How to Be Still and Wait on God…Even When He’s Silent

Are you in a season of waiting on God to move in your life?  Are you surrounded by darkness that doesn’t go away?  Does it seem like God is pressing the pause button on your future, or are you falling apart because of a situation you are facing? When life the storms of life hit strong, it is hard to be sill and wait on God, especially when it appears He is silent.

There is living hope for every situation and scripture has the solution to every heartache. Let’s talk about three practical truths you can cling to while you wait on God, and be still in His presence.

Hummingbirds. I enjoy watching the frenzy of these busy little birds as they stop by for a quick visit just outside our dining room window. Photography is fun for me and my camera is usually not too far away–so this opportunity arose. 

She just sat there. No cares. No worries. This little bird was simply enjoying the view of my flower garden, and sitting on my primitive heart-shaped weather vane.

At that season of my life, I was in a time of waiting.

Waiting on God in a set of what seemed to be impossible circumstances that rocked my world.  And click— a snapshot from God Himself to this war-torn woman who was trapped in a frenzy of worry, despair, and deep soul wounds. God showed me something that day in His Word. 

If this hurried hummingbird could sit on a little heart and drink in the beauty, so could I. The problem was, I just didn’t know how. 

I desperately needed soul rest and God used this feathered friend to give me a picture of how to get through a time of waiting on God.  He taught me to slow down, drink in His presence, and see beauty despite the blackness surrounding me. 

Beauty didn’t come from a change of circumstances, but from a change in perspective.  He taught me how to rest in the very heart of God,The Word of God—for answers. 

I love it when God connects His precious reminders to the hot pavement of real life. HE is in control so I don’t have to be out of control. These are the four truths that I could cling to when I needed to be still before God, wait on Him, and trust Him when He went silent.

1. God has never failed.

“Not one of the good promises which the LORD had made to the house of Israel failed; all came to pass. ” Joshua 21:45

God has never failed His people. Not once. Ever.

Throughout the entire Bible God proves Himself to be faithful and victorious in every situation. His promises have never been broken and each one He has kept throughout all time and history. 

“God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent;  Has He said, and will He not do it?  Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” Numbers 23:19  

He wanted me to learn to trust Him and to surrender the outcome to His all-knowing, sovereign plan. 

Can you remember a previous trial or situation in your life that you felt God had abandoned you, only to find afterward that He was with you the entire time? Me, too.

This current valley is no different. He has never failed-and He won’t stop now. God is on His throne and His plans are so far above what our finite eyes can see. Ask God to give you new eyes to see His unfailing love, unfailing grace and unfailing power.

2. This is a spiritual battle.

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6:12

God was using my situation to produce AUTHENTIC FAITH, the kind of faith that turns a little girl into a mighty warrior princess of the Highest King. I had a choice to lash out at everyone involved or cry out to my Heavenly Father to intervene. Spiritual battles require spiritual disciplines.

He is in the process of building you a new identity in Christ and it requires spiritual armor. (Ephesians 6:10-18) The physical manifestations of the struggle are the result of the spiritual struggles in the heavenly realms.

The enemy is not a person. The enemy is not a situation. The enemy isn’t even yourself. The enemy is a SPIRIT working through those people and things. The key is to know what you are fighting for and what you are fighting against. Spiritual wars are fought on spiritual grounds as you bend your knee in prayer.

3. Remember Who you are waiting on.

“I am the LORD, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?” Jeremiah 32:27

He taught me the truth of how powerful God is. He is not limited by time, space, or matter and His power is absolute. I wasn’t waiting on a fast food drive-thru for satisfaction, but I was waiting on the God of the Universe to move on my behalf. This all-powerful, all-sufficient, completely holy God was, is, and will always be in total control. Deep biblical truth of God’s nature causes a stillness of soul that is unexplainable.

Joy, Hope, Comfort, and Counsel come by being rooted in a PERSON. His name is Jesus.

Being still before the Lord isn’t about having perfect circumstances, it’s about a heart that is being perfected in the circumstance by a perfect God. Fixing our eyes on an All Knowing-All Powerful Savior grounds us. It sustains us. It gives us a different perspective of Hope. 

He wants you to see HIM in your season of waiting. He is worthy of worship even when we don’t understand. When we see Him as LORD, and not a genie in a bottle, things look completely different.