What Does it Mean to Wait on the Lord?

Waiting on God can feel confusing, frustrating, and even discouraging—especially when you’ve been praying for a long time and nothing seems to change. In this episode, we’re talking about what it really means to “wait on the Lord” from a biblical perspective—and how to hold onto hope when you feel weary in the waiting.

Transcript

Hello, my name is Tiffany, and welcome to the podcast, Working on Amazing. This is a podcast where we talk about the work that it takes to rebuild an amazing life.

Now, in today's episode, we're gonna be talking about what it means to wait on the Lord. Have you heard that phrase before?

If you're a Christian, if you've grown up in Christian circles, if you're a person of faith, I think there's a good chance you've heard the phrase, wait on the Lord. But what does it mean?

I think if you're in a season of change and transition, if it feels like your life has been turned upside down, there's a good chance you may be waiting on the Lord.

I mean, this podcast is designed for women who feel like they're starting over in the middle of their life. Starting over is overwhelming and it's frustrating. We really want an answer now.

And it can feel confusing, and it can feel frustrating and discouraging. When you've been praying for a really long time, and nothing seems to change. That's what I want to talk about.

What does it really mean to wait on the Lord from like a biblical perspective? And how do we hold on to hope when we're weary in waiting? Because that's the reality of where a lot of us are, right?

We really are praying, we're calling out to God, we're saying, I need you to move on my behalf. And when we do that repeatedly, it gets weary. So what does it mean to wait on the Lord?

Well, the first thing I want to say when it comes to waiting on the Lord, is that waiting is not passive, it's active, it's active trust. Waiting on God is not sitting still and doing nothing.

It's choosing to trust Him while you continue to live, grow, and move forward. Biblical waiting involves trusting his timing, obeying what you already know to do, and staying spiritually engaged. It's active.

Waiting on the Lord is active. It's not passive. Waiting on God isn't about putting your life on pause.

It's about learning how to trust Him while your life is still unfolding. And I think when we talk about waiting being active, not passive, I think there's a really important distinction to make here.

There is a difference between waiting on God and waiting for God. And they sound identical. It sounds like you could use those two phrases interchangeably, doesn't it?

I'm waiting on God, I'm waiting for God. We're just like, same difference. But there really is a pretty big distinction when you break it down.

Waiting for God means I'm stuck here until he moves, until he changes my finances, until he moves on my behalf in my relationship, until God does X, Y, or Z, I'm stuck. I'm waiting for God to do something, all right?

Waiting on God looks like leaning into him. It looks like growing in a relationship with him. It looks like being strengthened by him.

And I know you might still be confused by the waiting on and the waiting for. So let's bring it into really modern language. Do we wait for somebody today?

In modern terms, in plain English, when do we use the term, I'm waiting on somebody versus waiting for somebody? So if you're waiting for somebody to come over to your house, you're gonna host a dinner party, you're waiting for people to come.

So you might sit in your house, you're waiting for them to show up. Maybe you're in the car, you drive, you get to a stop sign, you wait for the other car to go through the four way stop, and then you go.

So when you wait for somebody, it's a very passive role. You wait for them to do what they're going to do, and then you do what you're going to do. It's almost like taking turns.

I wait for somebody to show up, then I get to host a dinner party, I wait for the other car to turn, then I get to go forward. It's a kind of almost a back and forth thing. And it's very passive.

While we're waiting, we're being passive when we wait for somebody. What is the difference with waiting on somebody? Do we even use that term in today's English?

Well, yes, actually, we do. Have you ever been to a restaurant and sat down at a table and a server comes up? And what do they do?

They wait on you. Isn't that the term we use? It is, isn't it?

Have you ever gone to a store and needed help? Maybe something's behind the counter and you need help with it. And a staff member who works at that store comes up, and what do they do?

They wait on you. Waiting on somebody is active. Waiting for somebody is passive.

And what does the Bible say? Well, Isaiah 40 verse 31 says, those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. It is telling us to wait on God.

