Bible Verses for Waiting on God
Waiting on God is not the same as waiting for a bus. It is an active practice. Abraham waited twenty-five years. David waited more than a decade between the anointing and the throne. Joseph waited thirteen years between the dream and the palace. The waiting was not wasted. It was where God did the real work. These verses are for the long season where nothing visible is happening but something invisible is.
6 Scriptures for Waiting on God
“Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.”
Psalm 27:14
David says wait twice, a Hebrew intensifier. He really means it. And he tucks courage and strength in between the two waits, as if to say the waiting itself is where those get built. The LORD is not only what you are waiting on. He is what the waiting is forming in you.
Read the full chapter →“But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”
Isaiah 40:31
Notice the order. Fly. Run. Walk. The hardest is last. Walking without fainting is the verb nobody applauds. It is the one the long wait actually requires. God supplies it exactly where most of us need it most.
Read the full chapter →“The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.”
Lamentations 3:25-26
The writer is in the most grief-stricken book of the Bible. Jerusalem has just fallen. And from that place he says the LORD is good to them that wait. Quietly wait, he says. Not anxiously. Not accusingly. Quietly. The quiet is part of the answer.
Read the full chapter →“For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.”
Habakkuk 2:3
God gives Habakkuk a specific word. Though it tarry, wait. He admits it will seem delayed. And He says to wait anyway. The appointed time is already set. You cannot make it arrive faster by worrying. You can miss it by giving up.
Read the full chapter →“I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope. My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning.”
Psalm 130:5-6
The picture is a watchman waiting for dawn. Certain it is coming. Tired but alert. That is the disposition God asks for. Not anxious, not passive, but alert. Morning always comes. So does His answer.
Read the full chapter →“But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.”
Romans 8:25
Paul ties hope and patience together. You cannot have one without the other. If you could see it, you would not need to hope for it. The waiting is what faith does between the promise and the delivery. That is where you are tonight. It is not wasted ground.
Read the full chapter →A Prayer for Waiting on God
Lord, I am tired of waiting. I have been asking You for something for a long time, and I do not understand the delay. Teach me to wait the way You want me to. Quietly. With hope. Alert like a watchman. Let the waiting build courage and strength in me, instead of bitterness. Keep my eyes on You, not on the clock. When the appointed time comes, help me be the person You were making me into while I waited. Amen.
More prayers →Wait With a Voice in the Room
Press play. The waiting is easier with company. Let Scripture sit with you in the in-between. The voice will slow the restlessness down.
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