‘Waiting on the Lord’ in the Book of Psalms

January 24th, 2026 (-31 F below zero in Poplar WI)

As readers of the Psalms we cannot help but notice a fascinating subject repeated throughout.
In this study we will to explore seven different Hebrew words from the Book of Psalms translated as ‘wait’ in our English Bibles. We will also ask, Why did they wait? And why did it take seven ancient words to describe it? There are yet other words for ‘wait’ but are mostly used for waiting for people or secular affairs, or lying in wait with ill will; these will not come into this study. So of the forty-two times the phrase ‘to wait on God’ occurs in the OT, twenty-one of them are in the Book of Psalms. We will look only at the words reserved for what it is to wait on God, a discovery in itself.

Thesis: Waiting on the Lord locates me ‘in the holiest of all by the blood of Jesus’ (Heb.
10:19).

קָוַה (in English pronounced qavah – if you’re using Strong’s Concordance see #6960, an
essential tool). This is Waiting for Breakthrough. We find this word for wait three times in Ps.
25:3, 5, & 21 – “Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed . . . . Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day . . . . Let integrity and uprightness preserve me; for I wait on thee.”

As we approach the Psalm we notice that it is an acrostic piece of poetry, where the first
letter in each verse will follow the order of the Hebrew alphabet. This design carries the idea that this song should be memorized; imagine that! The structure of the Psalm is simple: Part 1 – Lord save me. Part 2 – Reader, learn from me. Part 3 – Again, Lord save me. In more detail: v.1 is the introduction. In vv. 2-7 every verse centers on an imperative, an exhortation for God to save him from trouble or worse. Vv. 8-15 are instructions to us as readers. And vv. 16-22 are again imperatives all, imploring God to speedily deliver David.

Beginning in v.1 of David’s prayer, he instantly declares the intensity of his soul, setting the
tone for the Psalm. For him, being ‘ashamed’ (v. 2-3) i.e. disappointed, below expectations, confused, as the result of waiting on God, shouldn’t even be a possibility; yet not many know that. ‘But Lord, don’t let that happen’, is David’s prayer. So to wait on God is really important. To focus on him and learn his way forward is the only path to be on. Vv. 4-5 are key: “Show me thy ways, O Lord; teach me thy paths.” Notice the didactic or instructional element shining through. This waiting can be taught. Let us learn this lesson. After all, these are the Psalms and part of the Wisdom Literature.

The ways and paths of the Lord are ‘foot-paths’, not a big freeway. Distinguish his tread-
marks, even his bare footprint. Pay attention. It’s very earthy. V. 10 has, “All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth. . . .” It’s very relational. Though subtilely, He’s working with you so you can
recognize his trail. V. 5 – “Lead me in thy truth and teach me.” ‘Lead me’ can be translated literally as ‘walk-me’ in thy truth. From the NT we get, “Walk in the Spirit” (Gal. 5:16) and “I (God) will walk
in them” (II Cor. 6:16). We can think of God ‘walking-in-me’ to lead me in his truth. I love that.

God is causing all this to happen – showing David, teaching David, and leading him into
truth, like the Holy Spirit does us. David waited because he had to have ‘hands-on’ instruction that would save him. It is ‘tried and true’ information that Christ has personally walked out for us, leaving his tracks behind. It is wisdom that is specific and relevant for the moment we are in. So, wait. Stop everything else and ‘wait for personal instruction’ from the Lord. You won’t be disappointed.

See also Ps. 27:13-14: “I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in
the land of the living. Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart:
wait, I say on the Lord.” This means: ‘It’s getting intense for I’m about to faint . . . unless I believe I
will ‘see’ how good God is.’ But faith comes before the seeing. Faith is looking for the goodness of
the Lord; it can only extend to the goodness of the Lord. So, I wait on Lord. It will take courage, and a strength only he can give. Thus I wait in faith, fastened on his goodness. My waiting is fueled by the One my eyes are on. I am ‘looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith’ (Heb. 12:2).

