INTRODUCTION
In the previous message, we learned that “committing our way to God” enables us to live with unwavering courage and experience the fulfilment of His faithful promises.
This message examines “Waiting on God” – an essential expression of faith, hope, obedience, and trust that inspires good courage as we place our hope and expectation in God and His Word. We will explore why we should wait on God and how to wait on Him with courage: patiently, in quietness, surrendering our own ways, renewing our strength, and remaining prayerful until His purpose is fulfilled.
1. WAITING IN HOPE IS COURAGE
‘Waiting on God’ means trusting God, committing to His ways, and patiently allowing His perfect timing and purposes to unfold. The Psalmist declares: “My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning” (Psalm 130:6). This metaphor of a Night-watch illustrates the heart of waiting on God in hope.
It means that, waiting on God is like watching for the morning: the watchman does not need to create the dawn. He only needs to wait for it.
So also, we may be surrounded by ‘darkness’ of difficult situations, but we continue to wait in hope because we know the dawn will come. We cannot hasten it, but we can remain faithful until it appears.
Similarly, as a farmer plants, waits, and trusts the process before the harvest comes, likewise, waiting on God requires us to remain steadfast even when we cannot yet see the result (James 5:7).
True waiting on God requires one to have complete trust and hope in God especially when the outcome or timing is not yet clear.
2. WAITING ON GOD: ANCHORED IN HIS WORD
To wait on God is not wishful thinking. It is trust in God, anchored in obedience to His Word and guidance. The Psalmist declares: “I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope” (Psalm 130:5). In the Old Testament, hope in God’s word and guidance is symbolised by the sign of the “cloud” that directed their journey in the wilderness:
“At the commandment of the Lord the children of Israel journeyed, and at the commandment of the Lord they pitched: as long as the cloud abode upon the tabernacle they rested in their tents… kept the charge of the LORD and journeyed not”. (Numbers 9:17-23).
Whether the cloud abode for ‘a few days’, ‘for many days’, ‘from even unto the morning’, ‘by day or by night’, for ‘two days, a month, or a year’, Israel rested in the tents and journeyed not: but when it was taken up, they journeyed (Numbers 9:17-23).
2.1. KNOWING WHEN TO MOVE OR WHEN TO STAY
Brethren, the tarrying of the ‘cloud’ upon the tabernacle when Israel rested in their tents signified the period of resting and waiting on God’s guidance. Israel moved when God commanded them to move and stayed when He commanded them to stay.
Even when the ‘cloud’ remained over the tabernacle for many days, they did not become impatient and move ahead of God or lag behind in fear; they were also prepared to move at short notice after the ‘cloud’ moved.
Brethren, God’s guidance is a natural application of trusting His word while we wait. Whether God tells us to move forward, wait or to remain still, we must be attentive, obedient to His Word and His guidance as we wait on Him.
3. WAITING THAT INSPIRES COURAGE
Waiting on God is not simply doing nothing. Courageous waiting on God involves patience, quietness, surrender, renewed strength, and prayer. Let us examine these principles:
3.1. WAIT PATIENTLY AND STAND FIRM
When we trust God for something that has not yet happened, we must wait patiently, believing that God will fulfil His purpose in His time. If we already have what we are hoping for, there is no need for hope. True hope is rooted in faith in what we cannot yet see. (Romans 8:24-25).
Therefore, the Psalmist admonishes believers to: “Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him”. (Psalm 37:7).
Impatience can cause us to abandon God’s way and seek our own solutions. When Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the Israelites refused to wait patiently and instead made a “golden calf” and worshipped it as their god. Their failure to wait on God led them into sin and brought His judgment upon them (Exodus 32:1-8, 33-35).
Brethren, when we refuse to wait on God, impatience can drive us toward wrong choices and substitutes for God’s provision.
So, when we trust God for an answer, promise, direction, or breakthrough, we must be willing to wait courageously without losing hope, trusting God for what is not yet visible.
Patience is what enables our faith to remain steadfast and helps us to keep believing while we wait for its fulfilment. It builds character, strengthens hope, helps us grow into spiritual maturity and become complete in Christ (James 1:1- 4; Romans 5:3-4).
3.2. WAITING ON GOD IN QUIETNESS
Waiting on God requires quietness, stillness, and confidence in His timing. Scripture says, “It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD,” and that “in returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength” (Lamentations 3:26; Isaiah 30:15).
One of the greatest challenges in waiting is remaining quiet and still while resisting the temptation to take matters into our own hands. Scripture calls us to bear the yoke patiently, sit quietly, endure reproach, and refrain from retaliation (Lamentations 3:26–31; Isaiah 50:6). This teaches us humility, self-control, and endurance.
In waiting on God therefore, we should resist the urge to act out of frustration, impatience, anger, or fear. Instead, we remain hopeful, submit our circumstances to God, and trust that He has neither forgotten nor abandoned us.
Even when the waiting involves hardship or reproach, or when others act unjustly or pursue wicked schemes, we are called to “be still” (Psalm 37:7; 46:1-2,10). We must resist becoming anxious or discouraged but wait and continue trusting God’s power and justice.
