Waiting with God: Trusting God in the Waiting

Have you ever noticed that God doesn’t seem to be in much of a hurry?  The Author of Time appears to be quite happy taking His good ole time.  He cannot be rushed despite how much we might beg, cajole, plead, or try to push Him along.  He acts according to His clock not ours, and His timing may not make sense to us.

In Exodus chapter 24, there is a story about God calling Moses to join Him on a mountain.  If Moses came, God promised to give him the Law written on tablets of stone.  God gave an instruction: “Come up here,” and Moses His faithful servant obeyed, fully expecting to receive the Law.  He went up the mountain of God with Joshua his aide.

As the pair ascended, a cloud covered the mountain, and the glory of the Lord settled on it.  His Presence was there, but nothing happened -- for six long days.  For six days, Moses and Joshua stayed there on the mountain because God said to come.  For six days, they waited.

God didn’t say that if Moses came up the mountain, he would have to wait.  God didn’t tell Moses it would be a process of about a week before He would be ready to meet with him.  There was no indication that Moses’ obedience wouldn’t meet with immediate results. God said to come, and He would give Moses the Law and instructions for His people. 

As the leader of these people, certainly Moses was eager to receive God’s commandments.  Surely, he wanted to know how to guide them and to understand God’s expectations for them.  He also might have been anxious about leaving them for an extended period of time. (With good cause if you read the rest of the story!)  He obeyed God -- and then he just had to wait … the first day, the second, the third … all the way through the sixth day.

On the seventh day, God called to Moses from within the cloud, and Moses went to Him and stayed with Him for forty days and forty nights.  During that time, God shared with Moses all the instructions for building the Tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant and for worship and keeping the Sabbath.  It was a deeply significant meeting and was well worth the wait!

I’m quite confident that even in the waiting Moses knew it would be worth it.  Despite the days passing by and not knowing when God would call him, I believe Moses knew that He would and trusted His timing would be what it needed to be.  I think it is quite possible that Moses waited in peace, without worry or fear or impatience.

Why do I believe this?  Because Moses and God had a deep and very personal relationship.  Elsewhere, scripture tells us that God talked with Moses as with a friend (Exodus 33:11).  They had a special connection.  Moses had walked with God by faith through the most challenging situations, facing down the Egyptians and leading the people of Israel over many miles of wilderness.  Along the way, he learned to trust God’s words and His ways.

Moses’s relationship with God sets a beautiful example for us in our own waiting.  It is far easier to wait on God – something we all must do at times – when we have a personal relationship with Him.  When we learn to trust His words and His ways, although we may not understand them, we can face times of waiting with the kind of peace that passes understanding.

Yet, there is another detail from this story that enables us to wait with confidence and grace.  Remember where Moses and Joshua were while they waited. They had ascended the mountain as God instructed. Then, once they arrived, the glory of the Lord, in the form of a cloud, covered the mountain.  This was the Presence of the Lord.  The Lord was there, even though He hadn’t yet called Moses to Himself, even though He hadn’t yet honored him for his obedience. God was there.  Moses and Joshua were not alone.  They were waiting in God’s Presence.

This causes me to pause.  When I am waiting on the Lord, am I aware that He is still with me?  Do I realize I am waiting with God?  That I can turn to Him to receive peace and patience, rest and perseverance, even while I wait for Him to act?  Waiting on God does not mean that I am abandoned or that His Presence has left me. 

Sometimes – I know this can be true of me – we become so fixated on what we are waiting for that everything else is blocked from our sight.  We lose our perspective, and we stop seeing the God who is with us.  We may even overlook ways that He is reaching out to us or those He has placed beside us for support. 

My husband teaches what he calls “The Beholding Principle,” that what we behold takes hold of us.  Thus, if we only behold our problem, our desire, or the object of our prayers without beholding the God who is with us every moment of our lives, we miss the gift of His Presence with us, especially when we need Him most — in our darkest valleys or most difficult seasons.

Yes, waiting is hard, taxing, and trying.  It requires steadfast faith, enduring patience, and even bold courage.  Yet we never wait alone.  We wait with God, for He has promised to never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5) -- even while we are waiting.  All that we need to wait with peace, to wait with joy, to wait with hope is found there with Him. 

This is where I will wait.

A Prayer:

Lord God, please help me in my waiting.  Enable me to feel the comfort of Your Presence.  Surround me with Your peace that defies understanding. Fill me with Your joy to give me strength.  Renew me with Your enduring hope.  For You are my God. Please wait with me.

In Jesus’ Name, Amen.