6 Things to Do While You Wait on God
You're waiting on God for an answer, a breakthrough, or direction. Here are six honest, biblical things to do in the meantime — none of them are passive.
You've prayed. You've asked. You've waited.
And God hasn't answered — or at least, not the way you expected. The job hasn't come. The door hasn't opened. The relationship hasn't materialized. The direction is still foggy.
So now what? Do you just sit here? Scroll your phone? Lose your mind?
No. Waiting on God doesn't mean doing nothing. It means doing the right things while you wait. Here are six of them.
1. Be Faithful with What You Already Have
This is the most important thing you can do in a waiting season — and the one most people skip.
“He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.”
While you're waiting for the big thing, are you being faithful with the small things? The job you have now. The relationships in front of you. The skills you already possess. God tests faithfulness in the small before trusting you with the big. If you're neglecting what you have while pining for what you want, you may be delaying your own answer.
Ask: what has God already given me that I am not fully stewarding? Do that first.
2. Prepare for What's Coming
Joseph didn't just sit in prison. He interpreted dreams. He served the warden. He built the skills and relationships that would eventually position him for Pharaoh's court. He didn't know what was coming. But he prepared as if something was.
While you wait:
- Develop skills that align with where you think God is leading.
- Read — books in your area of calling, biographies of people who walked similar paths, Scripture deeply.
- Build relationships with people already in the space you're moving toward.
- Get healthy — physically, emotionally, spiritually. The opportunity that's coming will require a version of you that's ready for it.
Waiting is not the absence of activity. It is preparation disguised as inactivity.
3. Serve Someone Else
When you're stuck waiting for your own breakthrough, one of the most powerful things you can do is help someone else get theirs.
Serve at your church. Mentor someone younger. Help a friend move. Volunteer at a food bank. Listen to someone who needs to be heard.
Service does three things in a waiting season. It gets your eyes off yourself and onto others. It positions you as faithful (see #1). And it often leads to unexpected connections and opportunities. Some of the biggest doors in Scripture opened through acts of service — Joseph served the warden, Ruth served Naomi, David served Saul. Service is the back door to destiny.
4. Journal What God Is Doing — Even If It Looks Like Nothing
In a waiting season, you think nothing is happening. But something always is — you just can't see it in real time.
Journaling your way to clarity with God creates a record of the invisible work. Write down:
- Verses that stand out to you
- Conversations that felt significant
- Recurring thoughts or themes
- Small doors that opened or closed
- Prayers you prayed, and when
Six months from now, you'll look back at your journal and see a thread you couldn't see today. God was speaking the whole time. You just needed the perspective of time to hear it.
5. Deal With Your Own Stuff
Waiting seasons are rarely wasted. They're often renovation seasons — God working on things inside you that need to change before the next door opens.
Ask honestly:
- Is there sin I need to confess?
- Is there a relationship I need to repair?
- Is there a wound I need to process — possibly with a counselor?
- Is there a habit I need to break?
- Is there a fear I need to face?
Sometimes the reason God hasn't opened the next door is that you aren't yet ready to walk through it. The waiting isn't punishment. It's preparation. If fear is what's blocking you, the lie you believe may be the thing God is waiting for you to release.
6. Worship Anyway
This is the hardest one. And the most powerful. Worship when you have the answer is easy. Worship when you are still waiting is faith.
“But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”
The Hebrew word for wait here — qavah — literally means to bind together. Waiting on God is not passive. It's an active binding of yourself to Him.
Worship in the waiting says: I trust You even when I do not understand. I praise You even when I have not received. I choose You even when the answer has not come. That kind of worship is not performance. It's warfare. And it changes the atmosphere of your waiting season.
Simeon: A Lifetime of Active Waiting
If you want a biblical picture of someone whose entire adult life was a waiting season — and what fulfillment finally looked like — it's Simeon.
Biblical Example · Simeon
Simeon was 'just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him. And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ' (Luke 2:25-26). He was old by the time the moment came — possibly very old. We don't know how many years he spent waiting in the temple, watching Jewish parents bring infant after infant for purification, wondering if today would be the day. Then Mary and Joseph walked in with a 40-day-old baby, and Simeon recognized Him. He took the infant Jesus in his arms and said, 'Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation' (Luke 2:29-30). Notice what his waiting wasn't: it wasn't passive. He was 'just and devout.' He was in the temple. He was attentive enough to recognize the moment when it came. His waiting was a *posture*, not an idleness. And after a lifetime of it, one ordinary morning, the wait ended in his hands.
