How to wait on God

This very minute, I’m standing in a long, long line to renew my car tags. Boy, it’s an exercise in patience. I’d rather eat unseasoned spinach with a toothpick! 🙂 Well, as I wait, I’m reminded of how we often have to wait for almost everything in which we pray. Sure, sometimes God just blesses us instantaneously, but most times, we simply have to wait—no way around it. I want you to process this concept with me and how to wait on God.

Waiting is rarely the real issue…

In like you will have to wait. That’s just the way it is. Face it. I’m not so sure the problem is in the fact we must wait or more in HOW we wait. I wish there were more teachings on how to wait on God and what it looks like. I think how we wait can play a very significant part and how soon God answers our prayers and even in how favorably He answers them.   Stay with me here.

Here is my logic.

If you have been a parent for more than two years, you know very well how difficult it is to endure a whining, impatient child.

It can drive you absolutely insane! The truth of the matter is their incessant asking and begging sometimes play a role in how quickly you respond to them.

In other words, if a child is patient, you’re more likely to quickly respond with a yes.  

On the other hand, if you have a child annoyingly tugging your pant leg, begging, and crying while having a heated tantrum, those are the times you are more likely to deliver a speedy, gruff “NO!  Now, be quiet!”

I think God does the same with us sometimes, don’t you?  

Especially since faith is such a huge part of our Christian walk.  

A personal example.

I remember vividly when my desires shifted towards wanting to be married. I began to pray that God would send me my husband.

During the seasons of waiting, if I saw a couple, I might pout in my heart and wonder when my time would EVERRRRRR come. Or worse, if a girlfriend of mine got married, I would be so sad and grieve her loss as if she had died. Don’t judge me, I was in my twenties!

I wondered where my husband was. Would I have another chance to be married?

So many times, I felt passed over.

I wondered if my time would ever come.  *sigh*

Honestly, sometimes I wonder if how I handled my waiting season propelled God to move any faster, and maybe not any slower. As I mentioned, no one talks much about how to wait on God, so I didn’t know how.

Did my whining move God?

In my mind’s eye, maybe my whining likely revealed to God I did not have the maturity to be a wife. As any married woman would tell you, being a wife requires LOADS of patience and even more maturity! So, there could be a correlation.

Anyhoo, I had endured a lengthy season most women would call a drought.

Girl, I couldn’t buy a date. Then, the season shifted after a while and ushered in a time when I had too many Christian men interested in me.

And I mean good Christian men, not the dogs we so often hear about.  

Genuinely in my heart, I believe it was because I stopped pestering God in such an impatient way and allowed Him to do the work in my life that he needed to do. That’s when the doors began to open, so to speak.  

Anyway, I seriously think it was when I stopped thinking about it so much and focused more on other things that God began to drop the fellows into my life. I never needed to chase, beg, to connive, He just brought them to me. Literally. In fact, that’s how I met my husband – he sort of fell through the sky by way of a setup.

Still at the DMV, Girl!

As I continue to wait in this line, I could do so with a bad attitude and in a bad headspace. In fact, I’m seeing others waiting with eye rolls and snarky comments. I’m trying not to partake.

All that does is make the time seem longer and even irritate those around me (like some are irritating me). What good is that?

All this to say there’s a good way to wait and a bad way to wait. And again, I believe when it comes to how to wait on God, our wait often correlates to the length of time we wait. What do you think?

 How to wait on God

Again, I’m not an expert on how to wait on God, but I think one of the beautiful ways to wait is to do so by being faith-filled. This means staying positive as we trust God, knowing that He is at the helm of the situation and He has a good – no, an AMAZING – plan for our lives.

It behooves us to wait with an expectancy from God being fully convinced that He hears us and that at the very right time, we will have what we want (or need).

This could look like praising Him for what we ask or filling our time with some other praiseworthy activity.

Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.

Mark 11:24

What if…?

Now, some people may say, “ What if God doesn’t want me to have this or that?” To that question, I say just leave the outcome to Him, but continue trusting and hoping in Him.

Your job is to ask and secondly, your job is to wait with a hopeful, good attitude.

It means instead of treating your waiting season like the inconvenience it often feels like, treat it like a training ground.

Christian Woman, as I  stand in this long line, I think, “God is teaching me to be patient.” 

Frankly, I have not mastered the scope of waiting in these kinds of situations (or how to wait on God) but I’m learning.

Rinse, Wash, Repeat

I’ve walked with the Lord long enough to know if I don’t learn a lesson at the moment it will reoccur in my life in various forms and at various times. Who has time for that? I don’t. 

My advice to you is to pass the test early and learn how to wait on God. It will make waiting easier when you have to do it and who knows…you may not have to do it as much because you’ve “passed” that class.

No. It’s better to learn how to wait maturely and patiently rather than repeat the “test” repeatedly. Think of it as a spiritual discipline and come as close to mastering it as you can!

 I even have something on my calendar that pops up sporadically and reminds me to wait the right way – with patience and expectation.

Yeah. I’m still in line at the DMV.

As I look around, I see some people waiting with relaxed smiles, knowing soon they will be at the front of the line. They have enough faith in the process and experience with the system to know their time is coming eventually. Do you have enough faith in God’s system to know your time will come soon, too?

Question: do I have enough trust in God to trust His process, and do I have enough experience with Him to trust His system?

My Prayer for how to wait on God…

“Give me the discernment to know when to wait being still and when to wait in productive diligence.

Lord, teach us how to wait on that spouse, job, deliverance, move of the Spirit, ministry direction, provision, etc.

Lord teach us to wait to know we can count on your system, and soon we’ll be at the front of the line.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.”

My turn!

Well, lookie here! I’m next in line to get my tags! Go figure.

Joyce Meyer has a great take on this “waiting” think too.

OMG! After I wrote this, I searched for a video to help you drive this home. I found one from Joyce Meyer and it says a lot of what I’ve already written! Yayyuh! Check it out below!

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  Awesome Tithing and offering Bible Verses

GodsyGirl is a Christian lifestyle blog featuring Christian faith articles written by an ordinary Christian woman blogger, Christian inspirational podcaster, and a pastor’s wife. GodsyGirl is about Christian inspiration and living your fullest life as a fabulous Christian woman. Explore GodsyGirl.com to find articles on everything from daily Christian living to hair, makeup, and living your absolute best life!