How Do You Wait on God Without Falling Into Traps?

Lesson #6 on a Journey to a Water Well

After God planted the seed for a water well in September 2014, I began contemplating my plan. God seemed quiet, and I wondered what to do next. He needed to teach me how to navigate the meantime(s) without falling into traps.

Have you ever noticed right after God casts a vision or gives a promise, His people often enter a season of waiting for the fulfillment of the promise?

A few days before Thanksgiving, I sensed God nudging me to share the conviction with family when we gathered for the holiday. After a short debate over the wisdom of discussing religion, money, or politics at the Thanksgiving table, I relented.

Once again my heart raced, and stomach seized as the Holy Spirit prompted. I took a deep breath and subtly proposed that our family should sponsor a water well in Africa. The table grew quiet, and all eyes settled on me. Finally, someone said, “That’s a great idea, Dana. We would love to sponsor a water well with you.”

 It was awkward.

 I still don’t know why God wanted me to bring up sponsoring a water well at the Thanksgiving table. Perhaps God was using the quiet to test me. He graciously intervened when He realized I was determined to deliver a water well through my own means.

I thought God had given me an assignment, and it was my job to get it done. To make God proud.

Or was it?

A long time ago, God promised Abraham that God would make him into a great nation, Sarah would be the mother of nations, and the kings of people would come from her. (Genesis 12; 17:16)

But then, nothing happened—for twenty-five years.

Sarah got tired of waiting. (Haven’t we all?) Although she stated the obvious when she said, “God has kept me from having children.”, she drew the wrong conclusion. She concluded that Abraham should have a son through her Egyptian handmaiden. (Genesis 16:2)

If we’re not careful, we can fall into the same trap. Although we may understand the facts, an extended season of waiting may make it difficult to draw the correct conclusions.

Sarah knew how to solve the problem. If God wanted her and Abraham to be the father of nations, she knew a way to make it happen. And maybe, God had been waiting on them all along?

Sarah took it upon herself to help God. And I’m afraid I was slipping into the same mindset.

When God planted the conviction for a water well in Africa, I thought He needed a water well and wanted to know if I would take care of that for Him. But in reality, God wasn’t asking me for a water well; rather, He was inviting me to walk alongside Him as He delivered the well to His people. The responsibility for the well was on Him, not me. He was just offering me a ride. He was offering me relationship.

God didn’t need Sarah’s help, and He didn’t need my strategies. He wanted to use my obedience, my yes, to teach who He is and how He loves. This meant I had to learn how to wait until He said move. I needed to understand the difference between striving in the flesh and diligently pursuing the convictions of God. 

Striving in the flesh looks a lot like developing our own game plans to accomplish God’s will.  We get restless while we wait. We get busy devising strategies to fulfill the “mission” God has given. Striving in the flesh looks like Sarah telling Abraham to have a baby with her Egyptian slave.

Diligently pursuing the convictions of God looks more like resting in Him. It doesn’t mean we do nothing. We’re busy immediately and earnestly obeying the Word of God and prompts by the Holy Spirit. But we’re not responsible for making things happen. He is.

Pursuing the convictions of God looks like waiting 25 years for God to fulfill His promise for a son through Isaac instead of hijacking God’s plan after 12 years of waiting and offering Him an illegitimate son as an alternative plan to His promise.

We live in the tension between labor and dependence.

We live balancing the work God has entrusted to us and our utter dependence upon Him to fulfill His work. (1 Corn. 3:7-8).

Too often, we fixate on labor, longing for the fruit or the promise when God might prefer we camp out in dependence, desperate for a relationship. That doesn’t mean the promise or fruit isn’t important. It just means He is the source of the promise, and we can rest confident that He who began a good work will carry it on unto completion.

“…being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 1:6 (NIV)

Even more, than fulfilling the conviction God has given, He wants to reveal Himself through the journey. The conviction is simply the method He has chosen to reveal Himself.

I’m not sure where you have grown weary in labor, resistant to dependence, or tempted to help God. But be assured, we can trust God’s plan and timing.

If you find yourself stuck in the meantime, frustrated by monotonous days and barren land, lean into relationship. Resist the temptation to hijack His conviction and feel responsible for its fruition.

Lessons learned through a journey to a water well in Uganda.

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5. Learning to discern God’s voice and confirm convictions with scripture will equip us to say yes to God.

6. Understanding the difference between striving in the flesh and diligently pursuing God’s conviction will empower us to experience the fulfillment of God’s will and our souls.

Want more? Start here.

1. Read Genesis 16:1-2.

2. Have you ever gotten tired of waiting on God to fulfill His promises?

3. Have you ever felt tempted to “help” God get something done or fulfill His promise?

4. Sarah hijacked God’s plans and felt responsible for bringing God’s promise to fruition. What were some of the consequences of her impatience? Read Genesis 16 and Genesis 21 for some of the consequences of Sarah’s choices.

5. How did Sarah and Abraham’s disobedience affect God’s promise to them? Read Genesis 21:1-6