3 Biblical Responses to Waiting (Part 2)

Last month, we began looking at this inevitable aspect of life – waiting! No one can avoid it, and very few can make it go faster. There is always something to wait for in life. Knowing that waiting is part of life can be frustrating while we sit in the doctor’s waiting room, the DMV line, or the line at the grocery store.

Maybe your waiting is for something much more important, like waiting for a loved one to trust Christ or for the Lord to answer a prayer request that you have prayed for years. Maybe you are waiting for a child to come back to Christ or for the results of a scary medical test. Maybe you are waiting for Christmas to come, or for a change in job, or a move that is on the horizon.

​I could go on and on naming things we are waiting for because these scenarios are part of every aspect of our lives. 

So, this blog post won’t help us avoid waiting or even fix the process of waiting. My purpose is to help you see that we have a choice in our responses to these times of waiting.

​Last month, we looked at the first response in Exodus 14 when Moses took the Israelites to the shoreline of the Red Sea with the Egyptians chasing them, and then told the people to “Stand still” and see what God would do. And what a miracle God performed for them! Maybe you need to “stand still” in your waiting today and see what God will do.

​Now I won’t make you wait any longer to look at these last two biblical responses to waiting. The second biblical response that I see to waiting is found in the book of Ruth.

“Sit Still” – Ruth 3:18

Let me set the scene for you. Ruth chose Naomi’s God and followed her back to Israel, where they are now essentially destitute. While helping to care for her mother-in-law’s needs, Ruth and Boaz providentially found each other, and Boaz was poised to act as the kinsmen redeemer for Ruth, but some things had to happen first. There was a closer relative who needed to be allowed to marry Ruth first, according to Jewish law. (See Ruth 3:10-13.) Now you and I probably know the end of the story – Boaz acts on her behalf and marries her, and she, a Moabitess, becomes part of the line of Christ as King David’s great-grandmother.
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It is amazing how, in such a dire situation, there is a wonderful solution to Ruth and Naomi’s problems. Ruth seems to have the perfect answer, but again, there was a need to wait for God to work. Both Boaz (3:10) and Naomi (3:18) encourage Ruth to wait - literally “sit still”! How incredibly hard that must have been! In my sanctified imagination, I can just hear Naomi when she speaks to Ruth – “Sit still and just wait to see how the matter will turn out. Pacing around won’t change anything!” Maybe Ruth was like you and me often are…maybe she was trying to figure out how to work this problem on her own. What was the best thing for Boaz to say in his presentation? How would it all work best in her mind? Have you been there? 

Let’s make it a little more personal. As women, we are great at working through all the scenarios in our minds. We have it all worked out from seven different directions, don’t we? I may write a separate post on this topic, but for now, let me say this. Dwelling on the “what ifs” often leads to worry in our hearts while we wait. Worry is just negative meditation. It is a sinful way of thinking that many of us waste so much time with. We take those scenarios – the “what ifs” that have no foundation in fact – and work them out to every possible solution, most of which are the worst-case scenarios. Suddenly, our time of waiting has become a massive and overwhelming worry that consumes our thinking and begins to reflect shadows of doubt on our reality and the truths of God’s Word and His character. We might think things like, “Would God really allow THAT to happen to me? Maybe God has forgotten about me.” And the spiral of doubting God begins, all because we allowed our thoughts to center on the “what if”?

While we are sitting still and waiting for the Lord to answer, let us remember that Paul tells us to think on things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, and good report (Philippians 4:8). 

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

If my “what ifs” don’t fall in these categories, I must cast down those thoughts and imaginations (2 Cor. 10:5) and think on what I KNOW while I wait for God to do something in my life. Our thoughts and feelings are so deceitful. You cannot trust your heart (Jeremiah 17:9). When we deal with those feelings and doubts, we must run to Christ. Psalm 62:5-8 is a great passage to realize what God wants to be for us and how He wants us to relate to Him. I love these words from a song called “God’s Word Shall Stand” from the Wilds – “Feelings come and feelings go, but feelings are deceiving. My warrant is the Word of God. Nothing else is worth believing.” Friends, may I encourage you to keep your head (the feelings and all the pitfalls that come with that) out of the clouds and your feet firmly planted on the ground, trusting in our sovereign Savior to care for your needs while you sit still in your waiting!
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Maybe you say, neither of these responses has applied to me. That’s fine because this next one is for EVERY CHRISTIAN! I guarantee it!

