How To Wait On God’s Timing

It’s so hard to wait on God when we want an answer to our problems right away. And it seems like no matter how hard we pray, God just isn’t listening. Unfortunately, God’s timing is not our timing.

Usually waiting on God requires us to wait longer than we want to wait. Sometimes I think that is the way God wants it.

Let’s take a look at some benefits to waiting on God, 8 ways to wait on God’s timing, and a prayer for patience while we wait.

BENEFITS OF WAITING UPON GOD

#1. It humbles you. God wants you to realize that it is not always about you.

#2. It allows you to trust him more.

#3. It leaves room so you can see God at work in your life.

#4. It strengthens your faith in him. Allowing you to see that he is your provider.

#5. It allows you to praise him for what he is doing in your life.

#6. You get to spend more time with him. Which is what he wants from you.

#7. It teaches you to depend on him more.

MY STORY

Back in February of 2021, my husband felt he was being led to quit his job and start a brand new job in a brand new city and state. I was a little reluctant at first because at the time we were living next door to my parents and I liked living next to them. Plus moving to a whole new place was really scary to me.

But we both had prayed about it and God showed us Jeremiah 29:11 which says, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

So we started to prepare for the move. My husband quit his job and started at the new job. And I started to look for houses where we were going to relocate.

Finding a house was proving to be more difficult than we had expected. We expected to be in a house by the end of March. My husband started his new job on the first of February. So that gave us 2 months to get all of our ducks in a row and prepare for the move. But April came and then May and we still hadn’t found a house yet.

I was beginning to think that we weren’t going to find a house or that we may have heard the Lord wrong when we prayed for Him to show us His will for our lives.

But one morning during my devotional time with the Lord he showed me Genesis 12:1.

"The Lord had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you."

And a few days later He showed me Philippians 4:19.

"And my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus."

Boy was I glad to hear from Him! My nerves finally calmed down after I received those two verses.

8 WAYS TO WAIT ON GOD’S TIMING

Here are a list of some of the things we did while we were waiting for God to answer our prayers.

#1 We had to be persistent in praying.

Sometimes we may be praying for weeks or maybe even months. But in the end, God will answer in some way we just have to keep praying until he does. (Colossians 4:2)

Although the waiting was awful we knew He would provide a house for us. We prayed for patience. We prayed for that perfect house we knew He would give us.

#2 We needed to choose to expect that He had already picked out the perfect house for us. (Psalms 5:3)

#3 We had to trust in the Lord, and not on our own understanding. (Proverbs 3:5)

#4 We had to be still and refrain from getting angry and wanting to go our own way instead of waiting on the Lord. (Psalms 37:7)

#5 We had to be strong and courageous. (Psalms 27:14, 31:24) We had to keep the fear of missing out on what we thought was best for us. And instead, we needed to be strong and wait on God’s best for us.

#6 We had to put our focus on the eternal blessings we will be receiving knowing we are children of God, instead of focusing on the things going on around us. (Isaiah 30:18)

#7 God will give us the peace we need to wait on His answer. We just need to ask for that perfect peace.

#8 We needed to focus on God and his holiness and not our circumstances. God wants our desires to be purely more of him and less of this world.

GOD ANSWERS OUR PRAYERS

Finally, on May 15th, we put a bid down on a house and we got it! It took us 4 months to find that house. Why did it take that long? I don’t know the answer to that question. What I do know is that our trust in God became stronger. Even when we weren’t receiving answers we still put our trust in Him. We knew he wasn’t going to let us down. We knew He had a plan. Remember that verse he gave me and my husband at the beginning of this journey.

Jeremiah 29:11 says, "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

God had a plan. And you want to know how we knew that house was right for us? God left little presents in the yard around the house. In the landscaping, my favorite flower was growing and it was even my favorite color too. There is a very large lilac bush that I absolutely love. And my husband and I love dogwood trees and there was one of those growing in the yard as well.

We pictured God smiling down at us when we realized He had planted those gifts in the yard. It just amazes me how He works things out. Those people that had the house before us planted those flowers, that bush, and that tree not having any idea that they could have been planting them for us. What an amazing God we serve!

A PRAYER OF PATIENCE

Heavenly Father, It is so hard to wait on you to answer my prayers. Please give me that perfect peace that only you can give so that I can wait patiently. I am going to choose to be happy while I wait and choose to expect an answer from you. Your timing is not my timing. So I will trust that your way is best. And your timing is perfect. Thank you father for your guidance and your love. In Jesus, name I pray, Amen

CONCLUSION

If you are in a season in your life that is requiring you to wait on God, please share your comments below. And let’s give each other some encouragement through this season together!

If you were blessed by this post could you please share it with your friends on social media or subscribe to my email list in the box that says “join the rest”. You will receive one blog post a week and an occasional prayer in your inbox. Thank you and may you be blessed!