Waiting. Waiting. Waiting. During some seasons of life, the path ahead seems to disappear into a mist. The illusion of certainty that often calms our days falls away. Visibility reduces to a step-by-step distance. Longstanding questions remain unanswered. Our prayers seem unheard. Which way do I go? Why has this happened? When will the obstacles subside? What prevents the sunlight of God’s leading to pierce through the fog of circumstances beyond our control? Why must I wait so long for answers?

God Teaches Us to Wait on Him

Learning to wait on God tends to be more experiential than academic. Yes, we must know what God’s Word says before we can live it. However, we can never truly know what it is to wait on God until we pass through the valley where each step plunges into the unknown.

Though we often feel alone during these times, we are not the first to walk these paths. We can learn much from those who have waited on God during uncertain times.

Learning to Wait on God: David (~1000 B.C.)

“There is but a step between me and death,” said David to his friend Jonathan. King Saul had sent soldiers to kill David, his own son-in-law. David jumped out the window while his wife Michal dressed an idol and tucked it into David’s bed as a decoy. When the ruse was discovered, King Saul pursued David himself. A violent cat-and-mouse game began that would crisscross the wilderness of southern Judah.

God promised that David would become the next king, but that day had not yet come. Through this extended time of difficulty and unanswered questions, God taught David to wait on Him. The lessons David learned reverberate through the Psalms:

  • “Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD” (Psalm 27:14).
  • “Let integrity and uprightness preserve me; for I wait on thee” (Psalm 25:21).
  • “My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him” (Psalm 62:5).
  • “I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope” (Psalm 130:5).

Learning to Wait on God: Elisabeth Elliot (A.D. 1948)

Elisabeth Elliot knew about waiting. She waited seven years as her future husband Jim sought God’s leading in his life. The story of their romance even has a chapter entitled “Holding Pattern.” Then, less than two years after their marriage, Elisabeth waited agonizing hours beside a radio, fearing the worst as her husband and his teammates failed to check in as planned during a dangerous mission in the jungles of Ecuador. When his death was confirmed some days later, Elisabeth found her future dreams erased, alone with her baby daughter in South America. Through one uncertainty after another, God taught her to wait on Him.

Elisabeth later wrote, “Waiting on God requires the willingness to bear uncertainty, to carry within oneself the unanswered questions, lifting the heart to God about it whenever it intrudes upon one’s thoughts.”[1] She understood the anxiety of the ongoing unknown and found peace in waiting on God.

God knows our difficulties. He feels our pains. He is with us each step of whatever winding road we trod. Waiting on God is the opportunity to experience the faithfulness of God in real time as we trust His sovereignty, omnipotence, and goodness.

God Rewards Those Who Wait On Him

Waiting on God brings rich blessings to those who learn to trust God through their times of uncertainty. God promises that they that wait on the Lord will…

  • Renew their strength during the difficulty. “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; cf. Psalm 27:14).
  • Not be ashamed. “Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed: let them be ashamed which transgress without cause” (Psalm 25:3).
  • Get help from God. “Our soul waiteth for the LORD: he is our help and our shield” (Psalm 33:20).
  • Be delivered in the future in God’s time. “Wait on the LORD, and he shall save thee” (Proverbs 20:22; cf. Isaiah 25:9; Lamentations 3:26).
  • Inherit the earth even though now the wicked prosper. “For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the LORD, they shall inherit the earth” (Psalm 37:9).

Are you waiting today? Do the difficulties you face seem to never end? Do you feel like the questions you ask will never be answered? Stop staring at the clock, hoping the timer on your trial will ding. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Trust His character. View your time of uncertainty as a training ground. Some lessons can only be learned through the experience of waiting on God.

[1] Elisabeth Elliot, Passion and Purity, 59–60. Read more of her story in my missions devotional, Daring Devotion: a 31-Day Journey with those who Lived God’s Promises, Day 12. Elisabeth’s excellent books, The Shadow of the Almighty and Through Gates of Splendor are also must-reads.

Public domain image of Elisabeth Elliot courtesy of B&H Publishing Group