Four Things To Look For While You Wait

“I waited patiently for the Lord; He turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear the Lord and put their trust in Him.” – Psalm 40:1-3

All right, let’s talk about waiting. Don’t you love it?

I’m kidding. We humans usually despise the act of waiting; Waiting for our favorite TV show to come on, waiting for a party or a celebration, waiting for that breakthrough we’ve been praying for. No matter what it is we want or need, waiting for it can be excruciating.

We may hate waiting, but Psalm 40 talks about this subject and its benefits in a refreshing way. This passage of Scripture shines a huge light on David and what happened when he waited on the Lord. If we look at the first three verses, we can find four huge benefits that he obtained because he waited on God:

1. God brought him out of his despair: “He lifted me out of the slimy pit.” (verse 2).

2. God set his feet on solid ground: “He gave me a firm place to stand” (verse 2).

3. God steadied him as he walked.

4. God put a new song of praise in his mouth (verse 3).

Those are four huge benefits God gave David while he waited faithfully and patiently. The good news? These things are available to us, too, when we choose to wait well as David did.

So many times in life blessings cannot be received unless we go through a time of waiting. God answers prayers in 3 distinctly different ways. He says “no, not yet,” “yes,” or “no, I love you too much.” The point is that God does not make us wait to be cruel. He makes us wait so we grow closer to Him and learn to rely on Him in the waiting. When our waiting period is over and God opens a door, we will be even more grateful for that blessing and see the patience that He gave us through the process.

Moral of the story…patience. It rarely feels good, but it’s always beneficial.