Welcome to a new day and a new week! This morning, I was looking through the Psalms and landed on Psalm 27. The author is believed to have been King David, and it’s a beautiful poem or song expressing confidence in God.
But before we get to confidence, we begin with fear. “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” You don’t begin your day with those questions unless you’re afraid of something. And very quickly, David pours out his fears to God: he has enemies who want to devour him.
David literally faced enemies – real people who wanted to kill him and take his throne. We don’t face those kinds of enemies, but we still have enemies. Fear. Pain. Guilt. Grief. Loneliness. Depression. And so many more. And there are days when it feels like they might just win and devour us.
That’s when David offers advice. “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” There’s a reason he repeats it.
Because waiting feels … inefficient. Like standing in the longest line at the grocery store while every other lane mysteriously moves faster. Like sitting at the traffic light that seems to be taunting you and deliberately not changing.
Waiting tests our patience, our perspective, and occasionally even our faith.
We tend to think of waiting as empty space—time where nothing is happening. But Scripture suggests otherwise. According to Google (so it must be true), the Bible encourages us to “wait on the Lord” over 100 times. Why? Because waiting isn’t wasted time when we’re waiting on the Lord.
Waiting on the Lord involves patience, trust, and an active expectation in God’s timing. Waiting renews strength. Waiting expects that God will defeat all of our enemies … when God knows we’re ready. Waiting allows God to work within us, shaping trust, deepening dependence, and loosening our grip on control (which, if we’re honest, we were holding onto pretty tightly).
Waiting may not immediately change your situation. But it often changes you. And that matters more than we realize.
“I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!”
Thought to ponder: Where might God be doing quiet, unseen work in the places where you feel stuck?
Prayer: Lord, teach me to wait with trust instead of frustration. Help me believe that you are at work, even when I can’t see it. Amen.
