “an example of suffering affliction and patience,” to encourage the believers to endure.
“Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job and have seen the end of the Lord. That the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.”
James 5:11
So, what do these men have in common? They both knew how to wait on God effectively, and they both had faith, patience, and endurance. It took faith in God for David to continue trusting and believing that God would continue coming to his rescue and protecting him from his enemies. Likewise, it took faith in God for Job to endure his suffering because he too, trusted and believed that God would restore him. So they patiently waited and endured until it was time for God to restore and deliver them. Moreover, they prayed fervently and persistently to hear from God, even during long silences; yet their faith and trust in God never wavered. Job even told his friends, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” He was ready to die in his condition, if it was the Lord’s will, and still trusted Him. These men also had the courage and strength to continue going and never give up. And God gave it to them.
Five Effective Ways to Wait on the Lord
1. Pray Persistently
According to James 5:7, “the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” That means that when we pray sincerely, God responds. Where there’s a deep, deep calling; there’s a deep, deep to respond. Create a prayer life and sustain it. This will draw you closer to God and enable you to trust Him more when you have to wait on Him. God will never forsake nor ignore His righteous people who come to Him in prayer. And waiting on Him does not mean He’s ignoring us, just that it’s not His timing yet to respond. Persistent prayers strengthen our faith in God and keep our minds focused on Him, and not on our circumstances.
2. Surrender Your Hearts to Christ
Daily surrender of our hearts to Christ is essential for drawing closer to Him and connecting with Him on a spiritual level. God wants to control our hearts. Our heart is the focal point of our lives, and it reflects the issues of life. So, when Christ controls the heart, He controls everything within us: our minds, thoughts, actions, etc., which is His will. When we live a life of complete surrender to God, it becomes easier to have faith and trust in Him for our needs. We can, therefore, abide by His will and wait on the Lord.
3. Trust in God’s Timing
“My times are in thy hand, deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me.”
Psalms 31:15
Like David, we must acknowledge our times, blessings are in God’s hand. When He makes us wait on His timing, it’s for good reasons, and we don’t have to know His reasons. His timing is strategic and His ways are perfect. We must remember that God is sovereign, and He only has the power, control, and authority over everything. God rebukes us when we think that we know how, when and where He should answer our prayers. We are not on the same level as Him. We are His creation and He, our Creator. Therefore, we look to Him for guidance and protection, and sustentation in life. And we must abide by His perfect timing and ways.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways. Saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Isaiah 55:8-9
4. Abandon Worry and Fear
Worry and fear have no place with God when we’re depending on Him. He requires us to have faith in Him. Worry and fear overwhelm us and make us lose hope. The Word says that God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power. We should use that power to rebuke and overcome the fear in us and replace it with faith in God. If we are to trust Him, then we should do that genuinely and wholeheartedly, without reservation. Fear and worry imply weak faith. And with weak faith, how can we have confidence in God? We cannot even please God with weak faith. Therefore, we must abandon worry and fear and pray for increased faith in God.
“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear but of power and love and of a sound mind.”
2 Timothy 1:7
“Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? But seek ye first, the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.”
Matthew 6:27;33
5. Be Patient and Endure
So, we’ve seen examples of faithful men having patience and endurance to wait on the Lord to receive deliverance and healing and restoration. Job exemplifies what it means to wait and endure physical pain and affliction, and longsuffering. And David, what it means to wait for deliverance and protection from his enemies actively trying to kill him. They’ve dealt with the same suffering and hardships that we deal with today. We have to accept the fact that it is God’s will for us to wait on Him. No matter what our circumstances are and how long we must wait; He has His reasons for making us wait. So, we must trust and obey Him on that. With patience and the right attitude, we can endure effectively to receive answered prayer.
To that end, if you practice these 5 effective ways to wait on the Lord, you will be rewarded with God’s greatest blessing for you. But you must have faith in Him and trust that He will answer your prayers no matter how long it takes. Let David and Job be your inspiration for waiting on God. They endured persecution and suffering, and God delivered and restored them. David, many times over, throughout his reign as King. And Job’s physical pain and affliction were over a period of time. So, rest in God’s power and control, and wait on His timing. Finally, remember David testified, “I’ve never seen the righteous forsaken.”