That is an active role. That's not the passive role. Waiting for somebody is passive.

That's sitting down on the couch. That's putting yourself in a waiting room. God, you do your thing.

I'll sit back here until you clear the way, and then I'll move forward. Waiting on God is an active role. We are engaged with him in a relationship.

We're tuned in. We're actively trusting. We're actively leaning on.

There is an active role here. And that sound, they sound so similar, but the distinction is very, very different, right? Between the active and the passive.

And the Bible is calling us to actively wait on God, just like maybe a server would wait on you. Can we wait on God that way? Can we say, okay, God, what do you need from me?

Let me serve you. Let me help you. Let me be tuned in.

Let me listen to you while I'm waiting for this thing to unfold. Okay? We wait on God.

And that is very, very different than when we read it, and it says, wait on the Lord. Those that wait on the Lord will renew their strength. We switch that to wait for the Lord in our head without even realizing it.

And we put ourselves in this very, very passive role, where we sit in a spiritual waiting room, waiting for God to move on our behalf. And we get frustrated and discouraged, but it's because we're taking a very passive role.

God is inviting us to an active role. I want to also say, there is the active and passive waiting. And there's also the point that even when we don't see it, God is working on our behalf.

I think one of the hardest parts about waiting on the Lord is silence or lack of visible progress. That can feel hard. But throughout scripture, God often works behind the scenes, and delays are not denials.

8:16

Stories of Patience

There are three people in scripture that I want to talk about that had to wait. And I want to remind you of their stories to encourage you. Do you remember Joseph?

Joseph was the one who had the coat of many colors. And if you remember the story of Joseph, he was his dad's favorite. He wasn't the youngest, but he was the next to the youngest.

He had older brothers, and all of his brothers would make up the tribes of Israel. But at the time, they were just his brothers, and he was one of them. And because he was the favorite, his brothers didn't like him.

There was a lot of animosity between him and his siblings. And then he went so far as to have these dreams, and he would share them with his family. He was the dreamer.

He had dreams, and he said, I had this dream where mom and dad and all my brothers were bowing down to me, and I was the one in charge. And they thought he was just full of himself, like his brothers really couldn't stand him.

To the point, they took Joseph, and they sold him into slavery. His own flesh and blood, his own brothers took him and sold him into slavery. They were gonna kill him.

But one brother spoke up and said, no, we shouldn't kill him. These slave traders are coming, and they sold their brother into slavery. And Joseph was a slave for over 10 years.

I don't remember the exact numbers, but it was probably about 10 years plus or minus that he was a slave. And he did good as a slave, as good as you could do when you are a slave. He rose up in the ranks, and he was doing good.

But the slave owner had a wife, and that wife got Joseph in trouble. She tried to come on to him sexually, and Joseph's like, no. And then she calls the scene and accused Joseph of horrible things.

And so Joseph went from being a slave to being thrown into prison. And once again, he was in prison for 10 plus years. This time period of slavery in prison was over 20 years of Joseph's life.

So he had this dream that he was going to be this great guy, and he was going to do all these great things. And he gets sold into slavery, and then he's in prison. He waited a really long time.

He had to have grown so discouraged. Like there was this hope, there was this dream you put in my heart, you told me the way life was going to be, and it doesn't look anything like I thought it would. Nothing looks like I thought it would look.

Can you relate to that? I can. But we know the end of Joseph's story.

We don't sit in the middle, because that's uncomfortable. And that might be where we are right now, in the middle. But what happened with Joseph?

Well, we know that Pharaoh had a dream. Nobody could interpret a dream. And through a set of circumstances, there was somebody who said, oh, Joseph's in prison.

I bet he could interpret your dream, and sure enough, he did. And the dream was, Egypt was going to have this great harvest for seven years. Great, great harvest.

But after that, seven years of planting, there would be seven years of harsh, harsh, harsh famine. And so Joseph explained this to the Pharaoh, this is what his dreams meant.

