Waiting on the Lord
"But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles." — Isaiah 40:31
The Muttered Complaint
After the angel had gone and the crisis had passed, the woman who had nearly been struck down asked what happened next.
"I don't know. You're alive, and the angel said my petition had been granted. We'll just have to wait on the Lord and see."
And her reply, muttered on the way to bed, is one many of us have thought and few have said out loud:
"Yeah, it's this waiting on the Lord business that gets to me."
Why Waiting Is So Hard for Some People
Her difficulty was specific and instructive. She had spent seventeen years serving a master she could see and communicate with directly. She was used to seeing and talking with spirits. She was used to doing more or less whatever she wanted.
Walking in faith — accepting the commands of a God she could not see — was an entirely different way of living, and a very difficult one to accept.
She had served darkness because of the power she received from it to do what she wanted to do. Serving God and doing only His will was a completely different proposition.
Most of us have not come out of the occult. But the underlying preference is universal: we would all rather have power to accomplish our will than authority delegated for His.
Waiting exposes which one we actually want.
What Waiting Is Not
It is not passivity. Waiting on the Lord in Scripture is an active posture — watchmen waiting for morning, servants watching their master's hand (Psalm 123:2, Psalm 130:6).
It is not indecision. It is a decision, made deliberately, to not move until He moves.
It is not wasted time. "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength" (Isaiah 40:31). Something is being built in you during the wait that could not be built at speed.
It is not God being slow. "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness" (2 Peter 3:9). He is working on a timetable you cannot see.
What Waiting Guards Against
Consider what would have happened if the covenant had been made in a hurry, or if the crisis had been resolved by human effort instead of God's timing.
The Lord held the whole situation in abeyance for a period — sometimes weeks — while a decision was reached. He was not idle during it. He was arranging things whose purpose would not be visible for months.
"Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way." (Psalm 37:7)
Most of the disasters in a believer's life come from moving before the word comes, not from waiting too long.
Point to Ponder
We would all rather have power to accomplish our will than authority delegated for His. Waiting exposes which one we actually want.
Verse to Remember
"But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." — Isaiah 40:31
Question to Consider
What am I about to do because I cannot bear to keep waiting?
Today's Practice
Identify the situation in which you are currently straining against the wait.
Write down honestly: what am I tempted to do to force this?
Make the phone call. Sign the paper. Take the job. Confront the person. Move the money. Say the thing. Fix it yourself.
Now write down: what has God actually said about this — and has He said anything at all?
If He has spoken, obey it, whatever it costs.
If He has not spoken, then do not move. Write this at the bottom of the page and mean it: "I will not act on this until He speaks. If that means it does not get resolved this month, it does not get resolved this month."
Then, during the wait, do something useful: read, pray, serve someone else. Waiting is not sitting still with your hands empty. It is doing the next ordinary obedience while refusing to force the door.
Prayer
Father, waiting is the part I hate. I would rather be told no than told nothing.
I confess that underneath my impatience is a preference for power over obedience. I want the ability to make things happen. You are offering me the discipline of moving only when You move, and it is not what I would have chosen.
Teach me to wait properly. Not sulking, not idle, not secretly arranging things while pretending to wait — actually waiting.
Renew my strength while I do. Build in me whatever it is that can only be built slowly.
And when You speak, let me move immediately. Until then, hold me still. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Most disasters come from moving before the word comes — not from waiting too long.