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The Silence of Waiting on God

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We probably are more able to link silence and waiting in our minds because we picture the absence of action in those words. This daily devotional looks at how waiting silently on God is filled with action.

Nuggets

  • God wants us to wait silently on Him, not compare ourselves to worldview people who are considered successful.
  • We are called to wait and rest in God, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t doing anything.

To read devotions in the Redo for Godliness series, click the appropriate button below.

Redo for Godliness series

Devotions in the Silence of the Soul series

Silence of the Soul series

I just realized I don’t have a definition for waiting. I don’t even have a glossary entry for it.

Wow! Have we not really talked about this before?

Let's Put It into Context

Our soul is our spiritual part that is immortal. The mind is a component of the soul that controls our will. It is in our minds that we process and make judgments and decisions.

If we synthesize what Spurgeon said, we come up with a decent definition of rest: the act of being securely content and confident in order to wait on God’s Will. It is a defining characteristic of being a disciple of Christ.

Resource

Spurgeon’s Rest in the Lord

Crofts provided us with the elements for a definition of wait. To wait is to endure something for however long we are called to do so by the Lord.

Resource

Croft’s Silent and Patient Waiting for the Lord

Here is a running list of what we’ve discussed previously.

Silence of the Soul Nuggets

Waiting Means not Fretting

“Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!” (Ps. 37: 7 ESV)

God wants us to wait silently on Him, not compare ourselves to worldview people who are considered successful.

Psalms 37: 7 tells us two things. We are to silently wait on God, and we aren’t supposed to be envious. Let’s take that last part first.

It can get frustrating when it seems like sin is winning. If we were calling the shots, we would have the punishment immediately follow the sin.

God doesn’t work that way. He will judge the sinful and sentence them accordingly on His timeline.

So, disciples have to wait for good to overcome evil.

Short gave us some good advice. When we have questions about circumstances, he advised us to “… not vainly argue the question; be silent to God, and he will speak by-and-by and explain the difficulties of his providence.”

Resource

Short’s Confidence in God

Ooo, baby. Don’t we want to argue the question? “Why does Tom get the nice fancy house when he doesn’t live his life for You?” “Sally doesn’t deserve the promotion because she doesn’t have Your character.” “Elaine has made so many bad choices in her life that You shouldn’t be rewarding her in this way.”

What we are really saying is I don’t, I do, and I haven’t. Where is mine?

Hmmm. Now we are trying to tell God how to run His world???? That is arrogant of us.

Wilcox gave us a list of why we should wait in silence on God rather than think we need to call the shots. He gives us

  • His provision
  • His guidance
  • His protection
  • His faithfulness
  • His promises
  • His love

Resource

Wilcox’s Rest for the Troubled

That is especially true when the root of our dissatisfaction is envy. We want what they have — the house, the promotion, and the rewards — along with a long list of other things!

We also sometimes get on a wild hair thinking God has to explain His actions to us. He doesn’t. He is the One in control, not us. That is probably more critical than being envious.

Don’t get me wrong. Being envious is bad enough. But when we start questioning God — and start finding fault in Him — that is when things have really gone from bad to worse.

We really don’t want the envy to slide into anger. If we are not careful, we let them destroy our faith.

Instead, the psalmist tells us to silently trust in God. We are told to hold still.

We are told to be content with what we have. Paul told us in Philippians 4: 12 that “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want” (NIV). Anything less, we would be ungrateful to God.

If we are looking at the situations of others, we aren’t focusing on our inward selves. God is more interested in the inward.

If we are looking at the situations of others, we aren’t focusing on our inward selves.

Ooo, baby. I know it is difficult to keep the focus inward when everything outward is a royal mess.

Short said another great thing. He wrote, “But the righteous have an inward life that turns outward things into gold; they feast royally at the table of God, as is said in the twenty-third psalm.”

Resource

Short’s Confidence in God

If we get the inward right, the outward will fall into place.

But by then, the outward isn’t as important.

Waiting Means Trusting

We are called to wait and rest in God, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t doing anything.

The King James Version translated be still as “rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him …” (Ps. 37: 7 KJV). Bailey reminded us how detrimental it is to our health to not get rest.

