The Power of Waiting on God

​Author and clergyman E. M. Bounds teaches on the "lost art" of waiting on God and describes it as "an active discipline." It does not happen quickly and requires perseverance, spiritual endurance, and focus on God. He says that it is a discipline that must be learned and an art that requires skill.
 
The power that comes from waiting on the Lord is conditional as described in Isaiah 40:31. "But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint." (NKJV) The word wait in Hebrew is kavah or qavah. The Hebrew word kav is a cord or measuring line. The root of quvah is a picture of twisting or binding strands together to make a strong rope. The purpose of waiting on the Lord is so that we can be spiritually intertwined to God and become one with Him. The waiting requires our undivided attention.
 
By waiting on the Lord, we are weaving our hearts and thoughts in God's character and promises. Our single strand becomes a part of a cord that is unbreakable. Psalm 27:14 gives us some encouragement for what will happen when we wait upon the Lord. "Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord," (NKJV) The Hebrew word for strengthen in this Psalm is Chazak which means to strengthen or fortify. This was the word that God used with Joshua when He told him, "Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." (Joshua 1:9 - NKJV)
 
We are to position ourselves before God until He speaks. The objective is that we will be transformed through the presence of God. the quality of the transformation will depend on the time invested in the waiting. E. M. Bounds tells us, "Apparent delay is not divine neglect; it is divine precision." God knows precisely how He wants to mold us as we are in the waiting process.
 
I am sure that we can all agree that silence is uncomfortable. We live in a world where everyone is connected to a cell phone or sitting in front of a TV. Even with no external sounds, when we seek to wait in silence an internal "noise" begins. Our minds start to think about activities that have taken place or that will commence. The "to do" list interrupts our silence, and we must intentionally discard it and begin again to practice the art of waiting in silence.
 
The Church talks about revival but misses a key ingredient to bring it on. E. M. Bounds points out how the disciples had to wait in Jerusalem until they received power from the Spirit of God. Evan Roberts of the Welsh revival waited privately for months before revival hit. The same kind of waiting was required before the Azusa Street revival was birthed. Bounds is firm in his belief that the Church needs more silence and a new seriousness about waiting. He says, "Waiting is the oxygen of the spiritual life. The only way to become a person of God's presence is the costly discipline of waiting. Tell Him you are His and then stay!"