“Wait on the Lord, be of good courage and He shall strengthen your heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord!” – Psalm 27:14

What comes to mind when you hear the phrase “wait on the Lord”? It’s commonly thrown around amongst believers as the inevitable solution to pretty much every challenge.

Perhaps when we hear this, we picture great moments in biblical history, like:

• Daniel waiting in the lion den overnight
• Jonah waiting 3 days and nights in the fish’s belly
• Noah waiting approximately 370 days on the ark before stepping off onto dry land
• Ezekiel laying on his side an waiting for 430 days
• David waiting 14 years to become king of Israel
• etc.

Maybe we think about our own waiting on ‘unanswered’ prayers, or trying to discern the will go God, or of seemingly endless struggles.

This is a topic which I’m sure, if you are like me, you’ve wondered about from time to time: are we just supposed to sit back and do nothing?

Let’s take a moment together to dive into the word and look at this. Because what I’ve found in scripture is that there are two approaches to waiting: one is passive, unfruitful, and frustrating and the other is active, purposeful, and rewarding.

In Matthew 25:14-30, we reach about the parable of the talents, but rather than focusing on the normal angle of talents and multiplying talents, let’s look at this as a lesson on how to act during periods of waiting

Here we see the principle pitfall when it comes to performing the act of waiting on God. It is the condition of our heart.

While waiting, do we experience peace, or fear? Hope, or despair? Expectation, or doubt?

The condition of the unprofitable servant’s heart was one of fear, despair, and doubt. He even admits it to the Master at His return.

If we are honest with ourselves, this is often why we neglect using the resources Yah has given us. Because we too are afraid. We wait on God, thinking that we must be passive in our waiting, fearful that should we do anything or take any type of action that we are overstepping and taking matters into our own hands.

But that is far from the truth.

In fact, just prior to this parable, we read in verses 1-13 of the ten virgins, and the juxtaposition of actively waiting vs passively waiting.

In the parable of the virgins, we find these 10 individuals all waiting patiently for the bridegroom, or as the analogy is, 10 people waiting for Yah’s direction, intervention, decision, or answer.

Of these 10, only 5 took responsibility. They recognized the part they had to play in the waiting. The amount of oil in their lamps was completely in their control. The other 5 did not recognize that the oil was in their control. And when the time came, they tried to pass of responsibility elsewhere. Surely in their minds they were thinking that they did due diligence by waiting patiently. They asked the other 5 to be responsible for them, and I presume if given the chance, they would have blamed the bridegroom himself for their lack of oil if they had the chance.

How does this relate to us? Think of the common example of waiting for a husband or wife. I hear a lot of young adults lament about the fact that they are unable to find a suitable spouse. The cliche thing that everyone always tells them it to “wait on God and He will provide”. Which is almost like saying: “sorry, you can’t do anything about that, you may as well sit on your hands and hope for the best!”

What part does that person waiting need to play? Surely Yahweh does not expect, nor want, them to sit around idly twittling their thumbs!  Like the righteous 5 virgins, Yah would expect the person who is waiting for him to be actively evaluating what is in their control and then taking responsibility for it.

In this particular example of waiting for a spouse, a person has control over how often they go and socialize, how they act, what they are studying and preparing themselves for, and so forth.

Earlier I listed some people who had to wait for God in numerous circumstances, which we read about in scripture. We see in these situations, whether it was Jonah in the fish’s belly or David fleeing from Saul; they all recognized what was in their control to do in order to play an active role in waiting, and took responsibility for it.

Yah will take care of the things that we can’t, so we should be taking care of the things we can.

Let’s go back to the example of the 10 virgins. They were all waiting for a specific outcome, the coming of the bridegroom and the marriage feast. But when the time finally came, 5 of them were not ready.

Waiting on God is NOT like sitting in a waiting room. Our waiting on Yah should be filled with anticipation, expectance, and watchfulness.

In Acts 16:16-26, we see the story of Paul and Silas being thrown into prison, and how they act when that happens.

What were Paul and Silas doing while in the prison, waiting for God? Did they sit there on their hands silently praying? Waiting in a passive way? No, they were praising and worshipping the Lord! They were clearly expectant that Yahweh would deliver them as an end to their waiting. They were preparing their hearts for rejoicing, as well as preparing those around them.

Let’s relate this to a common scenario today. Suppose you have a terrible job, a low paying job, (or no job at all), and you pray and you are waiting for an answer. You are waiting on some sort of direction or a blessing to come out of nowhere. We are to follow the example of Paul and Silas here. To be expectant of that answer, that job. And to be actively preparing ourselves for it! Training, honing our interview skills, studying new skills, etc.

