What Does it Mean to Wait for the Lord? (Psalm 27 Devotional)
“Wait for the Lord. Be strong and let your heart take courage. Yes, wait for the Lord.” – Psalm 27:14
I’ve heard it said that God has 3 answers to our prayers - yes, no, and wait. Almost certainly, the third is the most difficult. Sometimes we sense in our Spirit a clear yes or no from God. With either of these, even if it is disappointing, there is a certainty.
We can hear God’s voice in many ways. It can be a prompt in our spirit as we pray, a still small voice as we read scripture, or even a word from a pastor’s message, or a conversation with a friend. When we hear God in this way, we know what we should do (even if the answer is difficult). But often in decisions, we cannot seem to hear His voice clearly. It is as if He has gone quiet.
I have often said there are 3 ways we experience God in our walk with Him. One is when He is leading us from ahead. Calling us to follow-to “come this way”. The second is when it feels like He is right beside us. We sense Him right there with us, walking alongside us. Those are especially precious times. But the third is when it seems like He is not there at all. We pray and hear nothing. We seek but do not find, ask but are not answered.
Often in those moments, God is desiring that we wait upon Him before we move.
It is most often when we move on our own accord that we get into trouble or sin. In 1 Samuel 13, Saul’s army was hard-pressed. The Philistines were on the move against the kingdom of Israel. Israel's warriors were hiding in caves or the forests, terrified. Saul needed God to move. But he had to wait for the prophet Samuel to come and offer the sacrifice to God. So, Saul waited for Samuel for a whole week, while the enemy army was pressing against them. He grew impatient. Israel needed deliverance and, in his estimation, needed it NOW.
So, he took matters into his own hands. He decided that HE, the king of Israel needed to act. Even though he knew that Samuel was the one God appointed to offer the sacrifice, he felt he could not wait any longer. It seems that Saul thought it was the sacrifice that would get God’s hand to move against his enemy, not his obedience. He made the mistake of thinking God was more concerned with outward actions rather than an inner state of the heart.
So, he offered the sacrifice himself. But when Samuel arrived and saw what Saul had done, out of impatience, mistrust, disobedience, arrogance, and misinterpretation of the spirit of God’s commands, he said “Your kingdom will be taken away from you.”
We too can desire to take things into our hands, move things along when we do not see God moving how we want Him to. But there are times when the most effective thing we can do is to wait on God.
When you are at a decision point, listen for the yes and no, but also listen closely for the ‘wait’. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up on wings like eagles, they will rest and will not faint.
Questions for Thought
Was there ever a time in your life you moved without fully waiting on God and got in trouble because of it?
Do you ever feel like God is not responding to your prayers?
What does it mean to wait on God?
