How Am I Waiting on the Lord?

What are you waiting on the Lord for? Perhaps it’s guidance, good news, a job, a provision of some kind, or reconciliation with a loved one.

Are you finding that difficult?

Waiting well can be so hard.

I’ve been waiting on the Lord for months for a sense of closure on an issue that is out of my hands. There are aspects of this situation that stir up a desire to fight for things, to advocate for myself and others, to speak into situations, and to not be quiet or still.
Any attempt toward those things in this situation doesn’t seem to do any good.

So what does one do when they find that waiting may be just about the only thing they can do that will honor God?
What does it mean to wait on the Lord? Is waiting on the Lord passive or active?

When you find yourself in that situation when you want to do anything but wait….what do you do?

I’m asking myself this question this week: How am I waiting? Am I waiting well? 

First – I want to consider how I DON’T want to wait.

I don’t want to just ruminate on a matter without ever bringing the Lord and His truths into it. When I loathe the wait or the future, I want to honestly lament about the situation to the Lord. If I catch myself worrying about the situation, I want to repent and live by faith by asking for help and remembering the truth to counteract the worry.

So—what should waiting on the Lord look like? What does it look like to wait well?

We are told in the following scriptures to: take heart, put our hope in His Word, be still and wait patiently, fear not, stand firm, watch, find rest in God, and remember that our salvation comes from Him.
God’s Word invites us to take our eyes off of the situation and ourselves and look to Him.

How can we do this when we are troubled and anxious?

Something that helps me tremendously is lament.
According to Mark Vroegop, author of Dark Clouds Deep Mercy, “Lament is a prayer in pain that leads to trust.”
Lament can lead us from painful feelings to honestly crying out to God, asking for His help, and proclaiming trust as we wait.

The basic outline of a lament can be:
1)Crying out to God
2)Honest Complaint
3)Asking for Help
4)Proclaming Trust through Remembering Truth

If you are struggling to finish with the fourth step of remembering truth and proclaiming trust, here are some scriptures that might help:

Our Lord, Jesus, entrusted Himself to the Father and gave His life for us. If we have put our trust and faith in Him alone for salvation, He can help us entrust ourselves to Him. 

“When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” -1 Peter 2:23-24

We have a God who is capable of and who has a history of acting on behalf of His people.

“The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.” -Exodus 14:14

We can be hopeful because we have a God who creates and does new things.

“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” -2 Corinthians 5:17 “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” -Genesios 1:1
“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” -Genesis 1:27

We are called to wait on the Lord:

“Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!” -Psalm 27:14
“Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him…” -Psalm 37:7
“From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him.” -Isaiah 64:4
“I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.” -Psalm 130:5
“For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us.” -Psalm 62:5-8

If you are in a time of waiting and would like a free download of an easy-to-remember acronym for lament, please sign up for my newsletter and receive that along with some other freebies.

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