And the Pharaoh put Joseph in charge of collecting all the grain, and storing it up during the years of planting, so that they would have grain for the years of famine, right? So Joseph suddenly goes from prisoner to prince, right?

I mean, in a figurative term, he was a high-ranking official in the Egyptian government, very, very high-ranking official, because he got the keys to the kingdom, the city, he stored all this grain.

And then when the famine did hit, he was in charge of distributing it. So everybody needed food, and Joseph was the one that oversaw making sure everybody got food.

And because Egypt, of course, was hit, but then all the surrounding areas were hit with famine, right? It wasn't just Egypt, it wasn't contained to one location, it was spread out. So remember those brothers who sold Joseph into slavery?

Well, they were outside of Egypt, but they were like, we have no food, we're going to starve. So what do they do? They're like, well, we hear that Egypt is rationing out grain, we're going to go and get some grain.

And they do. And of course, there's this thing where Joseph recognizes them, and whatever, and everything works out. But sure enough, Joseph's dream from back when he was a kid kind of came true.

Everybody kind of bowed down to him, right? He was the one that was in charge in helping make sure that all these people survived a really, really harsh famine.

Not just all the people in Egypt, in one nation, but even outside of that nation because the famine extended a really large area.

And Joseph, through interpreting the dream and then actively preparing for the situation based on the knowledge that God gave him, he was the figure that ended up ensuring that so many people would be fed and eat during a famine.

God used him in a mighty way, mighty way, and he had to wait. And he had to wait in prison, and he had to wait as a slave. And he had to hold on to a promise that felt so threadbare before it ever came true.

If you feel like you're holding on, and it's just a thread at this point, be encouraged. There are great men in the Bible who have done the same. What about David?

Do you remember the story of David? David was a shepherd boy? Let's talk about his story.

David was the king of Israel, but how did he start? How did his story start? Like back when he was a shepherd boy?

Well, Samuel had anointed Saul the king of Israel, right? Saul was the first king of Israel, but Saul was not doing what the Lord wanted him to do. He was listening to God.

And so Samuel, who was a prophet, said, you are no longer going to be king. You won't stay king forever. God is going to anoint a new king.

And so I was like, yeah, yeah, you're just a prophet. So Samuel goes out and says, I am going to anoint a king. And God talks to Samuel.

Samuel goes to this guy, Jesse's house, and says, one of your sons is gonna be king. God told me, bring your sons out so I can anoint the king of Israel. And Samuel looks at all the sons.

He talks to God, he prays. He's like, this isn't right. God told me one of your sons would be the next king of Israel, but none of these people are measuring up.

And Jesse, the dad, said, well, I mean, I do have one more son, but he's just a kid. I mean, he's out watching the sheep. He's just a little shepherd boy.

And he's like, please, Samuel is like, please call him, please bring him in. And so they bring in David, and sure enough, Samuel's like, you will be the next king of Israel. And he anoints David.

Okay, so David is this little shepherd boy. I don't know how old he is, but they use the term boy, so we know he's young, and he has anointed the next king of Israel.

But between being anointed king and being crowned king, are many years of waiting, many years. Right? So David kills Goliath, we know that.

We know that David and Saul have this really weird relationship, right? Saul sometimes takes David under his wing, and sometimes he tries to kill David. They just have this tumultuous thing between them.

And David grows into a man. And he is such a man, and such a leader, and so strong. It says that he has his mighty men.

He basically has a whole army that just follows him. I mean, it's pretty amazing. And we know when we start with the mighty men, and David and his mighty men, he isn't king yet.

So he went from being a shepherd boy when he was anointed king all the way up to being a man, a man strong enough to accumulate an army that were called David's mighty men, okay? So how many years was that? Was that 20, 25?

That he knew he was supposed to be king. He was anointed to be king, but Saul was still king just because a prophet said something that didn't make it so. He had to wait.

He had somebody chasing him. He had somebody trying to kill him, and he had to just wait. And maybe there were moments where he doubted.

