One of my recent favorite TV series is Downton Abbey. It’s set in the early 1900s about a prominent family who lives in a big English manor where there’s a complete waitstaff; cooks, servers, footmen, lady’s maids, etc. Every person who lives in the house has a servant or a helper of some sort. And one of the classic images is of the family sitting down to dinner and all the servers lined up behind them waiting on them. They’re not waiting for them to do something, they’re waiting on them as a waiter in a restaurant waits on you. In other words they’re just waiting with anticipation on any need to arise, or any order or request that the family might have. They are ‘at the ready.’
As Christians, we use the phrase ‘Waiting on God’ when we are praying about a situation in our life and asking God to help us or direct us on how to go forward. Often, we find ourselves in a holding pattern of sorts, as we wait to hear from God. ”Well I don’t know what to do next, I’m just waiting on God.” And we think of that as a time to be inactive and to passively wait until God does something for us.
Waiting On vs. Waiting For
But maybe we need flip the script. To look at it as more of a servant-Master relationship. If you are waiting on God – newsflash – you are serving him. You are waiting for any request, order, or suggestion from God that you can act on, that would be in his best interest (and, incidentally, yours too.)
In the Downton Abbey analogy the staff wasn’t just waiting for the family, they were waiting on them. That means they were eagerly awaiting the smallest request, the least possible need of the family that would surface… they would jump on it and serve.
When we say we are waiting on God, is this what we mean?
Are we ready and willing to do what God asks, or do we just want him to supernaturally fix everything? (I’m not gonna lie, this is often where I find myself in my prayer life.)
Maybe we need to look at waiting on God in the Downton Abbey way. We say we’re waiting on God, but we’re really just waiting for him. We tend to confuse the two. We just wait and wait and feel like we can’t do anything because we ‘haven’t heard from God yet”. Well maybe that’s the wrong perspective. If God hasn’t answered your prayers yet, can you look to him for instruction instead of solution?
Even better, can we take it one step further? We are asking God to solve our problem. Instead maybe we could ask God ‘In my present situation, how can I solve someone else’s problem?’
Maybe your current difficulty has strategically placed you to meet someone else’s need. Your experience has put you in the position to help or support someone going through a similar situation. Perhaps even a non-believer that needs your help, but also wants to hear what you have to say about faith.
So right now if you are in need and you are asking God for something, and you’re waiting on him……. maybe listen for, look for, ask God for… someone that has a need that You can meet.
When you meet someone else’s need, often that person or someone near them can then meet someone else’s need, maybe even your own! There can be the most beautiful ripple effect. If we all do our part -in whatever way our situation has uniquely qualified us- we can all come together in this great big jigsaw puzzle of perfection that God has planned.
But when we refuse to obey, or we miss or ignore God’s promptings, there’s a missing piece to the puzzle. Sometimes, we are so busy telling God everything we need from him, we forget to listen for a response. Perhaps when it seems that God is not answering our prayers, it’s because we have not followed the very instructions he has given us that would lead us to our answer.
Be still and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10
