How To Wait On The Lord?
King David knew from experience what it meant to wait on the Lord (Psalm 27:14). While David was waiting, he was chased through the wilderness by jealous King Saul. David had to wait on God for the fulfillment of His promise to reign as king. And, after becoming king, David was chased by his rebellious son Absalom. But, David did not give up, even though he was discouraged at times. The Bible says in 1 Samuel 30: 6 that when David was distressed, he “encouraged himself in the Lord his God.”
Waiting on God is not easy, and that is one of the reasons why depression comes. Often it seems God is not answering our prayers or doesn’t understand the urgency of our situation. That kind of thinking, however, implies that God is not in control or is not fair. But God is worth waiting for. Often God calls us to wait because He uses waiting to refresh, to renew, and to teach us. We should try to make good use of our waiting time by discovering what God may be trying to teach us while we wait.
There are several ways we can wait on God:
Focus directly on the Lord and not on our problem. Praise God for Who He is and read His Word on a regular basis. If we take our focus off of God, we are bound to fail and spiral even further into depression.
Continue in prayer until we receive our answers. God does not always answer our prayers immediately, sometimes it takes a while. What we may not realize is that while we are waiting, our faith and trust in God is becoming stronger.
Thank God for the renewed strength He has given you through your time of waiting on Him. Your renewed strength and your new perspective allows you to see God as greater than your problems. Therefore, the higher you climb spiritually, the smaller your problems will appear.
Since God has all strength, there is no reason for us to quit. Even the strongest people can get tired and become depressed, but God’s power and strength never diminish. He is never too tired, too depressed or too busy to listen to our prayers. God’s strength is our source of strength. So, when you feel life is weighing you down and you cannot go another step, admit that you cannot solve your problems and turn them over to God. Call upon God and ask for His help, then watch your hope return and receive a renewed strength.
When we become discouraged, we forget God’s mercies and blessings of the past and become fearful of about the future. The enemy will do everything in his power to get us to think that God has forgotten us.
But God says in His Word, “I will never leave you or forsake you” (Hebrews 12:5)
Psalm 27:14 says, “Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: Wait, I say, on the Lord!”
