Waiting Is Worship: Encouragement for Those Tired of Trusting the Lord

Good morning friends! Today's post is unexpected for this writer, but after completing my devotional this morning and praying that God would not let me miss the lessons He's trying to teach me, this felt like a message worth sharing. Without any delay, let's jump in.

I often feel guilty for waiting on the Lord to act in my life. I feel guilty for desiring a husband. I feel guilty for the struggles I've faced as I wait for marriage and motherhood. I feel guilty for the times I've contemplated giving up on God and taking matters into my own hands.

There are times when it feels like I want a husband more than I want God, despite that not actually being the case. There are times when it feels like God is not enough for me, because I desire this other thing so strongly. Again, that's not actually the case.

If I wanted a husband more than I want God, I would not wait on the Lord to unite me with the man He has prepared for me and me for him. If I trusted my plan more than I trusted the Lord's plan for my life, I wouldn't be waiting on the Lord's plan to unfold. If I did not love the Lord, I would not care about the consequences of unfaithfulness.

I feel guilty for waiting, because waiting implies discontent, dissatisfaction. Waiting on the Lord implies that what He's already done is not enough. While it's true that waiting is a sign of dissatisfaction or incompleteness, waiting is also an act of worship, a sign of faithfulness, and a part of the Christian walk every believer faces. We're all waiting for something. We're all waiting for someone, even if the only person we hope to be united with is the Lord.

Throughout scripture, we see the call to wait.

Waiting on the Lord Himself:

"Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!" Psalm 27:13-14

"Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him." Psalm 37:7

"I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope." Psalm 130:5-6

"But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength..." Isaiah 40:31

Waiting for God's Timing:

"Though it delay, wait for it; it will surely come." Habakkuk 2:3

Other examples:

• Abraham and Sarah waited decades for their son Isaac.

• Hannah prayed and weeped for years for God to heal her barrenness.

• David was anointed king long before he actually became king.

• Jesus waited 30 years to begin His ministry, and is still waiting to be united with His church.

Waiting Through Suffering:

"The Lord is good to those who wait on him...It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord." Lamentations 3:25-26

"If we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience." Romans 8:25

"Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life." Proverbs 13:12

Other examples:

• In James 5:7-11, believers are compared to farmers patiently waiting for harvest.

Hannah teaches us that waiting is not always pretty. Patience is not always pretty. Abraham and Sarah teach us that faithfulness isn't fluid. Sometimes we doubt, take matters into our hands, and have to learn from our mistakes before re-committing ourselves to God's plan in faithfulness. God teaches us that faithfulness is always worth it, because He is faithful to us.

"For I know the thoughts I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11

"Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ." Philippians 1:6

"And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise." Hebrews 6:15

God is faithful to complete His work in us. God is faithful to bring us into prosperity. We may not know the plan God has for us, but waiting for His plan to unfold is an act of trust that where the Lord leads is good, what the Lord offers is good.

Waiting on the Lord is worship.

Every day that we refuse to take back control, manipulate outcomes, abandon obedience, or settle for less than God's will, we declare:

• God is trustworthy.

• God is good.

• God's timing is wiser than mine.

• God's plan is better than mine.

I say all of this mostly for myself, as a reminder that waiting isn't disobedience or ungratefulness nor is it anything to be ashamed of. Waiting on the Lord isn't a sign that the Lord isn't enough for you or me. It's actually proof that you love the Lord enough--trust the Lord enough--to surrender your heart's desires to Him, to surrender the trajectory of your life to Him.

When I first surrendered my heart's desires to the Lord, I did so reluctantly. I've had my time of going my own way, thinking I know best, and I've seen where it's gotten me. At first, waiting on the Lord was done in anger and frustration. It felt like, "Fine, You win. I'll do it your way." But over time, as I've gotten to know the Lord, waiting on Him has shifted to..."I can't in good conscience take back my surrender, not only because I know I'll fail without You, but because I don't want to do this without You."

Waiting on the Lord is refusing to do life without Him.

Waiting may be a sign of incompletion, but it is not the absence of living. Galatians reminds us to not grow weary of doing good. 1 Corinthians reminds us to be steadfast, continuing to live in the calling the Lord has given us. Calling doesn't wait for completeness. It proceeds and is part of completeness. Colossians tells us to work faithfully while waiting for our inheritance, which is in the Lord. My devotional this morning spoke of keeping the truth and maintaining trust in the Lord.

Waiting may feel like a passive word, but it is an active existence, as active as keeping, maintaining, trusting, persevering, finishing.

"Open the gates, that the righteous nation which keeps the truth may enter in. You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts you. Trust in the Lord forever, for in Yah, the Lord, is everlasting strength." Isaiah 26: 2-4

"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." 2 Timothy 4:7

Ultimately, our entire existence--as believers--is a form of waiting, as we wait to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living and to be united with Christ in Heaven.

"Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior." Philippians 3:20

The Christian life is a life of endurance and our race toward the finish line includes many twists, turns, and pot holes we may or may not dodge.

God knows that waiting is difficult. God knows that hope deferred makes the heart sick. God knows this life is a race, a test of endurance. God knows you're tired. I'm tired. But it is the moments of fatigue, when you feel like giving up, when you feel like quitting the race or taking an easier route to the finish line, that your faithfulness is truly tested.

Faithfulness isn't tested when everything is going right, when your emotional, physical, spiritual, and mental batteries are fully charged. Faithfulness is tested in the moments of fatigue--when you feel like giving up, but don't.

I don't know what the Lord has planned for me. I don't know if marriage and motherhood are part of my story. I want to believe they are. I pray they are. My hope is quieter on certain days and louder on others. The truth is, I don't know. What I do know is what is written (a little tie in to our current Sunday series at WOGM). I know that God's plan is good, no matter what it includes or where it leads (Jeremiah 29:11). I know that hope in the Lord is not misplaced (Romans 8:25). I know that "faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Hebrews 11:1 I know that God withholds no good thing from those who walk uprightly (Psalm 84:11).

And that is why waiting is so important. Wait on the Lord in faith. Wait on the Lord in obedience. Wait on the Lord because you trust Him. Wait on the Lord because you don't want to do life without Him. Wait on Him even when it's hard, even when you're angry, even when you're tired. Wait on Him because He and whatever or whoever He plans to bring into your life will be worth the wait.

"But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength..." Isaiah 40:31