Rest, Rely and Receive: 5 Ways to Wait on God

August 5, 2019 by alisa hope wagner Leave a Comment

“But Lord, be merciful to us, for we have waited for you [REST]. Be our strong arm each day [RELY] and our salvation in times of trouble [RECEIVE]” (Isaiah 33.2 NLT).

Rest, Rely and Receive

Many of us have it all backwards. We pray to Receive from God before we’ve learned to Rest and Rely on Him daily. When we find ourselves in a jam, we cry out to be rescue. However, if we would learn to simply seek Him and wait on Him every day, we wouldn’t be in the predicament in the first place. Yes, some circumstances are out of our control, but many of those same difficult situations are accentuated because we haven’t cultivated a lifestyle of resting and relying on God. * I have posted a short video at the end of this post.

God says that He will be our salvation in times of trouble. This is reactive because God is responding to our desperate situation. God also says that He’s our strength each day. This is proactive because resting and relying on God will help us avoid and/or be prepared for difficulties.

Taking time each day to spend with God will give us a holy ease. It doesn’t mean life will magically become fair and easy, but it does mean that we can go the way Jesus is going. When we stop going our own way (Isaiah 53.6), we can learn how to walk with God each day (Micah 6.8).

5 Ways to Wait on God

Waiting on God is one of the most difficult things to learn as a Christian. We want to go our own way and fight our own battles. We struggle with trust and carry disbelief that God is faithful. Yet, this is the time to completely depend on what the Bible says and not our own emotions. True submission to God is saying, “You know better than I do. I commit my will and life to You daily.” How many times have we looked back on our decisions and choices and regretted them? As we continually seek God first, we can trust that no matter what lies ahead, we have the ultimate victory in Christ.

“I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world” (John 16.33 NLT).

Here are a 5 ways we can wait on God, so we can rely on His strength every day. He wants to be our daily strong arm, not simply our once in a while desperate plea.

Way 1: God is Concerned

People don’t wait on those they deem as indifferent. To believe God doesn’t care shows a massive ignorance of God and His Word. He cares so much about us that He would send His Beloved Son to die for us, so we could have a relationship with Him. If God cares enough to give His life for us while we were yet sinners, He also cares about the daily decisions and actions we must take. We can wait on Him, knowing that He will guide us along His best path.

“But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners” (Romans 5.8 NLT).

Way 2: God Knows More

To not wait on God tells Him that we think we know better than He does. This obviously is not true. Although we don’t say it outright, we tell God that we know more than He does with our actions. Once we come to the conclusion that God knows much more than we do, we will stop forging ahead without consulting Him. God will let us entangle ourselves in our self-willed choices and actions until we are so trapped that we must seek Him. How much better off we would be if we would have come to God first.