“Be Still” – Psalm 46:10

The third biblical response to waiting is to simply “Be Still”! (Psalm 46:10)

This is probably the most familiar passage we have looked at. Maybe you even have it printed on a sign in your home. I have a magnet with this phrase on my fridge in England. Let’s walk through this psalm and see the context rather than just jumping to the familiar bit!

This psalm describes the tumult in our world. I believe it moves toward an encouragement to “be still” amidst the noise of this world as we wait for Christ to return – a waiting that EVERY CHRISTIAN since the cross has entered while they navigate this life!

Verses 1-3
"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah."

Verses 2-3 set the worst-case scenarios, BUT God (vs. 1) – “The worst that can happen is no cause for fear. God Himself is still with us!”[1]

Verses 4-7
"There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early. The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted. The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah."

These verses give the description of Jerusalem to come – life has been hard and will continue to be until Jesus comes. The nations rage and God’s wrath is imminent (vs. 6), but God will make all things right (vs. 7)! Jehovah (the LORD of hosts) is also the God of lowly man (vs. 7). “The One who is infinitely high is also intimately nigh. He is with us in every step of our way, our unfailing refuge in all the storms of life.”[2]

Verses 8-9
"Come, behold the works of the LORD, what desolations he hath made in the earth. He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire."

In these verses, we are invited to look behind the curtain of what life will be when the Lord makes all things right. There is wreckage everywhere and mountains of evidence of His judgment on this earth during the Tribulation in verse 8. Verse 9 speaks of a time when wars will cease and even the weapons of warfare will be scrapped. All that turmoil and trouble…Then our verse…

Verse 10
"Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth."

It’s as if everything was thrown into confusion and now has come to rest after the judgment, and then God commands us to be still and recognize that He is in ultimate control of all.

How does this apply to our lives of waiting today? Although this psalm looks into the future, the application for today is quite poignant. Isn’t our world in turmoil today? Aren’t we waiting for something to give? War to end? Prices to come down? People to stop lashing out at each other? Will natural disasters cease? Do these areas of waiting cause turmoil or noise in your soul?

The Psalmist encourages us that while we wait, we must be still. This phrase literally means “to be quiet or leave off." It requires that we trust the One who can do something about the turmoil in our lives, yea, in our world today. Sometimes the noise around us and in us drowns out the possibility of our hearing the Lord’s speaking to us for direction and peace through the waiting. I find it hard to be still at times because I like to be busy and doing and trying to fix the things that cause the turmoil. But we need to take the time to stop and just be still while we wait. This is the best way for God to be able to speak to us through His Word and through time in prayer with Him. I have found that this time of being still, although very difficult, is very productive at bringing God-given peace to my heart in the waiting. 

Friends, in what areas of your life do you need to be still today?
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It is reported that Katharina von Schlegel took the words and truths of Psalm 46:10 as her inspiration in writing, specifically the second verse of her song, “Be Still, My Soul.” Take a moment to carefully read these words!

Be still, my soul; thy God doth undertake
To guide the future as He has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;
All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul: the winds and waves still know
His voice who ruled them while He dwelt below.

The Lord is the ONLY ONE who can help you determine whether your response to waiting should be to “Stand Still,” “Sit Still,” or “Be Still.” Whatever your response, don’t waste your time while waiting. Warren Wiersbe, in his commentary on Nehemiah 2, said this, “When you wait on the Lord in prayer, you are not wasting your time; you are investing it. God is preparing both you and your circumstances so that His purposes will be accomplished. However, when the right time arrives for us to act by faith, we dare not delay.”

Wonderful lessons can be learned while we wait if we allow the Lord to help us respond biblically to our waiting. “Stand Still,” “Sit Still,” or “Be Still” – don’t try to avoid your waiting, but rather grow through it!

Which response is God inviting you into right now—stand still, sit still, or be still—and what might He be preparing in your heart as you wait?

[1] William MacDonald, Believer’s Bible Commentary: Old and New Testaments, ed.
Arthur Farstad (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1995), 621.
[2] William MacDonald, Believer’s Bible Commentary: Old and New Testaments, ed.
Arthur Farstad (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1995), 622.