WAITING ON GOD

What exactly does it mean to wait on God? 

Q: From our lives as Christians, what does it mean to you when you hear to “Wait on God?”

Answers:

Bukky: For me, it means to trust and hold on to God's promises till they come to pass without having to do too much to force things to happen by yourself.

Sumi: I think waiting on God is allowing only God's will to prevail in our lives and at the time he wants it to happen.

David: It means to seek the face of God, or to seek God's mind concerning an issue

Fola: For me, waiting on God means letting go and letting God take the wheel. Total dependence on God in faith & patience until his promises visibly come to pass.

Better: Waiting on God is to seek his face, to get instruction.

But those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.  Isaiah 40:31 NKJV

In this scripture, we see what happens to those that dare to wait, and it is so much benefit, so much. All is attained just by waiting.

A lot of us believers want to get to the part where we are soaring like eagles, where we have renewed strength, where we are running without tiredness in sight, but we've not learned the concept of waiting. We assume waiting to be difficult.

I checked the concordance for the Hebrew word used in this verse and I'm going to share here. The Hebrew word for ‘Wait’ is qavah (kav waw) and it figuratively means to bind together like a cord.

You know when you want to make a strong rope but you have tiny strings, so you bring together these strands and begin to tie them. You begin to twist them until the rope attains the strength you need it to. That's what the word implies here.

I don't know if we've seen ships or boats being moored, they use a really strong rope so it doesn't cut and the ship is packed safely. Passengers are not even advised to board a ship/boat that is not moored yet.

I also know you are not allowed to unboard also. The ship or boat must first be moored and what they use is this strong rope.

So many times we assume waiting to be passive and a space of inactivity. But know, waiting is not that. Waiting is not what we simply do until we get what we want. Waiting is the process of becoming!

It is the stringing together of tiny strands until it becomes a strong rope.

So when we say we are tired of waiting, what we are really saying is that we do not want what we are in fact waiting for.

One thing the Lord told me while preparing for this sermon is that: Waiting times are longer because the rope is not strong enough yet.

It cannot safely moor the ship/boat. If we allow the not-so-strong rope/cord to be used, what we are really aiming for is a disaster. The boat may capsize or people coming out of it can be injured because it is not tied firmly.

The waiting season is not God punishing you.

It is not even God testing you with different things to see if you are faithful (a lot of believers wrongly assume this). Waiting is God preparing, it is God strengthening you and it is God readying you for that season ahead.

Tiny strand by tiny strand, He keeps adding until it is strong enough. Now here is the thing with our (in)activity in the period of waiting; what you do while waiting can prolong waiting seasons.

I will use that same scripture to explain. Imagine adding tiny strands of weak ropes together and there is a wrong movement that keeps interfering with the process, it is possible that this fiddling cuts the tiny strands of rope already added because they are not strong or bound yet. What this means is that the person doing the binding will have to start again, that is waiting time extended

This brings me to the next definition of waiting; 

Waiting is us allowing God and aligning with His purpose (the end result) with no interference with the process. Please be careful in your interpretation of "no interference".

So how is this demonstrated? Active dependence on and total obedience to God.

Like I said waiting is not passive, it is not inactivity. With the scriptures, we've been able to prove that waiting is a major activity. It is the activity that leads to that opened door, blessing or new chapter. 

Let me use another analogy; 

It's like becoming a doctor. My process here is courses I had to pass, the studying and the knowledge amassed. The longer I take to get this knowledge and pass, the longer my process in becoming a doctor.

Waiting and Impatience

Let a child tell you they want sweet or biscuit now and you say not yet because they've probably had too much sugar today, you are most likely going to get a tantrum from them, an emotional outburst.

The child doesn't understand why daddy is not giving them sweet even though daddy can afford sweet. You see, a lot of us are like kids when it comes to waiting.

Our impatience seeps through.

For every time we do not get what we want at the time we think we should get them, we switch to Big Daddy (aka God) must be a bad person for withholding this from me or He doesn't love me.

Emotional outbursts. 

It shows in our mood, it starts reflecting in our attitude to people around us and even to God Himself. 

God telling me this made me pause.

It really opened my eyes to a lot. I've been in that place where waiting affected my mood all round.

As we grow in Christ, we must come to an understanding of these things; reactions and postures expected of us as mature sons.

Another thing God pointed out to me on impatience is that it is right there in your daily attitude sometimes. If you are impatient normally, you will not grow patience overnight in waiting seasons.

It reflects! Now, an action point I'd like everyone to write down is this:

Intentionally increase your patient limit in cases where it is running out (even when you are justified). So normally if you will complain about such stuff after like 2 days, increase your patience and make it like 7 days.

Intentionally take back any lashing or emotional outburst that is tied to someone delaying you or "wasting your time." Just a simple, “Alright, no problem. I will wait an extra day.”

No whining or anger.

Patience

Patience is an important part of waiting on God. We live in a fast-paced/tracked world;

"How to become a programmer in 1 week and earn 1 million dollars". We are in a "NOW" world.

Our generation wants everything fast (maybe the generation before us too and the ones before them 😂)

Immediate answers

Immediate maturity

Immediate growth                       

Patience is a key aspect of waiting on God.

I need us to check the meanings of patience online and share.

Fola: the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, problems, or suffering without becoming annoyed or anxious. Tolerant and even-tempered perseverance. The capacity for calmly enduring pain, trying situations, etc.

 

Even-tempered perseverance even while waiting. Calm even when it looks like the wait period is long.

I repeat this, there is no impatient waiting when it comes to waiting on God. It is either you are waiting patiently or you are not.

There is a reason patience is a fruit of the spirit! It is a strong ingredient for waiting.

The new bible dictionary defines patience as God-given restraint in the face of opposition. The KJV says to stay in calmness without discontent or even murmuring.

I think I love the New bible definition for that; God-given restraint. It is why patience is a fruit of the spirit. It is only the spirit that can produce such in a man.

Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:4 NIV

Let perseverance finish its work! Let patience be full.

So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. James 1:4 NLT

Let it grow. Let your patience be tested. Stop running from situations that test your patience.

If you let that patience work in you, the end result will be good. You will be mature and complete. You will be all that God wants you to be. James 1:4 ERV

Seeeeee!

You have to let patience.

There are no cutting corners in this school. Patience is what brings perfection.

Again, I want us to go back to the definition of patience that we shared.

Assignment number 2

Write those definitions out and replace your name with patience. Then check yourself to see where you are lacking. Please take this assignment/action point seriously. It is your one ticket to being a beneficiary of this teaching.

When I personally did, I realized I am an impatient person. I have definitely fallen short in one of these definitions and while pondering, I randomly remembered a friend of mine who struggles to get everything.

No switching of seasons without major struggles, nothing comes with ease. It's always stressful and when it eventually does, the excitement may not be there anymore and it was laid in my heart to insert their name in this patience definition.

I realized that they too like me are impatient, very very impatient.

It then dawned on me that the reason this person struggles for everything is this impatience. They've been prolonging seasons of their lives because of impatience and now it looks like they just don't get anything with ease. Whereas, it is simply because they've not learned how to wait.

My God! So many of us are here.

Right here in this boat. Patience has to finish work for completion to happen. There is no entering the promise without waiting and waiting has patience as a major ingredient. You cannot bypass it.

To be patient is to be content in the passage

To be content in waiting 

To not be eager to leave the waiting room

To be okay with the process that brings strength and perfection. Not murmuring or complaining at all while at it.