What Waiting on the Lord Actually Means

Please enjoy this guest post from a single sister, my friend Rachel:

When I was 27, a sweet friend from church gifted me a devotional: Meditations for Seasons of Waiting. Thirty days — morning, noon, and evening — to read, re-read, and mull over 30 different passages of Scripture on waiting. This was a timely gift because I’d been asking God to teach me what it meant to wait on Him. “Wait on the Lord,” was a phrase that I’d heard my whole life, but I didn’t really know what it meant. All throughout the Bible we see stories of waiting –– Abraham and Sarah, Elizabeth and Zechariah, Israel in Egypt, the Jews waiting for the Messiah. The Psalms are replete with exhortations to take heart, to wait on the Lord, to wait for Him. But what does that mean we are doing?

If I’m being totally honest, there was a part of me that thought: I’ll walk through this process and at the end of the 30 days, I’ll have learned how to wait, and my waiting will be over. God will place a guy in my life. Not that it’s ever happened that way. If I had a nickel for every time I’ve heard, “As soon as you’re content, as soon as you stop looking, that’s when a husband usually appears.” Does he appear though? Also: Who really stops looking? Is there a superior level of contentment or satisfaction in the Lord that we’re striving to achieve in order to be deemed worthy of a husband?  Marriage is not a reward for following Jesus. He is the reward. That is the relationship He died to give us.

I was reminded of this day after day as I walked through the little booklet. I kept seeing the same thing in every passage: Encouragement to look for His hand, to seek Him out, to wait for Him to reveal Himself in new ways, to rest in what He’s actually promised, to hope in Him –– not a change in circumstances. Themes of eternity also emerged as the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart about waiting for His return. 

I distinctly remember a cold Sunday that February when I was positioning myself to talk to this guy I was interested in. We’ve all been there. I purposefully sat in a specific place (attempting to look natural of course). I kept getting up, pacing, sitting back down, “reading” a book, just waiting for him to walk in and talk to me. The Holy Spirit used it as an answer to my prayer, giving me a picture of waiting and gently whispering to my heart: Do you wait for Me like this? Do you look for My presence in your life simply because you delight in Me? And, do you anticipate My return? Do you long for it –– for the day you’ll meet Me face to face? 

When we are waiting to see a loved one or looking forward to a certain event, we put it on the calendar. We prepare for it. We tell everyone that we’re excited and looking forward to it. We count down the days. We wait with joy and anticipation. Do we wait on and for the Lord like this?

The past few years, I’ve been struck by how much of the Christmas story is about waiting. In the second chapter of Luke’s gospel, we read about this guy named Simeon in Jerusalem. We don’t know much about him other than that he was a “righteous” and “devout man” who was “waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him” (v. 25). Simeon was waiting to meet the Messiah. He knew the Messiah was coming because he knew God’s promises and he trusted in God’s faithfulness. And, he knew that this promise would be fulfilled in his lifetime because “it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ” (v. 26). I love Simeon’s reaction when Mary and Joseph bring Jesus into the temple. It says: “he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, ‘Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel’” (v. 28-32).

“Now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation . . .” He was at peace because he’d met his Savior. That’s where his hope was. 

This doesn’t mean that we don’t ask God to move in our individual lives or that we don’t hope for certain gifts on this earth. In fact, we see Zechariah and Elizabeth do just that a chapter earlier. 

Absolutely, we ask Him to move. We look for His hand. We know that He has His glory and our good in mind. We pour out our hearts to Him. We praise Him. We reflect on what He’s done. We bring our anxieties to Him with thanksgiving. We share our unmet desires with Him. We ask for help to trust His answer. We cry. We rejoice. And, He meets us there. He is near. He shows up –– sometimes with what we asked for, sometimes with something else, and always with the gift of Himself. He has promised He is always with us and will never leave us or forsake us. And, He says, “Surely, I am coming soon” (Revelation 22:20 ESV). 

Are we waiting for it? Are we preparing for it like we would prepare for a wedding day? Are we ready to meet Jesus face to face at the marriage supper of the Lamb?

Lord, teach us to wait on You and for You. Make our hearts eager and expectant for Your return, and may it change the way we live. Come thou long expected Jesus.

Our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name. Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you (Psalm 33:20–22 ESV).

Would love to connect on Instagram @rach_walking7 !