As in Ps.25 & 27, Ps. 40:1 has the same word for wait (kavah) – “I waited patiently for the
Lord: and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.” ‘Wait’ is repeated twice in a row for emphasis (in Hebrew grammar this verb appears first as an infinitive absolute, and then in the Piel perfect). Thus, ‘waiting indeed I utterly waited’. This is a determined waiting that won’t easily give up. There is no optional plan B for discovering God’s way to breakthrough.

חִיל (kheel – Strong’s #2342). This is waiting on the Lord is intense. Though used many
times in the OT, this word is used only one time in where it is translated as ‘wait’ in Psalms. But in other settings, we find it means: to dance, to drive out, to fall grievously, to fear, form, hope; to rest, stay, tarry; to be in pain, shake, sorrow, travail, tremble, bring to birth, trust, ‘wait’ patiently being wounded. This is passionate, even extreme waiting.

So we have, “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself. . . .” (Psalm 37:7).
In grammar our verb kheel or ‘wait patiently’ is found in the reflexive Hithpael stem, he made himself to wait. It is to marshal oneself, wholly taken up in concentrated waiting.

Let’s look at the Psalm 37. It is again an acrostic song like Ps. 25, but here every fourth phrase
is following the Hebrew alphabet, aleph-tav (or a-z). Notice too that in vv. 1-8 there are thirteen
imperatives or commands to us, and as David’s readers he instructs us how to walk out a very
‘weighty’ situation. These commands are: fret not, trust, do good, delight thyself, commit, trust, rest, ‘wait patiently’, fret not, cease from anger, forsake wrath, fret not. Three times ‘fret not’ is used.

This waiting on God is so active that it refuses to be out-powered by fretting, worry,
anxiety, calculating, and fear. It wages war, weighing all the potentials, the maybes, the threats, and all the unrealities of this world, by waiting on God and what he will do. It engages in the disturbing moment as in travailing and trembling. In like manner, we see this same desperate heart in Paul for God’s intervention to the Galatians who were being seduced by false teachers.

He wrote, “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again till Christ be formed in you”
(Gal. 4:19). He must have agonized in prayer, waiting on God to move. It is intercession. It is
“Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all
perseverance and supplication for all the saints” (Eph. 6:18).

It seems to me that as Jesus spoke his last words on the Cross, “It is finished: and bowed his
head, and gave up the ghost” (John 19:30), he was waiting on God. Christ is our example of ‘waiting patiently’ on the Lord. For us, waiting on God is feeling the pain, writhing, trembling – waiting for God to move. It is an extension of our faith, where the waiting becomes a renunciation of human effort to get the promise done; only God can do it. Ready to burn some energy like that? Not easy.

Finally, I’m thinking of Saul of Tarsus, persecutor of the Church, who meets Jesus “whom
thou persecutest” (Acts 9:5). Trembling and astonished and now blinded by Jesus’ glory, asked ‘What do you want me to do?’ The Lord instructed him to ‘go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do,” and he did. The command to go into Damascus was totally open ended; what it was, how long would it take, and who would tell him whatever, he did not know. What did Saul do? He went to the house of Judas and ‘was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink’ (v.9). He was essentially ‘waiting patiently’ on the Lord, ‘trembling and astonished’. And God broke through. He sent Ananias who gave him his sight back (through Jesus of course), prophesied and foretold his calling and future, & got him filled with the Holy Spirit. Let us wait on the Lord.

שָׁמַר (shamar – Strong’s #8104). This waiting on God is to keep watch. It is variously
defined as: to hedge about (as with thorns), to keep, to keep watch, guard, mark, protect, and attend to; to beware, be circumspect, take heed to, and regard; to look narrowly, observe, preserve, reserve, restore, save, and ‘wait for’ (shamar) God.

Here is an often used Hebrew verb throughout the OT. But translated as ‘wait’ is used only
once in the Psalms and then twice more in the whole rest of the OT. So our verse is from Psalm 59:9 “Because of his strength I will wait upon thee: for God is my defense”. The reason that I can wait and keep watch upon the Lord is ‘because of his strength.’ His strength enables me, not to rush into my own solution, but to observe him. I lack the attentiveness, but he works in me to watch for him.

