Is it possible that God has unexpected benefits hidden in times of waiting? Consider 10 unexpected benefits of waiting for God. 

Productivity feels like progress and waiting feels like wasting time or doing nothing. Maybe that’s why something inside makes us grits our teeth when we read verses about waiting for God.

On our dark days, uncertainty has a way of stirring up fear, doubt, and resentment. Waiting for the Lord is exhausting when hope seems far away. When you’re soul weary, giving up or giving in begins to look like a good option. 

It’s hard enough to wait on what we see in front of us. . . the slow driver, the busy spouse, or the rebellious child. But to wait for a God we cannot see and don’t always understand requires faith and patience.

Waiting for God requires a willingness to acknowledge that we don’t control much in this world.

Personally, I’m overly-fond of my illusions of control and importance.  I resort to worry instead of waiting. Fretting rather than faith is a default response entrenched in my old ways of getting by in life.

Yet those who wait for the Lord
Will gain new strength;
They will mount up with wings like eagles,
They will run and not get tired,
They will walk and not become weary.—Isaiah 40:31

To wait, in this context, is specific to waiting “for” God, which I think is a very different from waiting “on” God.

• Waiting “on” God implies that He should do what I want.
• Waiting “for” God recognizes the simple truth that He is God and I am not.

Waiting “for” God includes purposeful choices to hope, expect, eagerly look for, or linger for God to work in His timing.

Friend, this is a game-changer, isn’t it? The biblical definition opens a new conversation and reframes how we think of waiting.

Taking the time to understand more about the word “wait” brings new insights like a fresh breeze refreshes a stale room. Waiting for God can be a good thing when we experience the deeply restoring and rejuvenating work of the Holy Spirit. 

[tweetthis hidden_hashtags=”#waitingforGod #trustingGod”]God works in the wait.[/tweetthis]

10 Unexpected Benefits of Waiting for God

 Have you considered these surprising benefits of waiting for God?

Waiting for God. . .

• Enables us to experience God’s presence and purpose in new ways.
• Opens our minds to learn new things and receive unexpected gifts.
• Strips away the flesh patterns that keep us stuck.
• Teaches us His faithfulness through experience.
• Shifts our direction and shapes our purpose.
• Reveals selfish motives and sinful reactions (yes, that’s really a good thing).
• Brings something better than the lesser thing we thought we wanted.
• Removes the burden of trying to make things happen in our own strength.
• Relieves us from the toxic habits of worry, anger, discontent, strife, and bitterness.
• Settles our souls so we can rest, renew, and rise.

Waiting for God can do all of these things. . . If we choose to trust Him.

Or waiting continues to churn up the doubts and strivings as we try to create the life we want in our own image.

The choice is ours.

The Spiritual Discipline of Waiting For God

I believe that waiting for God is actually a spiritual discipline. Choosing to hope in God enables us to trust His heart even when we don’t understand His plan. 

What may seem like inaction becomes an intentional choice to act on faith as we surrender our agendas and pray about our needs.

Recently, God reminded me that waiting includes the spiritual act of releasing my grip on anything I think I must have in order to feel valued, loved, worthy, accepted, or secure.

Attempting to meet my needs with my own opinions and efforts triggers the old patterns of finding significance and security apart from Christ (flesh): anxiety, working harder, attempts to control, resentment, and discouragement. 

Release Empowers Us to Receive

Hands off of the reins, we let go of our desires and expectations (and sometimes internal demands) for control. Are we willing to set aside what we want for what our Father wants? Are we willing to believe that His timing really is good?

Trusting God fortifies faith just as lifting weights strengthens muscles.

Waiting gives us the opportunity respond with faith, which changes our experience more than we realize. Surrender and trust turns our attention to God rather than circumstances.

Reliance on God lifts burden of trying to make things happen in our own strength, as well as relieves us from the toxic habits of worry, anger, discontent, strife, and bitterness.

In some crazy, counter-intuitive way, the choice to wait for God settles our souls so we can rest.

As we stop striving to force the solutions, make things happen, or wear ourselves out with worry, we discover more bandwidth to receive God’s provision of strength, encouragement, and grace.

• What if waiting actually creates space in our souls to receive treasures we could not otherwise hold?
• Does our “hurry up” mentality, our frantic rushing, actually rob us of experiences and blessings God waits to bestow?

The Best Thing About Waiting

When I think about many of the times I have “waited” for God, I realize that He waits patiently for me.  This is the real blessing about waiting.

God waits for each of us to release our rights and expectations as we learn to trust Him on a deeper level with our needs, dreams, and desires. 

[tweetthis hidden_hashtags=”#waiting”]We think of waiting in terms of time, but God values waiting as a condition of the heart.[/tweetthis]

What could happen if we embrace the unexpected benefits of waiting for God? Let’s do it together.

Waiting for God really can be a good thing.

How about you? Which benefit of waiting for God changes the way you wait?

If this post encourages you today, you may enjoy these additional posts on waiting for God.

Why Waiting on God Made My First Book Better

Finding Joy When You’re Waiting on Your Children

How to Make the Most of Each Day: When Waiting is Hard

Get more practical encouragment to overcome your struggles and grow in your relationship with God in my book, Holy in the Moment.