By Sarah Hanlon
In an age when things are available more readily than ever, our world has lost one of the most time-tested and necessary life lessons: knowing how to wait. The Lord in His wisdom created many day to day activities that required people from generations before us to learn to wait: planting and harvesting as a way of life, the time required to walk from place to place rather than traveling by planes, trains, and automobiles, and even planning work and rest with the simplicity of the sun and the moon cycle before electricity became readily available. So many normal daily activities actively encouraged learning how to wait. Yet in 2026, many cultures around the world have eliminated the need to wait. Instead, we visit grocery stores and arrive by car or train regardless of the time of day because we have headlights and lightbulbs. Day-in and day-out, society has eliminated our need to know how to wait.
Have you ever considered that waiting is an action verb and something you learn? If we think of waiting as something that is passive, we are doing it a disservice and often confusing it with idleness. Waiting, and specifically waiting on the Lord, is far from passive. It is an act of faith to remain patient and have your eyes set on the One who is in control with full understanding that your desired timeline is inconsequential.
In Psalm 27, David depicts his life as a posture of waiting. He is aware that evil is at work around him, but he is even more aware that the Lord is in control and will be victorious. As he says in verse 3, he remains confident when fear and danger and foes threaten him while he is waiting because he knows the One upon whom he is waits. The same God who created the heavens and the earth, the sun, moon and stars, and the ground that we toil and plant is the One who is in control of our future.
When we step out of our narrow view of our personal life and consider the bigger picture of the world and who God is, it becomes easier to wait. We wait trusting His goodness. We wait knowing He is in control. We can wait confidently because we can look back over past history and know who God is and that He is a good father to His children. Like the prophet Habbakuk, we wait confidently knowing that even if what we are waiting on doesn’t come to fruition, we will trust in Yahweh. When we remember that all things are in the Lord’s timing, whether like David with enemies attacking, or like many women in our lives today who are waiting for a job, test results, to find a spouse, or for a baby, we can take a breath, a selah, and learn to wait confidently because our waiting is on the Lord. David wrestled often. David’s life was not glamorous. David sinned repeatedly. Yet, he knew the Lord and kept his eyes set on Him. He knew, whether he was hiding in a cave from His enemies or weeping at the bedside of his child, the Lord was going before him while he waited. He knew who was in control of the future, so while all uncertainty and turmoil circled around him, he waited confidently.
When you’re in a season of waiting, picture the Lord going before you. Picture the Lord knowing what is ahead and trust Him in the waiting. Do as Habakkuk did in 2:1 when he says, “I will climb up to my watchtower and stand at my guardpost. There I will wait to see what the LORD says and how He will answer my complaint.” Don’t merely sit idly and allow time to pass, but let the work of waiting take root in your heart and transform your posture to one of peace instead of anxiousness. Set your eyes on the Author and Perfecter of our faith. Waiting patiently on the Lord is an act of courage and bravery. It is stepping out in uncertainty and having full trust in the One who has gone ahead of you. We have no idea what tomorrow will hold. We have no idea if the Lord will answer “Yes,” “No,” or “Maybe later” to our requests, but we can know that regardless of the outcome while we are in the in-between, we can trust Jehovah Jireh, our Provider, who works all things together for good and has defeated Satan and will come again soon.
“Yet I am confident I will see the LORD’s goodness while I am here in the land of the living. Wait patiently for the LORD. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the LORD.”
Psalms 27:13-14 NLT
“Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the LORD! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!”
Habakkuk 3:17-18