What to Do While Waiting on God

We all go through seasons of waiting on God…little do we know the precious gift we’re given to carry us through.

{This is the first post in our series on the ultra-important, Biblical practice of lament♥️.}

Life is full of sorrows.

Illness strikes, we suffer the loss of a love one, unanswered childhood trauma haunts, our dreams are shattered…it’s an endless list. We’re currently desperate to bring our little girl home from China, with travel closed 20 months now and no end in sight.

We oftentimes find ourselves in an uncomfortable period of waiting on God and wonder what to do.

Little known to us, nestled in the pages of scripture is a treasure, an outline of gold, shiny key to unlock the longed for what-to-do while waiting on God.

It’s the gift of lament.

Lament is the process of bringing our sorrow to God. It’s what to do with our pain and exhibits a beautiful and productive way for a Christian to grieve. Lament is what to do while waiting on God.

The Beauty and Necessity of Lament In Our Wait

When we lament, we communicate with God in a deep way and come out encouraged and strengthened in Him, despite the depths of our trial. It doesn’t negate the pain, but it provides a worthy outlet for it.

Lament is the honest cry of a hurting heart wrestling with the paradox of pain
and the promise of God’s goodness. – Mark Vroegop, DCDM

Such a concept is beautiful at it’s core, yet hard in it’s execution.

But we must learn to do hard sometimes.

Lament is living the hard of life in a vulnerable way and opening your heart to expression, hope, and healing. Not one to promise quick and pretty answers, yet it remedies a heartfelt reminder that God is faithful to answer and restore in His timing.

A pattern for lament graces the pages of His word as we delve into delicate, crinkly pages and alight upon the Psalms:

Answer me when I call,
O God of my righteousness!
You have given me relief
when I was in distress.
Be gracious to me
and hear my prayer!
~ ps 4

How long, O Lord?
Will you forget me forever?
How long with you hide your face from me?
How long must I take counsel in my soul
And have sorrow in my heart all the day?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?
~ ps 13

Beautifully heartfelt, rising from the depths of soul, calling upon the Lord in times of waiting, in moments of distress.

One third of the psalms is a lament.

But not only is lament on display in deep, poetical language – drafted for us in those pages is a blueprint of lament.

There are four key steps in our blueprint of lamentation*:

1. Turn and address God in prayer
2. Bring your complaints
3. Make your requests boldly
4. Trust Him

Turn, Complain, Ask, Trust. We’ll discuss the first one here and the rest to come in the next blog posts.

Keep Turning in Prayer While Waiting on God

Before us, a doorway.

As we wrestle in the wait, question and struggle, sorrow and mourn, such a doorway still stands, sturdy in it’s frame, strong and sure and able.

Lament is that key. And faith is what we follow, fervent footsteps bringing us facing that arched frame.

Turning key in lock, once we open that door, our hearts can open to Him. The blueprint offers direction in our misery.

Lament anchors us in.

What to pray at first? Search your heart and be open, honest, and transparent. This is a crying out to Him in your sorrow and trouble. Psalm 77 exhibits a perfect example of reaching out:

I cry aloud to God,
aloud to God,
and he will hear me.
In the day of my trouble,
I seek the Lord;
in the night my hand is stretched out
without wearying;
my soul refuses to be comforted.
When I remember God, I moan;
when I meditate, my spirit faints.
~ ps 77

The psalmist is clearly turning to the Lord in the midst of his distress. He maintains his petition to God, day and night, and assures himself he will be heard. He perseveres to bring himself before the Lord.

It takes faith to pray a lament.
– Mark Vroegop, DCDM

Once you open the door once, open it again and again.

As long as it takes. Keep talking.

Short or long, whatever the season of emotion, share your spent and weary self in His presence…

voice your struggles
pose your questions
speak out gospel truth.

Pray through a psalm. Share your heart.

Do you know you can be completely open and honest with God in sharing your emotions and concerns? I was recently approached by one of my kiddos, stating they felt they couldn’t emote when speaking to God, that they had to be respectful and cheerful in heart.

Dear ones, God already knows what’s going in your heart and loves and accepts you right where you’re at. He doesn’t delight in covering up, but wants to walk beside you in your struggles.

And He delights to hear from you.

What to NOT Do While Waiting on God

It’s too easy to not see the treasure.

Too easy to keep the Book closed

forget such precious golden nuggets

turn away from treasure hidden beneath.

Too easy to loosen key from lock

drop it in tarnished tin

tempt the forbidden door, instead.

When hearts ache and soul bursts, the depths of sorrow can seize and pull us under. The wait can seem too long.

Coldness settles. Words cease to flow and silence reigns loud. And we stop talking to God.

In the midst of wait…
in the center of struggle…
the worst thing to do is to stop praying.

Don’t give in to silent despair. Doing so is a disastrous move in the waiting game. You will be tempted to turn away and the enemy will be given the foothold he’s been seeking.

Don’t close down those lines of communication. The Son endured ultimate suffering to bring us the beauty of prayer, the ability to approach our Father with all our heart needs.

Though wading through our long days and nights might seem endless, that gift is still there as a means to bare our soul to the only One who loves deep, the only One with answers, who changes us in the wait.

The only One who will make the waiting end.

Instead, lift your eyes. The doorway is still there, ready to open, calling it’s invitation. Keep walking through it. Keep pouring your heart out the other side.

And know and believe…

One day God will answer and restore.

In the next post, we’ll discuss bringing our complaints to God. Until then you can:

♥️ Pray your struggles
♥️ Pray your questions
♥️ Pray one of the psalms…

Just make sure you have those lines of communication open – keep talking to Him 💕

*These thoughts are not my own – they are largely taken from Mark Vroegop’s insightful and incredibly helpful book on lament. For more on the beauty and practice of lament, check out Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy, available at Amazon:

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