Wait on the Lord

Waiting is a small word, but it is the great test of faith. Anyone can pray once and turn away to other things. The waiter prays and stays — and stays — and stays.

The Psalmist says it twice: Wait, I say, on the Lord. He knew how the heart slips out of waiting. He knew how courage fades in the long pause. He knew that the temptation to act, to arrange, to settle the matter ourselves grows stronger as the silence lengthens.

And yet the promise is plain: he shall strengthen thine heart. Not a strength that comes by activity; a strength that comes by waiting. Stay at your post. Stay in your prayer. Stay in your trust. The God who has promised cannot fail you, and the strength he gives the waiter is greater than the strength he gives the worker.