Waiting on God
Over the last few weeks, a new song called Wait on You has breathed new life into the posture of waiting for me.
Waiting, for many of us, is an inconvenient, frustrating, and even trying time. We wait on simple things. Wait in lines. Wait at traffic lights. Wait for the weekend. And we wait on complex things. On relationships to change. On God’s provision. On answers to prayer.
What have you been waiting on?
As I’ve meditated on the simple lyrics of this song, I began to notice that I usually categorize “waiting on” something as equal to “waiting on” God. I’ve thought that since God is causing me to wait, I therefore must be waiting on Him.
But so often we end up waiting on the thing that God will give, or do, or provide, or answer, or change, or shift, rather than God Himself. We wait on God as a means to an end, rather than waiting in active relationship with God.
Pastor Danny’s series about the Father really dug into the heart of this. God has all the delightful and desirable things we want already in His heart. He is for us. His heart is intentional and wise and good. But it can be so easy to think “Life begins when….(fill in the blank).”
But if we do that for too long, we end up putting-off the good relationship with God for a an unknown timeline in an unknown future…rather than waiting on God Himself. God who is actually with us now. In this reality we're living in. God has those gifts and provisions in His heart toward us and within that relationship can provide more than we ask or imagine.
“I know You’ve ordered every step
Yeah, You are the author
And there’s no predicting what is next
But You hold the future
And all the questions, they come second
To the one I know is true, yeah
Oh, You’ve always been trying
So I’m gonna wait on You, yes
I’m gonna wait on You
I’ve tasted Your goodness
Trust in Your promise
I’m gonna wait on You ”
Gideon, from Judges Chapter 6, is a great example of dislocated waiting. We find Gideon hiding in the winepress from the Midianite oppressors. And God shows up to Him and says “I am with you, mighty warrior!”
Gideon responds with skepticism, he replies to God, “[You’re] With me, my master? If [You are] with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all the miracle-wonders our parents and grandparents told us about, telling us, ‘Didn’t God deliver us from Egypt?’ The fact is, God has nothing to do with us—he has turned us over to Midian.
Woof. Sounds like my thought-life sometimes. But how cool during active conversation with God, this angry, bitter, doubtful thought is expressed and becomes a powerful part of Gideon's prayer-life!
God's relationship with Gideon actually confronts the disappointment and pain of Gideon, and in that exchange Gideon’s heart is adjusted. Gideon and all Israel is hiding from the oppression they're facing, but God enters into their story, enters into Gideon's timid lifestyle and calls him the exact opposite: Might Warrior. Gideon had waited so long on God that the pain and struggled had caused him to despair of God’s involvement. His waiting was out of joint. But that didn't change what God saw in Gideon. And God knew Gideon's potential with God on his side
God re-interpreted Gideons worries and fears: “I’ll be with you. Believe me…”
As Gideon trusts, the scriptures record that, “God’s Spirit came over Gideon.”
The Spirit will be doing a deep work in us, too, while we’re waiting…but not just waiting—waiting on Him.
Turning from our situations toward His face, His presence. Turning from our despair to His words. Turning from overwhelming longing to His love.
What does God have for you in this season? What powerful encounter might you have while you wait on Him?