Wait for the LORD
David preaches to his own heart
David ends a psalm of intense distress with a word he seems to be speaking to himself: wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD. The repetition frames it — wait at the beginning, wait at the end, with strength and courage in between. Waiting, in the Bible, is not passive idleness; it is active, expectant endurance, holding on for God to act in his time. And it requires strength, because waiting is often harder than doing.
Leaders are not natural waiters. They prefer to act, to push, to make something happen now. But there are seasons when the faithful thing is to wait for the LORD — when the door is not open, the answer has not come, the deliverance is delayed, and the only move is to hold on with courage until God acts. This kind of waiting is not weakness or resignation; it takes more strength than frantic activity. David had to preach courage to his own heart to do it.
“The LORD is good to those who wait for him... It is good that a man should hope and quietly wait.”
— Jeremiah, in Lamentations — Lamentations 3:25-26 (WEB)
Waiting on God is active, expectant endurance, not passive idleness — and it takes more strength than frantic activity. Some seasons call a leader to wait, not force.
“Wait for the LORD. Be strong, and let your heart take courage. Yes, wait for the LORD.”
David preached courage to his own heart in order to wait. A leader formed here can hold on for God to act rather than forcing every outcome. The inner work is the strength to wait when action is not yet the answer.
Discern the seasons that call for waiting on God rather than forcing a result. Wait with strength and courage, not resignation. Lead your team to hold on expectantly when the deliverance is delayed.
Action-biased leaders force outcomes when the faithful move is to wait, mistaking activity for faithfulness. The blind spot is treating waiting as weakness rather than strength.
Identify one situation you are tempted to force. This week, wait on God there with deliberate strength and courage instead.
Leaders are not natural waiters — they prefer to act, push, make something happen now. But some seasons call for waiting on God with courage, which takes more strength than frantic activity.
In what situation is God calling you to wait for him, when everything in you wants to force the outcome now?