The overwhelming problem for David here is that his wicked enemies are secretly lying in
wait to destroy him, and that he desperately needs God’s delivering power to save him. So he keeps diligent watch for God who must intervene. David’s action of keeping watch of God generates faith for deliverance. Think of that. For by the end of the Psalm he is encountering and singing about God’s power, his mercy before it happens (vv.16-17). Waiting with watching for God shows us how to track with God. He becomes present and we can perceive his presence. His peace comes and we have the answer before it actually comes. Compare Heb. 12:2 – “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.” The ability to recognize God’s saving presence in the situation springs from our keeping watch for him, which is to ‘wait upon’ the Lord. He will always be “the rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Heb. 11:6).

דָמַם (damam – Strong’s #1826). This waiting on God is to expectantly keep silent. The
definitions include: to be dumb or speechless, astonished; to stop, to quiet self, be still, to ‘wait’; to perish, to cease, forbear, to hold peace, to be cut down. Similarly, דָמַה (damah – Strong’s #1820) is defined more simply as: to be dumb, silent, to be quiet.

So both damah and damam are translated but once in Psalms as ‘wait,’ and are in Ps. 62:1, 5.
V.1–“ Truly my soul waiteth (damah)upon God: from him comes my salvation”. V. 5-“My soul,
wait (damam) thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him.”

In v. 1 David waited quietly for God to give him salvation from his enemies who seek to cast
him down. In Hebrew the word ‘salvation’ is יְשׁוּעָה (yishua) and Jesus’ name in Hebrew is יֵשׁוּעַ
(yeshua) and nearly identical. His name means salvation, as it is written: “You shall call his name
‘Salvation’ (Jesus) for he shall ‘save’ his people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21). David saw his Messiah
this way. From Acts 2: 25 we read, “For David speaketh concerning Him, I forsaw the Lord always
before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved.”

Again, as he ‘quiets’ his soul before his Savior in v. 5, David commands his soul to stop all the
mental gymnastics and get ‘quiet’ before God, because he doesn’t need to be all worked up. For his ‘expectation’ and hope is from God. God generates David’s hope. God is the source of his hope. And that hope has led to his God-given expectancy. It came by being quiet before God. The root word for expectation is to ‘wait for’, to ‘hope in.’ Quiet waiting on God makes confidence. Think of that.

From this mindset of God-sourced faith, David comes alive and declares in v. 6-8, “He only
is my rock and my salvation: he is my defense; I shall not be moved. In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God. Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us.”

A fresh and positive outlook begins to form when you wait quietly before God. You have to
silence the racket, the endless negative chatter, so you can get your mind back, and speak peace over your soul. But do it before God. It’s prayer. Light a candle. You don’t have to say a word. Wait.

יָחַל (yachal – Strong’s # 3176). This is waiting on the Lord who already took your load, the whole damn thing! Other uses include: to be patient, to hope; to be caused to hope, be
pained, stay, terry, trust wait. It is translated as ‘wait’ only once in the Psalms, but 15 times as ‘hope.’

David wrote, “I am weary of my crying: my throat is dried: mine eyes fail while I ‘wait’ for my God” (Ps. 69:3). [See also Micah 7:7 as the Prophet, who in despair of Israel’s sin, said, “Therefore
I will look unto the Lord; I will ‘wait’ for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me”].

In this messianic Psalm, David is waiting on God because he’s going through hell, in absolute and utter desperation of soul. He describes his situation: ‘I sink in the mire; the floods over flow me;
my enemies would destroy me; my sins are not hid from thee; I am become a stranger unto my
brethren, an alien unto my mother’s children; they that sit in the gate speak against me; I was the
song of the drunkards; hide not thy face from thy servant, for I am in trouble; hear me speedily;
reproach hath broken my heart; I am full of heaviness; I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but found none’ (vv. 1-20).

Yet though all this suffering is ripping him up, David is also at the same time inexplicably
functioning as a Prophet. Woven throughout his cry, he is foreseeing and prophesying of his
Messiah’s sufferings. It’s stunning to comprehend that David’s distressing words get put on reserve to be used again for anguish of our Lord’s Passion. And in the midst of his own intense troubles, his sufferings astonishingly become a description of Jesus’ exact sufferings! This linking into the prophetic realm happens four times in this Psalm.