This concept can be applied to almost any situation. When my wife and I aren’t sure about a financial outcome, and we are praying and waiting for Yah’s guidance, I actively plan ahead for multiple scenarios so that when the answer or guidance does come, we are already prepared for it! We already have our extra oil.

The 5 virgins who were not prepared show me that they were not as hopeful. They did not wait with as much anticipation as the other 5. If they really were confidently expectant (which is the true definition of “hope”), surely they would have also been prepared.

Nobody prays for rain and then leaves their umbrella at home.

Consider these other verses which agree with the concept of being expectantly prepared:

“Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.” – Mark 11:22-24

“I wait for Yahweh, my soul waits, and in His word I do hope.” – Psalm 130:5

Of course, we can’t talk about waiting without remembering the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-13). The beginning of the tale teaches us about patience and contentment.

As with any family business, the son must wait until the father either passes away, or is ready to step down, in order to “get inheritance”. This particular son was not so good at waiting, as it says “not many days after”, whereas we know that the other son was with his father and worked alongside him every day for a very long time.

When I go through a particularly trying time of waiting for Yah, I often think of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the burning furnace, Daniel in the Lion’s den, Jonah in the belly of the fish, or Noah in the ark. They were all completely helpless in the outcome of their situation. Many of these men were already strong and righteous, but it was not until complete reliance on Yah was established before the end of their waiting came.

This is what I affectionately call the “spear at the back” moments, taken of course from the Israelite’s agitation at the edge of the red sea just before the waters parted.

In Exodus 14:8-14, Moses instructs the people that while they are waiting for Yahweh to intervene, they must learn the lesson of dependence.

In our lives, waiting periods can often be long and frustrating. Even painful at times. Especially when they are 200% out of our control. It is these moments where Yah is teaching us to be dependent upon Him as opposed to ourselves.

We must be actively learning our lessons of dependence in order for the waiting time to be beneficial.

Otherwise, the “waiting on God” is completely fruitless.

My last thought on the topic of waiting has to do with the implied part of the phrase “Waiting on God”, which really is just a quicker way of saying “waiting to figure out what God’s will is in this situation”.

I have always bristled a bit at people who talk about God’s will as if it’s some unknown thing. As if Yah is up there just randomly making up things as we go along, and we won’t know about it until it happens.

No – Yah’s will for mankind has already been recorded for us in the bible! It’s not some unknown thing!

“Surely the Lord God does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.” – Amos 3:7

Similarly, He also reveals his whole purpose for mankind, purpose for His teachings, and will for each of us individually in the pages of scripture.

Sometimes when people pray for Yah’s will to be known, for doors to be opened or shut, we are looking for some divine act from God. A clear spoken message, revelation, vision, or intervention. Not to say that those things don’t happen, because they do… But in reality, and much more often, Yah gives us a lot of free room to move around in. We aren’t on puppet strings.

“Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” – Romans 8:27-28

So while we are looking for Yah to tell us whether to go left or right, as long as both options are according to God’s will (aka: in alignment with scripture), then Yah will work it out for good (even if we pick the worse of the two!!).

Our Maker allows us free choice. It is less about whether His will is for us to choose option A or option B, and more about aligning our motives, goals, and actions with what is written in the word (which is God’s will).

“The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.” – Galatians 5:19-24

Against such there is NO law!

If our actions, goals, and motives are aligning with love, joy, and peace, and veering away from works of the flesh- we are indeed doing the will of God.

We try to narrow Yah’s will for us down to the finite detail, when in fact Yah has laid out for us a broad written will, that encompasses our character and heart instead.

So while we wait for an answer from the Father, we should be making sure our character, heart, and behavior is mimicking what He is speaking to us from the bible, That is the way to “look for God’s will” in periods of waiting.

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So what do the 5 foolish virgins and the unprofitable servant have in common? They all waited for the Master, but they all waited passively.

Let’s not wait like they waited.

Let’s recognize and take action on what is in our control. Waiting is not biding our time. Waiting is not being lazy. We must be responsible.

Let’s be prepared, having anticipation and great expectation of the outcome of our waiting. We do not want to be caught unprepared, like the virgins with no oil.

Let’s be willing to learn the lessons of dependence. Coming to the conclusion through patience that sometimes contentment will be the outcome of waiting.

Let’s align our actions, goals, and motivations with what is already written.

Friends, I hope we can all become more active participants in the waiting lines of life, as we look expectantly for Yah’s guidance and answers.