How to “Wait” on God

“I wait for You.” That’s what the psalmist David said many times. As humans, we tend to be impatient. How can we find the ability to truly wait on God?

David wrote Psalm 25 in the midst of needing deliverance. In verse 21 he states, “Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for You” (emphasis added). Waiting is hard. But if we focus on the word “preserve,” we will see a key principle that David discovered. We must have something preserving us, sustaining us and keeping us stable while we wait.

Manufacturers add preservatives to numerous foods to keep them from going bad while they sit on the shelf waiting to be bought and consumed by the customer. As well, many people at home preserve fruits and vegetables they grow in their garden by canning them. This helps them last for a much longer period of time than they would in their fresh state.

While we are waiting on God, without a doubt, we will need something to preserve us. Time will pass, and it will get harder to have faith that things will ever change. Attitudes of thankfulness, joy and patience will start to run thin. David unlocks the key to being preserved while we wait for deliverance. It is simple, yet not easy. It is our integrity and uprightness. 

Doers of good

The Free Online Dictionary defines integrity as a “steadfast adherence to a strict moral or ethical code.” Similarly, it defines uprightness as “adhering to moral principles” and “righteousness.” This is what we are told to do while we wait—to be firmly bound to what we believe in and not waver from that truth.

So what is God working on here? He wants us to grow spiritually so that we don’t go bad—so that when we are on the other side of our trial, whenever it may be, we can be of great use in God’s plan. He wants us to be spiritually strong and able to help others who also suffer in this physical life.

This also serves the purpose of keeping us busy. If we are idle and caught up in self-loathing, things will go downhill fast. Our trial will be compounded by our emotional depression and self-pity. Instead, God tells us we must choose to not “grow weary while doing good,” encouraging us that we will “reap if we do not lose heart” (Galatians 6:9). Losing heart is another way of saying we are no longer able to wait. So, yet again, we see that our ability to wait and not give up is tied directly to our doing good.

“Doing good” sounds fine, but what does it look like? Where do we start?

Follow God’s commands

We can begin by making ourselves familiar with what God expects through the 10 Commandments, the wisdom shown in the Proverbs and the many principles that Christ laid out in the Gospels. Bible study is a direct conversation tool that God has given us so we may hear His voice. Without His Word as a compass, we would come up empty in the search for lasting good.

Help others

Whether in the Church or in the community, we can find ways to volunteer. We can seek out ways to help someone who may have a worse situation than ours or who may never be able to repay us the favor.

Jesus taught a lesson to the Pharisees that should cut us all to the heart as well. He instructed them not to invite only their family, friends and rich neighbors over for dinner. Rather, in Luke 14:13-14 He said, “But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you.” Maybe we will be an answered prayer for someone else in need. We can help their waiting time to end while we still wait for ours.

Meditate

This is different from wallowing in grief. Meditating must be purposeful with the end goal of reflecting on good things. During seasons of waiting, we might be filled with negative mind chatter. There will be a tension that makes our reality feel contrary to what God says He is—our Redeemer, Healer and Comforter.

It is in these moments that we have a choice. We can either believe God is a liar, or we can grow in faith, eager to watch God display His attributes in a way that works through the brokenness of our lives. David often chose to sing psalms about God’s salvation because he knew that was far more important than any earthly problem and that, in the end, God will be a Redeemer to all people. What more positive thing can we dwell on?

If we are waiting for something from God, we can go to Him in prayer and let Him know that we are waiting on Him. But this practice is not a “make a wish and expect it to come true” kind of waiting. Rather, it is a waiting that is active and vibrant. We are pursuing God and His ways in the midst of a reality that seem contradictory to all we normally hold true.

Let’s be preserved by doing good, knowing that there is “eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality” (Romans 2:7).

Sarah Henderson and her husband, Andrew, attend the Columbus/Cambridge, Ohio, congregation of the Church of God, a Worldwide Association.