Maybe he thought Samuel just had a bad breakfast that morning, and he anointed me. Maybe he didn't hear from God. Maybe this is all mixed up.

I could get killed on the battlefield. The king of Israel is actively trying to kill me. This looks so different from what I thought would happen.

When I was a kid, they called me in from tending the sheep, and the prophet anointed me. I thought my life would look drastically different from what it does right now. Waiting is so weary.

And we know that David did become king, right? We know he got the crown. We know he was a man after God's own heart.

And when we talk about David and the great men of the Bible, and so many people look at David, even David, the man after God's own heart had to wait, and he had to wait a while. What's another person in scripture that we know had to wait?

What about Abraham? Do you remember the story of Abraham? Abraham and Sarah?

Abraham is called the father of faith. So we know, like, this guy has got it going on. The father of faith, like, that is the term.

Even in the New Testament, when they talk about Abraham, they call him the father of faith. Like, whoo, this guy was a man of faith. And God promised him and Sarah that they would have a son.

And he told Abraham, you will be the father of nations. And there is an S there, it's nations plural. Not you will be the father of a nation, you will be the father of nations.

Like, not just one, multiple nations. You're going to be the father of that. And he's like, okay, that's great.

But Sarah is barren. Decades pass, and no baby. And what does Abraham do?

The father of faith. I mean, he is credited for outrageous, amazing faith. I mean, like, we know that, we hear that, we hear people in the New Testament looking at him.

He is the father of our faith. But what did he do? He was given a promise.

And he said, I must have heard wrong. I mean, I can raise a son, he can be my son. Sarah clearly can't have a baby.

So Abraham decided to sleep with Sarah's maid. Sarah had a maid, Abraham slept with her to have a baby, so he could help God fulfill the promise God had given him.

Abraham, the father of faith, was credited with so much faith, says, you know what, I need to help God fulfill the promise he gave to me. I need to help. And God said, no, I told you to wait.

I told you I would give you a son. And so when Sarah was in her 80s, God said, I said I would give you a son, and she had a son. She had Isaac.

And God did what he said he would do, but it took decades, decades of waiting.

And the reason why I tell you these stories, and the reason why I think it's so important that we go over them, is to remind you that it is human, it is natural, it is okay to get discouraged, to grow weary. Even these great men of faith did that.

But what kept them on track is they kept their relationship with God active. They kept going back to him. All right, God, what did you say to do?

God, what do you need me to do? How do I need to act? Okay, I trusted myself instead of trusting you, I'm coming back.

They kept engaged with God.

22:23

Waiting Exposes Faith

I think the process of waiting on God often exposes things in us. It exposes our fears. When we're waiting on God, I'm afraid I won't have money to pay my bills.

I'm afraid this relationship is going to fall apart. I'm afraid they don't love me. I'm afraid this will happen.

I'm afraid that will happen. I'm afraid if everything falls apart. When we wait on the Lord, it exposes our fears.

When we wait on the Lord, it can expose our need for control. We need things to go a certain way. We really had it mapped out on our own, didn't we?

And if you look at just the three stories we glossed over, both Joseph and David and Abraham all had a different, probably, idea of the way their life was going to go in the beginning.

When their story started, when everything first happened, they really thought it was going to go a different way than the way it ended up going. And we think that. We have a different idea.

We really thought our life was going to go a different way, and now it feels like it's gone off the rails. Why are all these things happening this way? Why is it all falling apart?

When we wait on the Lord, it exposes our need for control. It also exposes our doubts, our doubts about God's goodness. Do we really believe that He works all things together for our good?

Do we really believe that we are the child of the King of Kings in the middle of a season where proverbially, like Joseph, we're sitting in prison when we're shackled in slavery?

Like, when we're in a season that feels horrific and horrible and we're waiting, do we doubt the goodness of God? Do you think Joseph did? And waiting exposes all these things in us, our fear, our need for control, our doubts.

