Often I bumble into people who deploy a rather nasty “Christian-ese”!! the practice of Christians adopting certain vocabulary into their speech, without really considering their true meaning, significance and/or application. One of those has become “I’m waiting on the Lord.” This is certainly a Scriptural principle. For example, Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD! Psalm 27:14
For many, this phrase has simply become a practical way of saying that they’re really not doing anything about the situation at-hand. Yet this is far from the Scriptural meaning. Instead, in the biblical conception, this idea of “waiting on the Lord” is a very active one. Rather than simply doing nothing, the biblical concept involves developing a very active obedience and dependence. Consider the case of Abram in Genesis 17, particularly verse 1: When Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless.

13 years have passed since Abram and Sarah had sought a human solution to the problem of not having a son. Abram, through Hagar had conceived Ishmael, who was by this time, 13 years old. But God comes to Abram reminding him that God’s purposes will not be accomplished through human means and, essentially tells them to wait because He was still working. But Abram is not told to wait in a merely passive sense of doing nothing. He is given a very clear and very high charge: walk before God and be blameless.

While some translations read: “walk before me and be perfect,” the actual meaning ties the two phrases together. It is actually the imagery of a sheep walking before a shepherd in complete trust and total dependence, knowing that he is always in the shepherd’s sight and under his care. In other words, God is telling Abram that he must be wholly devoted and dependent upon God; he must have no divided allegiances, he must trust fully. This is the essence of “waiting” on God and it is far from doing nothing.

Waiting on the Lord means forsaking fear, knowing that “perfect love casts out fear” 1 John 4:18 and that “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” Psalm 46:1. As Psalm 46 unfolds, we find earthquakes, roaring waves and trembling mountains, all moving to the famous command of verse 10: Be still, and know that I am God. Learning to be still in the storm is one of the hardest parts of the Christian life. It means that we fully and completely trust that God is sovereign, that He is, as He reveals Himself to Abram in Genesis 17:1, El Shaddai, God Almighty. Waiting on the Lord means absolute trust that He is sovereign and that He is at work, not only for His glory, but also for our good. Consder the oft-quoted Romans 8:28: And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Waiting on the Lord means that we trust that He is sovereign, even over circumstances which seem either uncomfortable or impossible, or both, that He loves His children and is working out our circumstances for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose. Waiting on the Lord is a very active experience involving prayer, Scripture, counsel and perseverance. It is an active clinging to the faith that will allow us to say with the Psalmist: “we will not fear though the earth gives way” Psalm 46:2. It is the trust that allows us to believe Jesus when He says that we should not be anxious about anything Matthew 6:25-33.

We must be careful of redefining biblical terms under our own preconceptions. Doing so almost always means distorting biblical truth, whether going beyond it as legalism does or lowering the standard, as in this case. We have come to say that we are “waiting on God” when we really don’t know what to say, and often, when we’re really not doing anything!! Biblically, the term is anything but passive and we must regain this positive, active sense of waiting on God. Let’s never be about anything but full participation in the purposes of God!

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