Wait on the Lord. Be still.

"I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope" (Psalm 130:5)

Aug 01, 2024

I have wanted to write an article on "waiting" for several months. Most of the Bible verses on this topic refer to enduring hard times by trusting that God will eventually intervene to rescue us. But it also carries the idea of learning more about God in the act of waiting.

My style is more active, more solution-oriented. Certainly I am not a good example of quiet contemplation. Time is fidgeting. Let's do something. I know I am not good at being still. I need to rewire myself. Will you explore it with me?

Biblical Models

I have collected dozens of Bible verses about waiting from Psalms, Isaiah, the Gospels, and the Epistles. I know examples of Bible characters who had to wait and be still. Like them, I want to get out and do something to make a difference.

Joseph waited an extra two years in prison, simply because someone forgot a promise. Elijah waited three years between his first prophetic message and his second. How many months of that did he eat the same pancakes day after day? Paul spent two extra years in prison while the governor was hoping for a bribe.

Wise Advice

I have some really impressive quotations about waiting.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge said waiting on the Lord was not merely refusing to move ahead before the Lord, but also not pawing the ground while waiting. (There goes my favorite coping mechanism.)

Isak Dinesen, in Out of Africa, said, "No domestic animal can be as still as a wild one." So my impatience in waiting might be because I am too domesticated?

Charles Williams referred to action in ministry as a "superfluous necessity." God does not actually need our actions and efforts, but he graciously allows the overflow of his intentions to be brought about by the spiritual instruments of our hands. We need to be timed to God's schedule instead of ours.

But I Want to Help

I hardly ever see a situation so difficult that I ask, "Lord, Why me?" Instead I look around and ask things like, "If I was not here, who else would see what I see? Who else has already pondered the questions that are being raised? Who else would have an idea of how to handle this?" And my conclusion is often, "It's a good thing I am here."

But not always. Sometimes, through circumstances or an inner prompting or a tip from a friend, I get a sense of, "No. Don't move. Don't talk. Don’t plan." Or, more bluntly and lovingly, "Keep your hands off. Don't mess it up."

Of course I push back against the lack of opportunity to act or speak. Driving home from the court house, I asked, "Was it a good thing I showed up for jury duty only to be sent home without a chance to affect justice?"

I remind God that I know I am not competent in myself, but that he has used me in people's lives before to teach and coach and advise. "Who knows whether I have not come into the kingdom for such a time as this? Isn't there anything I can do?"

Waiting is not Wasting

I gradually begin to see that being still and waiting on the Lord is not treading water. It is not a delay. The actual problem is not that I am so efficient that I arrived early and now have to wait for others. Maybe my assignment during the time of waiting is to make a difference in me. What if this whole "problem" is about my need for growth?

That is worth a try. That hawk circling in the sky is not twiddling its thumbs. In fact not a feather is moving. It is looking, listening, gathering strength.

What if while I wait, I look?

I look for patterns, not for escape routes.
I look within myself to see if honest reality is there. Is there truth in my inward parts?
I look outward to see what transcendent meaning I may have missed.
Can I glimpse what God sees when he looks at us?

What if while I wait, I listen?

The sobs are easy to hear.
But is someone sighing? Or shuddering?
What other signals have I been oblivious to?
Love generally is heard most clearly in silence. Maybe no one can hear it over my talking.

Not merely waiting, but waiting on the Lord