What makes waiting so hard? Me.

We’ve all heard that right? We may be praying for circumstances to change; for a loved one to find salvation; for a child; for a loved one to overcome addiction, but in today’s culture of instant gratification, we don’t truly understand what it means to wait on the Lord.

Most people reduce it to being passive, silent, or inactive, that waiting on the Lord means doing nothing until God finally acts. That’s not biblical waiting. It is not spiritual procrastination, not an excuse to avoid doing things. When we wait on the Lord biblically, we actively wait. It’s a posture of trust, obedience, and true surrender in the space of God’s faithfulness, promise, and fulfillment. Scripture doesn’t present waiting as weakness, instead it frames it as strength under restraint.

Waiting reveals a faith anchored in the character of God rather than the timing we prefer.

Isaiah writes, “But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength.” (Isaiah 40:31)

This renewal is not in any way attached to circumstances changing, but the act of waiting itself. We have reassurance in settled conviction about God’s nature; He is faithful, wise, good, and sovereign. If we waiver in any of these truths, waiting can become unbearable. And when it does, when we become impatient, it reveals something about us, that we want things on our timeline more than we trust in God’s character.

Waiting on the Lord can force us to ask an uncomfortable question, “do I trust Him even when He withholds clarity?” Strength and courage are not passive traits, they require intentional discipline.

Waiting involves:

● Continuing in obedience when answers are delayed.

● Choosing faithfulness when outcomes are uncertain.

● Resisting the urge to manipulate, rush, or force doors open.

Waiting on the Lord is to refuse shortcuts that compromise obedience. Waiting says, “I will not move ahead of God, even if I am capable of doing so.”

Charles Spurgeon says “The waiting itself is beneficial to us: it tries faith, exercises patience, trains submission, and endears the blessing when it comes.” Waiting exposes our true desires, strips away illusions of control, and reveals whether we desire God himself, or merely what He can give us.

One of the Hebrew words for waiting is qavah, which combines tension with a sense of anticipation or looking ahead. Many are surprised by the tension of waiting, because some who claim to wait on the Lord actually wait for relief, clarity, success, or rescue. When we truly wait, it becomes holy. God Himself becomes the reward, not just the answer.

When we do not seek God while waiting, something I am frequently guilty of, anger, anxiety, and even apathy may follow. Anger may manifest outwardly as a “blow-up” but may simmer as a low-grade frustration. Sinful anger prompts rash action or a turning inward, an apathy, a self-protective posture that says, “I just don’t care anymore.” While waiting, I need to avoid these pitfalls and remind myself that waiting and seeking are inseparable. If I choose not to seek God in the waiting, I am merely enduring time, not actively engaging in faith.

David wrote several psalms while waiting: waiting to be king, waiting for deliverance, waiting for vindication, and more. In those seasons, God was not absent. He was forming David’s heart.

If we ever feel God’s silence in these times of waiting, know that is often the environment God uses to sharpen our spiritual hearing. God often prepares us in the waiting for what we are asking Him to give. Psalm 37:7 instructs us, “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him.” This stillness is not inactivity, it’s the refusal to strive anxiously for control. Waiting on the Lord is an act of surrender, the decision to trust that God’s ways and timing are so much better than our own.

Waiting confronts our need to manage outcomes and invites us to rest in the sovereignty that is God.

Waiting strengthens trust and grows our spiritual maturity by how faithfully we walk when our prayers are not answered quickly. It deepens trust, not by removing said hardship, but by anchoring our soul in God’s faithfulness. When we wait on the Lord, we learn to:

● Discern God’s voice,

● Endure uncertainty,

● Develop perseverance,

● Grow in humility, and

● Rely on God rather than ourselves .

Isaiah’s promise does not end with waiting, it ends with renewal: “They shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” Waiting is not wasted time; it is formative time. God never wastes a season of waiting. What we may feel like a delay is divine preparation. Silence is God’s refining work. Waiting on the Lord is not about standing still until He resumes, it is about becoming the person who can walk faithfully into whatever God brings next.

Remain obedient. Live with open hands and a steady heart. Be prayerful, hopeful, faithful even when progress feels slow.

Waiting is not weakness.

Waiting is worship.