Waiting is hard. Whether it’s waiting for the baby to fall asleep, waiting on exam results, or a medical diagnosis, waiting can be nerve-wracking.
Waiting on God to answer prayers can be even harder.
We can struggle with waiting with God for many reasons:
- The current situation/experience is unmanageable
- Burnout/mental breakdown makes it seem impossible to wait
- God’s timing is so different from ours
- We’re used to having everything quickly (knowledge, deliveries, streaming etc)
- Anxiety becomes overwhelming
- We struggle to give God control
- We doubt God’s goodness
- We doubt that God will do what’s best for us
- We doubt God’s with us and therefore start doubting our salvation
- We doubt God exists
So how should we respond to times of waiting?
Patiently
Wait for the Lord;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the Lord.
Psalm 27:14
“Patience is a virtue” are never words the impatient want to hear. Yet, the Bible tells us to be patient many times. We are to trust God’s will and His timing.
Thankfully, we are not left alone to force ourselves to be patience: the Holy Spirit, who lives in all believers, grows fruit in us, including patience. So (possibly slightly ironically), we should pray for patience while we wait for God to answer our prayers.
Don’t Compare Ourselves with others
Be still before the Lord
and wait patiently for him;
do not fret when people succeed in their ways,
when they carry out their wicked schemes.
Psalm 37:7
Waiting for God to answer prayers when you see others receiving what you want and more is painful. Why do so many people get abortions while you struggle with infertility? Why do some people recover quickly, while you are stuck with long-term illness? Psalm 37 warns us not to compare our lives to those of others. We are in our own lives, on our own trajectories
Is it God’s will?
God always answers prayer. However, His answer is not always what we want it to be! Simply put, God says: yes, no or not yet.
This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.
1 John 5:14-15
God is not a wish genie. If you ask to be a millionaire, don’t expect to wake up the next morning with a massive bank balance. It needs to be in line with God’s will. Which isn’t always what we want it to be…
God refines
God is prepaing us for heaven. That means growing us more like Jesus. Inner growth isn’t always easy though. When God does not seem to answer your prayers, he may be doing something bigger.
See, I have refined you, though not as silver;
I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
Isaiah 48:10
This third I will put into the fire;
Zechariah 13:9
I will refine them like silver
and test them like gold.
They will call on my name
and I will answer them;
I will say, ‘They are my people,’
and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’”
Keep praying
If you have determined it’s definitely/probably within God’s will, e.g. praying for a friend to know Jesus, or to grow in love for Christ, keep praying!
Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up
Luke 18:1
Are you following Christ?
Are you living for Jesus? Even if you say the right words and do the right things, your heart needs to be in the right place too.
If I had cherished sin in my heart,
Psalm 66:18-19
the Lord would not have listened;
but God has surely listened
and has heard my prayer.
And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”
Mark 11:25
Focus on the promises God has fulfilled
During struggles in the Old Testament, the people would remind themselves of God’s previous goodness to them. Most frequently, they remembered God keeping His promises to them when escaping from Egypt in Exodus.
So while you wait on God, meditate on the amazing ways He has already fulfilled His promises to His people (go Jesus!). And think about the ways He has blessed you personally in your life.
He may or may not answer your prayer in the way you wish. He is, however, still Lord and still loving you and working for your good.