Luke 2:25-32 (KJV)
What Waiting Is Not
It is not punishment. If you're waiting, that doesn't mean God is angry. Moses waited 40 years. David waited 15 years between anointing and crown. Jesus waited 30 years before three years of ministry. None of them were being punished.
It is not forgotten. God has not forgotten your prayer. He is not overwhelmed by requests. He is not too busy for you. He has not forgotten you — even when the silence suggests otherwise.
It is not permanent. Every waiting season in the Bible ended. Every single one. Abraham waited 25 years and Isaac came. Joseph waited 13 years and the throne came. Israel waited 400 years and Moses came. Your waiting has an end date. You don't know when. But it is coming.
“Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.”
The Gift Hidden in the Waiting
Here's what most people miss: some of the most important growth of your life happens while you wait.
The waiting is where patience is forged, faith is deepened, character is built, dependence is learned, motives are purified. If God gave you the answer immediately, you might not be ready for it. The waiting makes you ready.
“But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”
Let patience do its work. Don't rush the process. The person who emerges from the waiting is better equipped than the person who entered it.
A Prayer for the Waiting
Lord, I am still waiting.
I don't know how much longer. I don't know why. Some days I'm not sure I can keep going.
But I choose to trust You. I choose to be faithful with what I have. I choose to serve while I wait. I choose to prepare for what is coming.
And I choose to worship — not because I have the answer, but because I have You.
Sustain me. Strengthen me. And when the time is right — move.
I am waiting on You. Amen.
Amen.
A Practical Next Step
If you're in a waiting season and want a structured way to name how God wired you, what might be in the way, and a likely next step, CallingTest is a free guided experience built for moments like this. A starting point for clarity, not a substitute for prayer, Scripture, or godly counsel. About 10 minutes. No email. No cost.
Common Questions
What should I actually do while I wait on God?
Six things, none of them passive. Be faithful with what you already have (Luke 16:10). Prepare for what's coming — develop skills, build relationships, get healthy. Serve someone else; service is often the back door to destiny. Journal what God is doing even when it looks like nothing, because the thread becomes visible in retrospect. Deal honestly with your own stuff — waiting seasons are usually renovation seasons. And worship anyway. None of these make the waiting shorter, but they make you ready for what comes next.
Why does God make me wait?
Because some of the most important growth of your life happens in the wait. Patience is forged, faith is deepened, character is built, dependence is learned, and motives are purified. If God gave you the answer immediately, you might not be ready for it. Joseph in prison wasn't being punished — he was being prepared. James 1:4 says, 'But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.' The work in you matters as much as the answer to you.
Is waiting on God the same as doing nothing?
No. The Hebrew word for 'wait' in Isaiah 40:31 — *qavah* — literally means 'to bind together.' Waiting on God is an *active* binding of yourself to Him, not passive idleness. Scripture's waiters were busy: Joseph served in prison, Ruth gleaned in fields, David tended sheep, Simeon served daily in the temple until the day Jesus arrived. The shape of waiting is faithful work plus patient trust, not paralysis.
What if my waiting has been years long?
You're in distinguished company. Abraham waited 25 years for Isaac. Joseph waited 13 years for the throne he was promised at 17. Israel waited 400 years for deliverance from Egypt. Simeon waited what may have been his entire adult life for the moment he held the infant Jesus. Long waits in Scripture are not the exception — they're how God most often works. Your length doesn't disqualify you; it likely reflects the depth of what He's preparing.
How do I keep my faith alive during a long wait?
By worshiping anyway. Worship when you have the answer is easy; worship when you're still waiting is faith. Stay in Scripture daily, journal honestly, get in real community, and keep doing the next right thing in front of you. 'Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD' (Psalm 27:14). Notice the repetition — Scripture says it twice because we need it twice. The strength comes in the waiting, not after it.
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Reviewed by CallingTest Pastoral Editorial Team · Last reviewed May 28, 2026