3.3. SURRENDER OUR WEAPONS OF POWER
To wait on the Lord is to surrender to God, our reliance on our own “weapons of power” – i.e. pride, power, lies, human strength, money, control, unforgiveness, anger etc. Scripture reminds us that “there is no king saved by the multitude of a host: a mighty man is not delivered by much strength” (Psalm 33:16–20).
Our deliverance and victory do not ultimately come from human power or resources, but from the Lord. So, we must lay down the weapons with which we try to control outcomes and trust God to be our strength.
As we surrender control to Him, God uses our circumstances to develop our character and prepares us to act with wisdom, restraint, discernment and discretion as we wait for what we are asking of Him. (Psalm 15:3–5; 44:6).
Just as a farmer understands that different crops require different methods of cultivation and threshing, waiting on God teaches us that not every situation should be approached through force, control, or human effort.
Brethren, waiting in surrender is a posture of faith! It is an intentional spiritual position of trust, where we surrender our own ways and place all our expectation on God, viewing him as our: rock and salvation, defence, deliverer, help, shield, goodness, fortress, teacher, refuge and strength. (Psalm 62:5-8; 33:20; 144:1-4). And upon this faith nothing should move us!
We wait because we have something and Someone to trust based on His truth – His word. By God’s ‘wonderful counsel’ and the ‘excellent working’ of His wisdom, we will know how to respond appropriately to each situation – when to act, how to act, and when to be still. (Isaiah 28:25 – 29).
3.4. WAITING ON GOD RENEWS OUR STRENGTH
The scripture assures us that “They that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength… they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31).
Waiting on God renews our strength because it is God that gives power to the weak and strengthens those who have no might (Isaiah 40:29–30). So, we must “wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart” (Psalm 27:14; 31:24).
But often, we become weary because we try to accomplish tasks relying on human strength, comparison, striving and acting without God’s counsel and guidance.
Brethren, we should understand that when God gives us an assignment, He also provides the anointing and enabling grace necessary to accomplish it.
In other words, God has already made provision for the people, resources, and opportunities we may need to fulfil the task according to His purpose and timing. Our responsibility is to trust Him, seek His guidance, and patiently wait for His provision to unfold.
Thus, when we wait on God rather than striving in our own strength, He renews our courage and resilience, and we need not grow weary or frustrated. Trusting that God will sustain us and enable us to fulfil what He has called us to do, we wait in good spirit, renewed strength and “mount up with wings as eagles” (Isaiah 40:31).
And we declare as Micah: “I will look unto the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me” (Micah 7:7).
3.5. WAIT IN PRAYER
Prayer is a powerful means of sustaining courage and faith as we wait on the Lord. Whether we are experiencing trials, fasting, giving, or offering thanksgiving, prayer keeps us dependent on God and attentive to His will.
Jesus demonstrated this at Gethsemane. As He faced the suffering and death before Him, He became deeply sorrowful and distressed, yet He prayed repeatedly, submitting Himself to the Father’s will (Matthew 26:36 – 45).
His example shows that waiting on God does not mean the absence of anguish or uncertainty; rather, it means bringing them to God in prayer and trusting His will.
Therefore, as we wait on the Lord, we are called to “watch and pray”, remaining spiritually alert and persistent in prayer, supplication, and thanksgiving (Matthew 26:41; Colossians 4:2; Ephesians 6:18).
4. PRINCIPLES OF WAITING ON GOD
Brethren, from the foregoing discussion and the example of the ‘cloud’ that guided Israel, we learn five important principles for waiting on God and following His guidance:
a) God’s Word and guidance determine our direction, not merely our own plans or desires.
b) Waiting requires obedience: sometimes God’s instruction is to move; at other times, it is to remain still.
c) Waiting requires patience: we should not act simply because the waiting seems long or uncomfortable.
d) We must remain spiritually attentive: like Israel watching the cloud, we should seek to discern when God is leading us.
e) God’s timing is as important as God’s direction: moving too soon can be as problematic as refusing to move when God says “go.”
We wait because we have something and Someone to trust based on God’s Truth – His Word.
5. FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Brethren, as we wait on God, He does more than change our circumstances; He changes and prepares us. He strengthens our character, deepens our faith, and gives us wisdom, discernment, discretion, and courage.
Therefore, whatever the task or assignment before us, let us not grow weary as we patiently wait on God. We may not know when the answer will come, but we can remain confident that God is faithful, His timing is perfect, and He will accomplish His purpose in us.
PRAYER
Almighty Father, we thank You for Thy Word.
We exalt You above all gods, for Your Word is right, and all Your works are done in truth.
Holy Father, teach us to wait on Thee. Help us to surrender our will to You, remain faithful, and prayerful. Nurture in us discerning Spirit that we may walk in Thy “wonderful counsel” and “excellent working.”
In the midst of darkness that we do not understand, help us to wait in hope as the Watchman, knowing the dawn will come.
And like the farmer who plants and patiently waits, for the harvest, help us to trust Thy process even when we cannot yet see the result, knowing that in due season You will bring forth fruit according to Thy will.
We ask all these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Lots of Love, P. Schwartz (SOG) 15 August 2026
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