First, in v. 4 – “They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head.” It was in the intimacy of the last supper of John 15:25, when Jesus is soon to be betrayed and crucified,
that he quotes this verse to give context to their setting. It was the fulfilment of prophecy. And it was written a thousand years before, yet pointing to this very moment.

Second, in v. 9 – “For zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.” Quoted by Jesus in John 2:17, Christ lifts the statement to an even deeper meaning than David’s, which described his actual emotions in cleansing the temple, his holy violence, his whip, and the overthrown tables of the money changers.

Third, in v. 9 again – “The reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me.” Paul tells
us in Rom. 15:3 that we should ‘be even as Christ, who pleased not himself; but as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on Me.’ Jesus took our reproaches, our being slandered, our put-downs and made them his own at the Cross. Think of that.

Fourth, in v. 21 – “They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to
drink.” Matthew, who was at the scene of Jesus the crucified, reports in 27:33-34, “And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull, they gave him vinegar to
drink mingled with gall; and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink.” This is horrific to
consider, but this is what Jesus did for us. He made David’s story his story. So when you tell us about your junk it doesn’t end there, but gets lifted off you and put right on him. Awesome. Lose the junk.

As David shows us, the only way through such an overwhelming and unsolvable situation is to wait on the Lord. Do you remember when David, who had been anointed to be king by the
Prophet Samuel, but is on the run from Saul (I Sam. 18-31), and for 13 chapters struggles just to keep alive? His life seemed to be a contradiction. He could have killed Saul twice and solved his problems, but he waited on God to solve all this; and he did. So to wait on the Lord is not passive, it’s not easy. Should this be easy? But, waiting on God will rightly position you before God. You back out of doing things your way, and invite God to have his way and wait until he does. It’s the most you can do. It’s the only thing you can do.

שָׂבַר (savar – Strong’s # 7663, 7664). This is waiting on God for what is longed for, beyond longing. Other uses are: to scrutinize, watch; to hope, to expect, tarry, view, to ‘wait.’ What one waits for is what he hopes for. So wait and hope are a sometimes translated from this same word. Savar is used twice as ‘wait’ (Ps. 104:27 & 145:27) and twice as ‘hope’ (119:116 & 146:5) in Psalms.

In Psalm 119:116 we read, “Uphold me according unto thy word, that I may live: and let me not be ashamed of my ‘hope’.” In my version I hear the Psalmist praying to God, ‘Cause me to stand because I’m leaning heavy on you, according to what you have already said to me on oath – because, only if you do this, I live – and let me never be ashamed of my ‘hope’ – I mean, don’t let me screw this up and get darkened and offended with you and your promise. Lord, don’t let the moment even come that I get embarrassed that I know you, or disappointed, confused or perplexed about you, so much so that I would punt it all away. It would leave me separated from, and estranged from what I ‘wait’ for, and what I long for. All my hope is in You and your word, your people and land.’

You’ve probably got a desire popping up that’s been there for a long time now. It’s something you’ve hoped for and waited for, but maybe you’ve had to shelve to the future. But it doesn’t go away and has now up-graded to be a longing. Have you invited the Holy Spirit into it? Ok. So in Rom. 5:5 we read about a hope that won’t disappoint, where Paul concludes vv.1-5, “And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost,
which is given unto us.”

This desire is going to take the mercy of God. If you allow the Holy Spirit to get involved with your longing, he begins to say something to your dry spirit, like, ‘This is not the end of your dream.’ He’s going to take it higher. He is the ‘Spirit of life’ (Rom. 8:2) that raised Jesus from the dead. He turns disappointment to work for you till it becomes patience, which generates experience, which produces hope never to cause shame or disappointment. (Observe this progression from Rom. 5:1-5). This hope is established in what is real: the death and Resurrection of our Lord. And this fact is so relevant to everything in life, so that it lifts our longings: instead of them being a far off remote wish, they transform into ‘all things are possible to him who believeth’ (Mark 9:23).

