Learning to Wait on God

We want instant service, fast food, short lines, overnight delivery, online shopping and banking, high speed Internet, fast travel, instant messaging, quick fixes, and easy availability—of everything!

The problem is that we don’t want to take the time to wait.

Yet, one of the best things we can possibly do is to wait on God.

The psalmist David says, I wait on thee (Psalm 25:21b). Here, it’s a simple statement. In other verses, he talks about how he waits on the Lord:

• Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD (Psalm 27:14).   
• Commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still (Psalm 4:4b).  
• Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon the LORD our God, until that he have mercy upon us (Psalm 123:2). 

Waiting on the Lord requires time. It means time spent in the Bible so that we can know God’s message for us each day. It especially means time spent in prayer (communicating with God). Prayer is two-way. It’s our talking to God and God talking to us. The problem with so many of us—and I’m including myself—is that we rush off after praying for God’s direction, and we don’t take the time to listen to His response.

I think David was a man after God’s own heart because he knew how to listen and wait.

Do we?

Maybe we need to learn.

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).