Heather Hooks shares her thoughts about Waiting on God.
Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame.
Psalms 25:3a (ESV)
God should have answered me by now. I’d been waiting on His input for…how long? A few weeks? And it wasn’t a life-changing decision. Just something small.
But He was silent.
And I wanted to know what to do. Do I say yes, or do I say no?
A friend who sold a product I used asked me to join her sales team. Usually I ran quickly in the other direction when someone tried to persuade me to work for one of those Avon/Thirty-One/Pampered Chef type businesses and sell stuff. I always say I couldn’t sell water to someone on fire. And it’s true. I’ll buy from friends who sell. Heck, I’ll even host a party at my house for friends to sell whatever they’re selling. But don’t ask me to sell anything. It ain’t my thang.
But when this friend asked me to join her in selling these products…I didn’t run quickly in the other direction. I considered it. For the first time ever.
That made me wonder. Was God telling me it was ok to do this?
It seemed to fit.
So, I researched the company and scheduled a call with my friend to speak to my husband and me about joining the team. Then, I waited. And I wondered. And I worried. And I tried to figure out what to do.
When is God going to tell me whether I can do this? I asked countless times a day.
Then, on a Wednesday morning, I was home in the quiet when I realized – I never asked God what to do. Yes, it had been on my mind. I’d talked it over with my husband. I’d worried and wondered and waited. But I never ASKED God – straight out.
I stopped right where I was and lay flat on my face on the floor and asked, “God, do you want me to do this?”
His response was immediate. “You don’t put forth the effort to talk to people about me, Heather. Should you put for the effort to talk to them about these products?”
That was what I needed to hear. I thanked Him for answering me, and I got up and went about my day, satisfied in the answer and confident in saying no to joining the sales team. I wasn’t ashamed for considering it. I wasn’t upset that the answer was no. I didn’t even pout over the rebuke.
God simply answered my question.
So, I moved on. I contacted my friend and told her about the experience and that the answer was no. And the waiting was over.
Waiting for God looks different every time, for me and for you. Sometimes we wait for ages. There is a lot of suffering, crying, and praying. Sometimes His response comes quickly. About the time we realize something needs to be done, He’s already shown us direction.
Sometimes we get a clear answer: Yes. No. Do it. Don’t do it.
Sometimes He poses a question, and we must discern the answer.
The good news is – waiting isn’t in vain. Whatever your waiting looks like, it is meant to bind you together with God and strengthen you.
In past seasons of waiting, I have searched for scripture to help me understand how to wait on God. One of the verses I found was Psalms 27:14: Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord! (ESV)
Using the Blue Letter Bible app (which I highly recommend), I found that, in this verse, the Hebrew word used for wait was “qavah.” It means to wait, look for, hope, expect, to wait eagerly for, to expect Jehovah, to fix one’s hope on Him.
These are meanings you’d think you’d find for the word “wait.”
However, the word also means to collect or bind together (by twisting), to be strong, robust for the notion of binding, tying fast, to be gathered together. The word “qavah” implies strength as a result of the collecting and binding together.
What a beautiful image this creates!
When we wait on God, we bind ourselves to Him. While we wait, we are tied fast to Him and this strengthens us.
Be still and soak that in for a moment.
While you wait, wait hopefully. Wait eagerly. Wait expectantly. He is with you. He sees you. He hears you. He will answer you.
Heather Hooks is a Christ-follower whose passion is helping people strengthen their faith in Christ. She draws on her own redemption story as well as her daily Christian walk to inspire and motivate others to deepen their relationship with Christ. She shares her life and what she’s learned about following the Lord on her blog Servant Girl Stores at heatherhooks.com. Heather and her husband Bill share two beautiful children – one football-playing boy and one horse-riding girl – and one drama-queen miniature Schnauzer. Heather is a native North Carolinian who loves summers at the beach, music, ice cream, chocolate, Christmas lights, and eating lunch on Fridays at school with her kids.