We’re talking about a dependable hope. The fruit of holding on to this hope is love, to the point that it’s spilling out everywhere by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the energy at work in this hope. After all, He is God Almighty the Holy Ghost – this is what he does. So look already at Rom. 15:13 – “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.” What does ‘all joy’ look like? Get that. The Spirit of God is the hope-producer, and not just a little bit. That’ll put a spring in you step.

חָכָה (chakah – Strong’s #2442). This is waiting on the Lord as being pierced through or as long as it takes. Other uses are: to adhere to, to tarry long, to ‘wait.’ We find it used twice in
Psalms.

The lead into Ps. 33:20 provides a stirring context we must see: “There is no king saved by the
multitude of a host: a mighty man is not delivered by much strength. A horse is a vain thing for
safety: neither shall he deliver any by his great strength. Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them
that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy; to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine” vv. 16-19). Notice the next verse.

“Our soul ‘waiteth’ for the Lord: he is our help and our shield” (Ps. 33:20).

This Psalm raises us to the grandeur of God, his magnificent counsel, the deep creative power of his Word, his approachability and communion with us, which are the rarest and most precious attributes of anyone in the world. At this point the Psalm shows us the vanity of trusting in hostile world powers which are contrasted and found wanting. There is the call to ‘fear’ him, i.e. to have faith in him, and to tremble too.

Then the Psalmist declares what our response should be to him: to rejoice in the Lord, to praise him, to sing him a new song – and then, to wait’ for the Lord. This word to comes in the Piel stem of the verb, which is an intensifier. Thus, “our soul waiteth for the Lord” could be translated ‘our soul is totally sitting tight.’ Since the Lord is our help and shield, we wait for him to act. This moment is so clearly God’s scene, that to plant myself before him, no matter how long this suspense lasts, is the only fitting response to take if I trust him. I’m not trusting in any other power. I am made to wait on the Lord. It’s my highest accomplishment. I am marked to do this. Even stronger, I’ve been pierced through my heart in visceral faith, and the fear of the Lord adheres to my innards, to wait for Him. To watch Him go and get ‘er done, for this I wait. He moves when I wait. It’s his move.

To take another look chakah, consider also Psalm 106:13, where the Psalmist includes himself
fully to the full list of unrepentant Israel: they were – sinful, void of understanding, lustful,
idolatrous, unbelieving, murmuring, provoking – yet adding, “They soon forgot his works; they
‘waited’ not for his counsel” (v.13). Remember, the Lord had brought the ten plagues upon the
Egyptians, but they forgot. They were delivered on the night of the Passover, but they forgot. He
divided the Red Sea, but they forgot. He provided a feast in the desert and springs in the wilderness, but they forgot. But because they forgot, when they needed water, they murmured (used 30 times of Israel in the wilderness), and called God and Moses liars (Num. 14:1-5).

Not only this, “They ‘waited’ not for his counsel” (v. 13). Here is our word, again in the Piel stem. They would not ‘sight tight’ until God showed the way to provision. They clawed at instant and willfully blind conclusions, imagining that God was out to destroy them all in the desert.

But this verse holds a veiled promise easily overlooked: ‘they waited not for his counsel’ means that ‘they could’ve waited for his counsel’ and would’ve most certainly received it! This is a big deal. For example: In II Chron. 20 Judah and Jehoshaphat are about to be destroyed by the massive combined forces of Ammon and Moab and Mt. Seir. What did they do? They waited for
God’s counsel! – “And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah” (v. 3). God sent a prophet, a message, and a heavenly ambush and they were all saved without even a fight. To wait on the Lord is a decision. Decide. Do. Learn by doing.

Conflict

This ain’t over. There has come unspeakable harm to those who choose not to wait on God. There will be on-going conflict due to the clash of our old nature upon the new, which is the enemy of God. At the heart of the issue is the sin of unbelief: the accusation that God is a liar – let’s just call it what it is. We don’t believe God’s way is better. We don’t believe communion with God could be the greatest discovery of life. I John 5:10 reads – “He that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.”

