What each passage meant where it was written, and what it does and does not offer you now.
I wait for Jehovah, my soul doth wait, And in his word do I hope. My soul [waiteth] for the Lord More than watchmen [wait] for the morning; [Yea, more than] watchmen for the morning.
Psalm 130:1–6: read the chapter
The writer is not being poetic. A night watchman wants the sun up because he is cold, bored and frightened, and morning is the only thing that ends his shift. That is the picture chosen for waiting on God. It is not serene. Notice too that he says it twice, because saying it once was not enough.
For the vision is yet for the appointed time, and it hasteth toward the end, and shall not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not delay.
Habakkuk 2:1–4: read the chapter
Habakkuk had just accused God of doing nothing about the violence around him. What he got back was not an explanation but an instruction to write it down and keep watching. Hold both halves together: it takes time, and it will not be late. That is a tension the prophet lived in, not a promise about your particular date, though it is often quoted as if it were.
[I had fainted], unless I had believed to see the goodness of Jehovah In the land of the living. Wait for Jehovah: Be strong, and let thy heart take courage; Yea, wait thou for Jehovah.
Psalm 27:13–14: read the chapter
This is a man talking to himself, not somebody telling you to be patient, and the difference matters. The word still in verse 13 is carrying a lot. He repeats the instruction to wait because saying it once did not take. Handed to someone else as an instruction, it becomes something the psalm never was.
He giveth power to the faint; and to him that hath no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: but they that wait for Jehovah shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint.
Isaiah 40:28–31: read the chapter
Spoken to people in exile with no return date. It gets read as a promise of energy on demand, which sets you up to feel like a failure by four in the afternoon. Read what it actually says: the young and the fit fall over. Strength here is given to people who have none left, not summoned by people who try harder.
For the Lord will not cast off for ever. For though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his lovingkindnesses. For he doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.
Lamentations 3:25–33: read the chapter
Written by somebody who watched Jerusalem destroyed and did not tidy it up afterwards. He says God causes grief and does not afflict willingly almost in the same breath, and leaves the contradiction standing. One warning: the lines just above, about giving your cheek to the one who strikes you, have been used to keep people in violent homes. They are not counsel to stay.
And shall not God avenge his elect, that cry to him day and night, and [yet] he is longsuffering over them?
Luke 18:1–8: read the chapter
The widow in this parable is neither patient nor polite. She turns up again and again until the judge gives in simply to be rid of her, and Jesus tells the story approvingly. She is also pursuing a case, not sitting still. If anyone has made you feel that repeating a prayer shows weak faith, this story was told against that idea.
But if we hope for that which we see not, [then] do we with patience wait for it. And in like manner the Spirit also helpeth our infirmity: for we know not how to pray as we ought; but the Spirit himself maketh intercession for [us] with groanings which cannot be uttered;
Romans 8:24–28: read the chapter
The last line of this passage, about all things working together for good, is one of the most misused sentences in the Bible on this subject. Paul does not say the bad thing is good, and he has just been describing creation groaning. The more useful part for a wait is the middle: the Spirit prays for you when you have no idea how, in sounds that are not words.
Count it all joy, my brethren, when ye fall into manifold temptations; knowing that the proving of your faith worketh patience.
James 1:2–4: read the chapter
This lands badly when somebody else says it to you, and it should. Count it is a decision about how to read a thing, not a feeling you are required to produce, and James is writing to congregations already under real pressure. Nobody else gets to apply this verse to your situation on your behalf.
And therefore will Jehovah wait, that he may be gracious unto you; and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for Jehovah is a God of justice; blessed are all they that wait for him.
Isaiah 30:15–18: read the chapter
Worth noticing because it turns the usual direction round. The passage has just described people who refused to rest and bolted instead, and then it says God waits, so that he may be gracious. Whatever else is happening, that puts God on the same side of the waiting as you, rather than at the far end of it.
Quoted from the American Standard Version (1901), which is in the public domain. Every reference on this page was checked against the text. Chapter links open the same translation in our reader.
