3 ways to wait patiently for the Lord
With a few exceptions, I believe that one of the hardest things we have to do in this life is to wait. We all understand what it means to wait because we all have. We have heard or seen comparisons and reactions from those who did not respond well to having to wait. We may be able to remember moments or events in our life when we didn't respond well to waiting.
Although the answers to the wait vary, what is the right Christian answer? Is he going on a rampage? Or throw a tantrum? Going back and forth? Or maybe even twisting your fingers? Obviously not.
For many, waiting is something that is tolerated. However, God has a greater purpose in our waiting. We will see that when we do it in God's ways, there is great value in waiting for the Lord. God truly desires to develop patience in our life. But what is our part in this?
1. The Lord wants us to wait patiently
“Let endurance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, with nothing missing” (James 1: 4).
The word perseverance here indicates endurance and continuity. The Biblical Dictionary of Thayer and Smith defines it as "... the characteristic of a man who is not sidetracked by his deliberate purpose and his loyalty to faith and piety even in the greatest trials and sufferings."
Is this the kind of patience we exercise? This is the kind of patience the Lord would see manifested in us. There is a surrender that is involved in this, because we have to allow patience to have its place in our life, with the end result that we will be brought to spiritual maturity. Waiting patiently helps us grow.
Job was a man who showed this kind of patience. Through his afflictions, he chose to wait for the Lord; and yes, patience is a choice.
“As you know, we consider blessed those who have endured. You have heard of Job's endurance and have seen what the Lord has done in the end. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy ”(James 5:11).
This verse literally states that we are considered blessed when we endure, and the result of our patient endurance, even under the most difficult circumstances, is that we will be the recipients of God's compassion and mercy. We cannot go wrong in waiting for the Lord!
young woman looking wistfully out of a window, for those who have not done great things for God
2. The Lord wants us to look forward to it
“Be patient, therefore, brothers and sisters, until the Lord comes. See how the farmer waits for the earth to produce its precious harvest, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains ”(James 5: 7).
To be honest, sometimes waiting for the Lord is like watching grass grow; when it will happen! Rather, I choose to look at the waiting of the Lord like looking at an old-fashioned grandfather clock whose hands cannot be seen moving, but you know they are because time passes. God works all the time with our best interests in mind and moves at His pace.
Here in verse seven, the word patience carries with it the idea of long-suffering. This is how many of us view waiting - as a form of suffering. But that's not what James is pulling out. He is stating that there will be times when we will simply have to wait - for a long time!
It has been said that we live in a generation of microwaves (I imagine we now live in a generation of air fryers); the idea is that we want what we want no earlier than now. But in the spiritual realm, that's not always the case. James here gives the example of the farmer who plants his seed and waits for his harvest. But how should it wait? The word wait in this verse means to seek or wait with expectation. This word is used many other times in the New Testament and gives us more information about waiting waiting.
"Here a great number of the disabled lied: blind, lame, paralyzed" (John 5: 3).
This family history of the disabled man at the Bethesda Pool shows us that this man was looking forward to the movement of the waters.
"For he looked forward to the city with its foundations, whose architect and builder is God" (Hebrews 11:10).
Here, the writer of Hebrews speaks of Abraham, who looked and waited expectantly for the heavenly city.
So this is the expectation we should have as we wait for the Lord. There is one last way I believe the Lord would like us to wait.
3. The Lord wants us to wait firmly
“Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Don't let anything move you. Always dedicate yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your toil in the Lord is not in vain ”(1 Corinthians 15:58).
The fact that this verse is not about waiting shouldn't discourage us. It does talk about a specific period of heart, mind and spirit that we should possess as we live our calling. I believe these same qualities of being firm and steadfast should also be present when we find ourselves waiting for the Lord. We shouldn't allow anything to take us away from our expectations.
There are naysayers, taunts, and haters who thrive on undermining your hope. David understood this. As he was running away for his life from King Saul, waiting for the time when he would again be before the Lord in the temple with his people, we read twice:
"My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me all day, 'Where is your God?'" (Psalm 42: 3).
"My bones suffer deathly agony as my enemies insult me, telling me all day, 'Where is your God?'" (Psalm 42:10).
If we do not have a firm determination to wait for the Lord, words like these have the ability to crush and tear from us the patient and full expectation that awaits the Lord.
Probably the most familiar and defining Scripture regarding the expectation of the Lord is found in Isaiah 40:31. It is read:
“But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not tire, walk and not tire ”(Isaiah 40:31).
God will restore and refresh our strength so that we have the power for the work that needs to be done. We must remember that it is not our strength, or with our power, that His will is done; it is by and through his Spirit how he strengthens us.
The ability to embitter our situation
Riding with wings like eagles offers us a "vision of God" of our circumstance. It makes us see things from a different perspective and prevents difficult times from overwhelming or overwhelming us.
The ability to move forward
I believe that God always wants us to move forward. We must never withdraw; we have to stand still and see what it will do, but this is not withdrawing; waits impatiently. While we wait for it like this, there is nothing we cannot do.
Waiting teaches us to trust him, even in the most difficult conditions. Let's take another page from David's songbook:
“Wait for the LORD; be strong and have courage and wait for the Lord ”(Psalm 27:14).
Amen!