Wait for the LORD;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the LORD.

Psalms 27:14 (NIV)

There is a story that circulates among church circles and takes various forms but goes something like this: A man who is unemployed has not applied for a job in months, nor has he made any other effort to find work. When asked why, he replies, “I am waiting on the Lord.”

This story is often used to suggest the folly of doing nothing and the importance of doing something in life to see things accomplished and otherwise live a productive and virtuous life. But it is rarely used to suggest or clarify the importance of waiting on God. In fact, when stories like this arise (in sermons or conversation), one is often left with the distinct impression there is little that is productive or virtuous in waiting on God, and that all that is virtuous as far as human enterprise is concerned can be summed up in Ben Franklin’s classic proverb, “God helps those who help themselves.”

But does God only help those who help themselves? Is this how the fabric of life, especially life in the Kingdom of God, works? God only does things if we do things?

There is a place no doubt for us to do things in life, and there are certainly times when we should do things and for a variety of reasons we do not and may even find ourselves blaming our idleness on God. But the idea God is only active in our lives to the degree we are actively doing stuff assumes a lot about our relationship with God. For one, it assumes staying busy and doing things on our own is God’s highest priority. I say “on our own” because if we truly believe God only helps us once we do something, by definition we are doing that something on our own, without first waiting on God to know what to do.

I have always been a firm believer in hard work, but I have come to question staying busy as the highest human virtue. I say this at a time when the American church is arguably busier than it ever has been, and yet failing to make a significant impact on culture. My criticism here is not against the church, but against the mandate of getting involved and staying busy that has arisen in many church cultures. We have celebrated this as what the Christian life is all about and therefore presumably what makes God most happy. I have my doubts. I am not suggesting being part of community has no value. But being really busy in church ministry is not the highest priority in the spiritual life, nor will it guarantee us a successful spiritual life. It will likely guarantee us burnout.

Failing to act is not the only folly that faces us as believers. Granted, we can fail to act for the wrong reasons. Many a believer has failed to step out and trust God in fulfilling their destiny out of fear and called it “just waiting on the Lord” (or “I just don’t have time” or “I am not quite ready” or a myriad of other excuses). Facing our fears is hard. But for every example of failing to act for the wrong reasons, there are at least ten examples of choosing to act for the wrong reasons, also. We can choose to be a part of the worship team for the attention it brings. We can choose to work tirelessly in the church because we are trying to impress God or others with our good works. We can choose to start a business for pure selfish ambition and greed. We can even choose to fill up our lives with activity because we are afraid of doing the one thing God has called us to do. Taking action may produce a lot of activity, but is no antidote against folly.

Which is why waiting on God is so vital. When we wait on God, we are choosing to give him space to speak into our lives concerning what we should be doing. I do not mean “should” in a heavy-handed obligatory sort of way. I mean God telling us everything from why he has created us and what he has called us to accomplish in this life all the way down to what he wants us to do to patch things up to our spouse. Or be a better husband and father or wife and mother or brother and friend and coworker. Or overcome anger or addiction or fear — even fear of doing what he is asking us to do. Knowing our hearts, God alone is in the position to tell us how to take the next indicated step.

I will end by saying waiting on God is not idleness. In a way, from God’s perspective, we are all unemployed and looking for a job. But waiting on Him is not doing something else with our time. It is refraining from doing anything else till He speaks and gives us the direction we need that puts us on the successful path of life. And we find ourselves employed again with the only job that matters.