7 Steps to Waiting on the Lord Without Going Crazy

If you’re a Christian, then you’ve been there: the desert, the time and season of life where it seems like you’re standing still while life is moving on without you. Life slows to a crawl and there is nothing but a deafening silence from God. Perhaps it’s a longing for a spouse that doesn’t ever seem to be materializing, or a marriage that wasn’t what you thought it would be. Maybe it’s a career that’s going nowhere quick or a sickness that’s lasting much longer than anyone ever expected. Because you can’t do anything else, you wait. Prayers seem to go unanswered and your patience starts to wear thin.

You know what the Bible says: wait on the Lord (Psalm 27:4). But it’s lot easier in theory than in practice. However you get there, the desert is an intense period of mental, emotional and spiritual testing. If you’re in a desert, here are seven steps to waiting on God without going crazy.

See the Desert as Preparation, Not Punishment

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Many Christians have the false notion that if life is going well, God must be happy with you, but if life is going badly then God must be angry with you. That’s not the case at all. Sometimes you simply suffer the consequences of your own bad decisions. But sometimes the desert is preparation for something much greater.

Look at the heroes of the faith: Moses, David, Elijah, John the Baptist, even Jesus himself spent time in the desert. These seasons in the desert weren’t to punish them but to prepare them for their part in God’s bigger story. So quit assuming that God is angry at you because He’s making you wait. Read the stories of these men of God and take heart that when God puts you in a desert, He’s preparing you for something much greater.

Focus on What God is Doing in You, Not Around You

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The most frustrating aspect of the desert experience is the seeming lack of activity. In a society that is built on speed, waiting is not part of our vernacular. We get upset when we have to wait a full five minutes in line to purchase our pre-cooked meals. We get impatient when our microwave takes 90 seconds to heat something up. We don’t like to wait.

When you’re in the desert, there is always activity going on, you just have to know where to look. While your outward circumstances may seem to be frozen in granite, God is doing invasive surgery on your heart. When Jesus is asked to site the greatest commandment, he tells us to love the Lord our God with all of our hearts (Matt 22:37). Many times the desert is necessary to simply remove all of the distractions that keep us from healing our deepest heart issues. If you have an emotional, mental, or spiritual cancer inside your heart, band-aids are convenient but won’t ultimately heal you. You need invasive surgery. The desert is the place where God can go to work on the most important part of you: your heart.

Practice the Discipline of Praise

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You are greatly mistaken if you think your ability to praise is dependent on your outward circumstances. Praise is a choice. That’s why Paul commands the Philippians church to rejoice in the Lord (Philippians 4:4). Developing an attitude of gratitude is as simple as shifting your focus from what you don’t have to what you do have. When you’re in the desert, what you don’t have or what’s not happening is shoved in your face on a daily basis. It’s natural to focus on the negative.

Praising God in the depths of the desert is a discipline. It takes intentionality. But even in your darkest moments, there are always things to rejoice in: another day of life, salvation, your family, your health, a sunset. The psalmist practiced this discipline when he said, “Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.” Psalm 42:5

Realize the Goal is a Deeper Faith in God

A natural question to ask in the desert is: what’s the point? If God is going to be faithful and provide in the end, then why all the theatrics? Why the drama and tension? Why does He make you wait? Because God wants you to trust Him. Why did God promise Abraham a son and then make him wait 25 years for that promise to be fulfilled? Because He was teaching Abraham to trust Him.

Our Christian faith is just that: faith. The goal of God’s work inside you in this life is to deepen your trust in Him. The desert is a crucible that develops the deepest faith, because when Jesus is all that you have, you finally realize that Jesus is all that you need.

Do the Last Thing God Told You to Do

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Waiting doesn’t necessarily mean inaction. Just because one aspect of your life comes to a standstill, that doesn’t mean that all areas of your life need to cease. Perhaps God is seeing whether you can be trusted with the little things before He trusts you with the big things. Maybe He’s simply waiting for your obedience.

So what’s the last thing that God told you to do? What are the people that God has placed in your care? What ministry are you responsible for? Even while you’re waiting, continue to be faithful to what you know God wants you to do. That trust and that obedience is exactly what God is looking for.

Don’t Try This on Your Own

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American Christians are notorious for practicing an individualized faith that we simply don’t see in Scripture. When life gets rough, too many Christians withdraw into themselves, convinced that they have to suffer alone. The church is the body of Christ. When one part of the body is suffering, the rest of the body is supposed to compensate and help in the healing process. Self-amputation is never a good recipe for recovery.

When you’re in a desert, perhaps God is trying to break you from your stubborn self-reliance. Perhaps He’s trying to get you to realize that you need other Christians and that they need you. If you’re suffering, don’t suffer alone. You’re not designed to walk through the valley alone. Isolation is the enemy’s path. God’s path will always lead you to biblical community.

When You’re Tired of Waiting, Keep Waiting

The desert will always last longer than you want. That’s why it’s a desert. There will be a point where you run out of your own strength and you’re forced to depend on God. That’s the point.

The only way to learn patience is to be put into a place where you need to practice patience. The only way to deepen your trust in God is to be put into a place where you’re forced to depend on God. So when you’re tired of waiting, when you’ve run out of your own strength and you’ve acknowledged your inadequacy to make it on your own, that’s not the end of the desert. That’s simply when the growth can begin. When you’re tired of waiting on God, just keep waiting.