Conclusions

1) Waiting on God vs. Guess-work. Due to the war within me and the frailties of human nature, I will naturally try to guess or forecast what is productive. This leads to a counter-productive
obsession. God’s solution is that instead I learn to wait upon him for direction. Lose the guess work.

2) Waiting on God vs. Doing my Will. Doing my will comes from concluding that I can’t know God’s will day by day; thus I go about my day. This is boring compared to knowing and doing God’s will. So if I will take the time to wait on God day by day, I position myself to discover his leading, even spontaneously and in the moment. How exciting and comely it is to do his will.

3) Waiting on God vs. My Arrogance (not confidence). I am naturally arrogant before God when I rely on my own smarts alone, or say, I got this. This quickly leads to all sorts of problems, like being out of touch with the Holy Spirit. For waiting on God takes humility. With that in place, it frees me from the fatal conceit of believing that I possess the ability to navigate my own life.

4) Waiting on God vs. My Timing. A strong motivation to wait on the Lord comes from seeking God about his will and calling on your life. Press through to knowing your calling which God will show you. Upon that discovery don’t assume you should automatically jump into it. Make the timing and the empowerment of that call dependent on what comes from waiting on God. For
example, Jesus said, “And behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high (Luke 24:49). ‘Wait until, until, until’. . . It was a divine necessity to wait upon God for the Holy Spirit.

Not only the timing, but the thing of being ‘sent,’ of knowing you mission is critical. You can actually know that, but it comes from intimate daily communion with God, also known as waiting on God. Being sent by God is the application of doing his will, also known as obedience. Did you know that you were born for this, doing God’s will? Your heart can really burn for this one thing. The Lord said, “My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work” (John 4:34). The thing that sustained Jesus was doing God’s will, his mission and his timing. So it is with us. Waiting on God gets us into his will, his sending and his timing.

Jesus was very concerned about timing. At one point, Jesus’ brothers didn’t believe in him yet, and they mocked him to go show himself openly. Jesus didn’t go for it for a second. He said,
“My time (καιρὸς or Kairos) is not yet come: but your time is always ready” (John 7:6). Kairos is
Greek for ‘time’ but not chronological time where we count one second after the other. Jesus is
talking about heaven’s time, God’s ordained time for something to happen, a moment filled with
divine meaning and purpose. It is extremely exciting to know God’s moment and step into it. If
we’re waiting on the Lord about that, we can know the moment or the season for something that
supposed to happen from heaven’s time.

Another example of this is from Simeon, who was there when the baby Jesus was presented
in the temple, and held him in his arms. He was there, and wasn’t late, because his life was absorbed with a promise God had made to him: “that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ” (Luke 2:26). His life was totally oriented about this, and thus he waited on the Lord no matter how long might take. But God’s plan for you cannot be fulfilled unless you orient your life around that and wait on him till he opens the way for you. Remember, you want him to initiate that. Without this consecration you can’t walk out God’s plan. This I know from experience. If you know something of God’s will for your life, that will give you grace to wait on the Lord about it.

Waiting on God – Your Design. We must learn to wait on the Lord, and know that you’ve been born to do this, and can do it. Step into waiting on God with everything you’ve got: as
it is written, “With my whole heart have I sought thee” (Ps. 119:10), and “My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him” (Ps. 62:5). To wait on God must become our daily communion, our daily bread, our ‘secret place of the most high’ (Ps. 91:1), and the place where God wants to dwell. Waiting on God can be done many ways: worship, singing, listening to great music, prayer, memorization of Scripture, etc. But waiting on him is not passivity! And it’s not optional, it’s a commandment.

So, what’s your cut off point, the place where you throw in the towel and say I’m not waiting any longer, I’m taking matters into my own hands? Run from that conclusion! Get some grit! Make a clean break from the old pattern of doing things your way. How great it is to have a breakthrough for the first time where you know God’s will because you waited on him. How great to do what God’s doing. It’s called obedience. Discover that. You were redeemed to engage in the conflict of waiting of God, and winning. So, “Wait, I say, on the Lord” (Ps. 27:14).