Waiting, Hoping, and Expecting

"Wait and hope for and expect the Lord; be brave and of good courage and let your heart be stout and enduring. Yes, wait for and hope for and expect the Lord."
                                                                                                                                Psalm 27:14




Every second seemed like an eternity. The coldness and dampness of the prison cell permeated every cell of their bodies, while the darkness hung like a shroud that was waiting to engulf them. It seemed as if all their dreams had been aborted, even the dreams that God had given to them. Their vision seemed clouded and it felt like all was lost. They swallowed past the lumps in their throats, not really knowing what else to say to one another.

Surely there was a plan. There had to be. The confusing aspect of their predicament was that Paul and Silas had found themselves on the fast track to prison not because they had done something wrong, but, ironically, because they were obeying the will of God (Acts 16:16-40).

It was not a surprise to them that Satan had tried to hinder their witness in Philippi, but when they were stripped and beaten and whisked off to jail, it sure appeared to them that their mission was over. Thoughts must have raced through their minds, as well as a myriad of questions. As they surveyed their treacherous surroundings, a miraculous thing occurred.

In His mercy, God began to comfort Paul and Silas and pour out His grace upon them. In fact, He poured out so much grace that a song began to burst forth from their lips as they lifted their hearts to praise God, despite their dire circumstances. The melodious tune grew louder and stronger as they offered up their sacrifice of praise.

It was a sacrifice because it is much more difficult to praise during our darkest moments, especially in the midnight hour of our soul. Charles Spurgeon explains it this way, "Any fool can sing in the day. It is easy to sing when we can read the notes by daylight; but the skillful stager is he who can sing when there is not a ray of light to read by.... Songs in the night only come from God; they are not in the power of men."

They prayed and they worshipped and they waited. They understood that "the Lord is good to those who wait hopefully and expectantly for Him, to those who seek Him" (Lamentations 3:25a). Even though the hours grew long, the hope and expectation inside of them rose up.

For a period of time, they could not move out of their circumstances. Their feet were shackled, so the best they could do physically was to stand still. Though they desired to escape their prison cell and to be free, they opted to wait for God to move and expect that he would be glorified in their midst.

Charles Spurgeon describes the posture of standing still. He says it is to "keep the posture of an upright man, ready for action, expecting further orders, cheerfully and patiently awaiting the directing voice; and it will not be long ere God shall say to you, as distinctly as Moses said it to the people of Israel, 'Go forward'."

Waiting on God can occur passively or it can occur expectantly. A passive person will sit around and hope that something good happens, but then quickly becomes bored when they don't see anything happening. Passivity is not what God calls us to.

An expectant person believes that the answer from God is coming. Each day they awake they believe that God will show up in a mighty way. Their eyes are on Jesus, and they trust in His principles, promises, purposes, and power.

Their focus is on who God is and what He is doing. They are actively seeking Him, praying for wisdom, and trusting in His goodness. They understand that "the Lord longs to be gracious to [them]; therefore, He will rise up to show [them] compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for Him" (Isaiah 30:18).

The Old Testament Hebrew word for "wait" is Qavah. It means "to bind together, as in twisting strands to make a rope". It is my belief that these strands represent what we can do while we wait. The more of these strands that we add to our lives, the stronger we will be as we wait for Himto do what only He can do.

Here are the strands of our lifeline:

1.) PRAYER- As we pray continually, God infuses His power into them to change the things inside
                       of us that need to be changed
2.) PROMISES- As we declare God's promises daily, He infuses His power into them to provide
                           encouragement to us
3.) PRAISE & WORSHIP- As we praise and worship Him, He infuses His power into them so that
                                            He is magnified and our fears and worries are diminished
4.) THANKSGIVING- As we thank Him for prayers already answered and in advance, He infuses
                                      power so that we have eyes to see what He is doing "behind the scenes"
5.) SEEKING GOD- As we pursue the privilege of knowing Him, He infuses our pursuit with
                                   His power so that we can bring Him glory
6.) OBEDIENCE- As we do the next right thing, He infuses them with His power to provide us
                              with the confidence that we are His children
7.) SUBMISSION- As we submit to His authority, God infuses His power to provide grace,
                                transformation, and blessing


When these stands are woven together by the power of the Holy Spirit, we can stand against all the weapons and lies of the enemy. We will be wise to his schemes and we will not succumb to them. We will stand strong against all opposition and hindrances.

Disappointment and discouragement are the weapons of choice that Satan uses while we wait. Softly, he whispers the lies that "God is not for you" or "God will never answer your prayers". These, however, could never be further from the truth. When we really know and trust God, we realize that our disappointments merely set the stage for God's appointments.

For Paul and Silas, God's appointment had to do with the salvation of their prison guard. Despite his physical freedom, he was really the one that was imprisoned. When Paul and Silas prayed and praised, God responded by shaking the foundation of the prison so hard that the doors opened and their shackles were removed. They could have immediately fled, but Paul understood God's mission and plan and they remained to minister to the guards.

Like Paul and Silas, our "suddenly" will come too, but it will come after a period of waiting. The question is never "if" we will wait for God; the question is "how" we will wait for Him. My prayer is that we will wait with hope and expectation, knowing that His goodness and faithfulness transcends all our circumstances.


"If the Lord Jehovah makes us wait, let us do so with our whole hearts; for blessed are all they that wait for Him. He is worth waiting for. The waiting itself is beneficial to us: it tries faith, exercises patience, trains submission, and endears the blessing when it comes. The Lord's people have always been a waiting people."
                                                    Charles H. Spurgeon