Resource

Bailey’s Resting in the Lord

That doesn’t mean just hitting the snooze button in God’s presence. It means turning control of our lives over to Him.

Wilberforce called it a quality of mind. The quality is degraded when we are bitter about the present and fear for the future. He wrote, “We need to be silent before God in order to realize our personal reconciliation with Him through the blood of Atonement, to walk in His Spirit, to spend our lives as His obedient, trusting children. Now, this is the essence of Christianity.”

Resource

Wilberforce’s Stillness in God

We like to think resting and waiting means doing nothing — there are no actions required of us. Davies reminds us that there is nothing further from the truth.

Resting and waiting are actions. They are conscious decisions.

Resting and waiting are actions. They are conscious decisions.

Okay. I have to figure out what Davies is saying, so here goes Elaine-speak.

Salvation begins with repentance — but we’ve said before that salvation is a three-step process.

Step one is only being changed from spiritually dead to spiritually alive. Step two is going from milk babies to steak adults.

That is where the work of the Sanctification Road takes place. This is where the deep change to obtain God’s character happens.

Changing takes waiting. It doesn’t happen overnight — it happens over our lifetime.

Growth can be hard to measure because, as Wilberforce reminded us, growth is silent — it is gradual. He also reiterated that this growth wouldn’t be natural.

Resource

Wilberforce’s Stillness in God

Davies wrote, “To wait patiently upon the Lord is a means of grace, but it is also a feature of a lofty spirit. Our God is the ‘God of patience.’”

Resource

Davies’ Waiting upon God

It is through God’s grace that we gain His character. We have to wait on His gift. The only actions that are required of us are those of obedience.

We have to respond to God’s call to turn everything over to Him. I was just thinking of a bumper sticker that was popular when I was growing up. It said, “Jesus is my Co-Pilot.” The problem with that is we think we are the pilot.

We aren’t. God is the Pilot — Jesus is the Co-Pilot — and we are in the passenger’s seat.

Oh, yeah. We had to buy the ticket to board the plane — and we have to do more than just sit there.

But God is in control.

TheSilenceOfWaitingOnGodPin

Making the Connections

Huntingdon said something real interesting. He wrote, “Goodness is not so much specific deeds as a faithful heart.”

Resource

Huntingdon’s Christian Resting and Uniting
All the good deeds in the world will add up to nothing if they aren’t done to please and praise God.

That sums up what I am forever trying to say. It isn’t the deed that is important; it is the motivation behind it. All the good deeds in the world will add up to nothing if they aren’t done to please and praise God.

Huntingdon agreed with me in that perfection is about being rather than doing. The heart waiting in silence for God to speak and work is what goodness is about, not what deeds we perform.

Perfection is about being. It is about obtaining the character of God.

How Do We Apply This?

  • We are to be meek. Meekness is a personality trait exhibiting a mild or moderate disposition that places dependence on God.
  • We shouldn’t worry about the prosperity of others. We need to focus on strengthening our own faith.
  • We should pray for others instead of being envious.
  • We are to rest in the Lord — acknowledge He is Judge and Jury and be okay with it.
  • We are to be in the world but not of it.
  • We have to actively rest and wait on God. This is how He prepares us for His service.
  • We shouldn’t lose heart or expectation. We should remain confident to do whatever God calls.
  • We need to choose to rest in God in everything, not what we pick and choose.

Resource

Short’s Confidence in God
Binnecy’s The Good Man in Trouble
Davies’ Waiting upon God
Brown’s Patient Waiting upon God
Spurgeon’s The Believer’s Rest

Psalms 37: 7 tells us to wait and rest in the Lord. We are able to do that — with God’s help. He wouldn’t tell us to do that if He couldn’t or wouldn’t make that happen.

We have to choose to be God’s children. God doesn’t force us to decide to follow Him. It is totally voluntary.

That also means we need to choose to wait and rest in silence. We have to let God accomplish that in us.

God is in it to win it. We have to be, too.

Father God. We choose to wait for You, Lord. We rest in You. Help us to follow Your Will for our lives. Amen.

What do you think?

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