Fourteen verses on waiting, from I waited patiently for the LORD to the psalms that ask how long.
The psalms say a great deal about waiting and very little about patience as a virtue. The word patiently appears only twice, in Psalm 37:7 and Psalm 40:1. Waiting is everywhere else: waiting in silence, waiting like watchmen for the morning, eyes failing from looking. The same psalms also complain openly. How long is asked again and again.
The sections move from waiting itself, to the complaint that the wait is too long, to God's timing, and last to patience with people who seem to get away with things. Tick the verses you want and print them.
Verses about the act of waiting. In the psalms it is paired with hope, not with doing nothing.
I waited patiently for the LORD.He turned to me, and heard my cry.
I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.
I waited patiently for the LORD. He turned to me, and heard my cry. The verse is told looking back, after the wait was over.
Wait for the LORD.Be strong, and let your heart take courage.Yes, wait for the LORD.
Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.
Wait for the LORD is said twice, with be strong in between. Waiting here takes courage, and the King James Version says so: be of good courage.
My soul longs for the Lord more than watchmen long for the morning,more than watchmen for the morning.
My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning.
More than watchmen long for the morning, and the line is said twice. Watchmen cannot hurry the dawn. They can only watch for it.
My soul, wait in silence for God alone,for my expectation is from him.
My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him.
My soul, wait in silence for God alone. The writer is speaking to his own soul, and the silence is part of the waiting.
Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master,as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress,so our eyes look to the LORD, our God,until he has mercy on us.
Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon the LORD our God, until that he have mercy upon us.
Eyes on the LORD, like a servant watching a master's hand, until he has mercy on us. The waiting is attentive, not idle.
The how long psalms. In the psalms, complaining about the wait is itself a way of praying.
How long, LORD?Will you forget me forever?How long will you hide your face from me?
How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?
How long, LORD? Will you forget me forever? The psalm is six verses long and still ends with I will sing to the LORD.
I am weary with my crying.My throat is dry.My eyes fail looking for my God.
I am weary of my crying: my throat is dried: mine eyes fail while I wait for my God.
Weary with crying, throat dry, eyes failing from looking for God. This is what a long wait does to a body.
My eyes fail for your word.I say, “When will you comfort me?”
Mine eyes fail for thy word, saying, When wilt thou comfort me?
My eyes fail for your word. When will you comfort me? A plain question about timing, asked without apology.
Verses that say the time belongs to God, and that there is a right time.
My times are in your hand.Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, and from those who persecute me.
My times are in thy hand: deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me.
My times are in your hand. It is said in the middle of danger, with terror on every side two verses earlier, and it hands the timing over.
For a thousand years in your sight are just like yesterday when it is past,like a watch in the night.
For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.
A thousand years in your sight are like yesterday. The heading attributes this prayer to Moses, and the same psalm later asks, how long (verse 13).
You will arise and have mercy on Zion,for it is time to have pity on her.Yes, the set time has come.
Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favour her, yea, the set time, is come.
The set time has come. The psalm speaks of a right time for mercy and says it has arrived.
He who goes out weeping, carrying seed for sowing,will certainly come again with joy, carrying his sheaves.
He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.
He who goes out weeping, carrying seed, will come again with joy, carrying his sheaves. Between sowing and harvest is a season of waiting.
For watching others prosper unfairly.
Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him.Don’t fret because of him who prospers in his way,because of the man who makes wicked plots happen.
Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.
Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him. Don't fret because of him who prospers in his way. The patience here is aimed at other people's success.
until I entered God’s sanctuary,and considered their latter end.
Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end.
The envy described in verses 3 to 16 changes here, when the writer enters God's sanctuary and considers how the story of the wicked ends.
In the psalms waiting is almost always tied to hope. Psalm 130:5 says I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, I hope in his word. Psalm 39:7 asks what do I wait for, and answers: my hope is in you. Psalm 33:20 says our soul has waited for the LORD, and verse 22 adds: we have hoped in you. The waiting has something to look toward.
Psalm 37:7 says rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him. Psalm 40:1 says I waited patiently for the LORD, and he heard my cry.
Psalm 31:15 says my times are in your hand. Psalm 90:4 says a thousand years in God's sight are like yesterday, and Psalm 102:13 says the set time has come.
Psalm 40 is the clearest, because it begins after the wait is over and says what came of it. Psalm 130 is shorter and describes the waiting itself.
Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.
Psalm 13 asks how long four times in its first two verses. Psalm 6:3, Psalm 90:13 and Psalm 94:3 ask it too.
Psalms of HopePsalms About God's FaithfulnessPsalms for AngerPsalms for Peace of Mind and ComfortPsalms of LamentPsalms About Faith and Trust