But I'm here to tell you, that isn't failure, it's an invitation. It's an invitation to go back to God with them. It's an invitation to say, I surrender this fear to you, Lord.

I surrender this doubt. I surrender the need for control. It's an invitation.

It is not failure. It's actually human nature. Take the invitation.

Don't accept the failure. All right? The waiting season is either going to harden your heart or deepen your faith, and it all depends on how you walk through it.

I understand that when you're in a season of change and transition, when things aren't going your way, and you're crying out to God, and it feels like nothing is happening, you can feel overlooked, you can feel left behind, you feel forgotten by God.

But I am here to tell you, and please listen to me when I say, God sees you. He knows your timeline. He is the author and the finisher.

He was there at the beginning, and he has seen the end. He knows everything back and forth. And he is not late.

God has not overlooked you. He's not skipped your name. Your story is still being written.

26:27

Navigating Waiting

I don't know about you, but sometimes I want something tactile. If you're telling me that I need to wait on the Lord, please give me something practical to do. So that's what I want to do for you today.

I want to give you just like five little practical things that you can do to help you if you're in a season of waiting on the Lord.

Number one, stay rooted in the Word, even if it feels dry, even if you read the Bible and you just think it's words on a page. Keep reading, because we know that the Word is alive. We know that it's living and active, right?

So, it can be dry today, tomorrow. It feels crumbly. The words are just whatever.

But one day, it could be a month from now, three months from now. You read it again, and suddenly, you're like, wait a minute, what's that? What did that say?

It hits different. You see it in a different perspective. The words just jump off the page a little differently.

That's because the Word is alive, it's living. And even if it feels dry to you, keep reading, stay rooted in the Word. Number two, keep praying, pray honestly.

Don't worry about praying perfectly. Please don't worry about praying eloquently. Just be real with God, I need you.

Number three, take small steps forward in obedience. What's the last thing God told you to do? What do you know that you know that you know?

Look around your life, what has God told you to do? Maybe God called you to be a mother. And maybe parenting your children is your obedience.

Maybe what you did yesterday is what you do today, and what you do tomorrow. And maybe it's not a big revelation. Maybe what God wants you to do is keep on keeping on.

I don't know, what's the last thing God told you to do? Sometimes, it can feel weary doing the same thing over and over. I'm just being a mom.

But sometimes, that's obedience. And as long as we're in obedience and listening to God, that's the best place to be, even if it feels repetitive in the moment. Number four, surround yourself with encouragement.

I have encouraging scriptures and quotes on my desk. I have them on my bathroom mirror. I used to put them in my car.

Surround yourself with encouragement. Listen to Christian music. It's encouraging.

Surround yourself with encouraging people. Connect with other Christians who you can call, and they can encourage you and point you to God. Surround yourself with encouragement.

And the last thing I would tell you to do is release your expectations and your timelines. You know, Joseph and David and Abraham all probably had a very different timeline in their head at the beginning of their story than the way it played out.

They saw it probably in the early years being so different than what happened. And because we see the whole story from beginning to end, it makes sense to us. But you're still in the middle.

So release your expectations, release your timelines, and just trust God. And that's hard because we can't control God's timing, but we can control how we show up in the waiting. I know you feel exhausted.

I know that it's really discouraging. If you're tired of waiting, I just want you to know you're not weak. You're human.

And this is a great thing. God meets you right there in your weariness. It's okay.

God meets you. So, just as we close, I want to say, waiting is not wasted. God is present in the process, and there is a purpose even here.

Are you waiting on the Lord right now? Have you gone through a season of waiting? I would love to hear from you.

How did you make it through your season of waiting? You can find me online, www.workingonamazing.com. You can find me on social media.

I have an account on several platforms, but I do hang out on Facebook the most, and that's just a page, Working on Amazing. I would love to know how you made it through your season of waiting. I would love to pray for you.

What are you waiting for? What are you waiting to change? Reach out to me, let me know.

I truly would love to hear from you. Thank you so much for joining me today. I look forward to talking to you next time.

Bye.