What does it mean to wait on the Lord (Psalm 27:14)?

Two lessons, drawn from what he had passed through, conclude the Psalm. It will be seen that the words "I had fainted" have been added, to make out the sense of verse 13. The verse is really an exclamation, and runs thus: "If I had not believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living!" That is, believing he would see this goodness had been his stay and support. And then he tells us, from his own experience, that the only resource for the soul, tried and in adversities, is to wait on the Lord. "Be," moreover, he exhorts, "of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart"; and, lastly, he repeats, as containing the sum of all he has to say, "Wait, I say, on the Lord." And Jehovah Himself has said, "They shall not be ashamed that wait for Me." (Isaiah 49:23.)

And now a lesson of experience fitly closes the fifth section of this psalm. It is a very brief and a very simple one; yet it is a lesson of perfection, declared in the Word to be that: for "let patience have her perfect work," and we shall be "perfect and entire, wanting nothing." (James 1:4.) What a glorious result of so simple a matter! "Wait on Jehovah!" wait, and not weakly and timidly, for the call to patience is no cause for fear: "be strong, and let thy heart take courage!" Such, thank God, is the wisdom derived from an "experience" that "worketh hope." (Rom. 5:4.) This harvest is assured to him that quietly will sleep and rise, and let it grow. Test it, prove it, whoever will! who is there that may not prove it for himself? there is none! Let the glad, sure hope cheer the darkest hours with its comfort: "Wait — wait — on Jehovah."

How needful and precious is the message with which the psalm closes, "Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord!" (v. 14). A spirit of quiet confidence is of vital importance in genuinely waiting on the Lord. Good courage is really only normal for one who waits on the Lord. And thus too the Lord strengthens our hearts when we are naturally weak and helpless. But it was necessary also to repeat the words, "Wait, I say, on the Lord." We shall never lose by obeyimg this injunction.

The Apostle Paul bowed his knees before the Father on behalf of the saints at Ephesus. He asked that they might be strengthened (Eph. 3:14-16). He had told them in chapter 1:3, that they were blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ; but they needed strength to enter into this, and to be for God’s glory here. We are blessed up there; but we need strength down here. We know where to find it. Strength belongeth unto God! What then is to be done? “Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.” Pray? Yes: only we must WAIT UPON GOD!

Fourthly, we are instructed that if we are to receive strength it will only be as we “wait upon the LORD.” Does not waiting upon the LORD imply prayer, and yet more than prayer. In prayer we make known our needs, in waiting we seek to learn His mind in His presence. In prayer He hears our words; in waiting we sit in His presence and hear His words, like Mary of old who sat at His feet and heard His word.

The first requisite then for it is quiet or stillness of soul. Unless we are freed from care and anxiety, and indeed at rest about ourselves, we should scarcely be in the spiritual condition for waiting on the Lord. Alas! that so many of the Lord's dear saints are so filled with unrest; affected, it may be, by the spirit of a restless age. Such are not happy if they are not busy with various activities, or borne up by the excitements of meetings. They are the Marthas of the church of God - and lacking in the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which in the sight of God is of great price. The next desirable thing is the opened ear, and this can only be enjoyed where there is realised dependence. This was seen even in our blessed Lord, who, speaking in the prophet Isaiah, said, "He wakeneth morning by morning, He wakeneth Mine ear to hear as the learned" (the "learner"). Thus quietly before His God, as the dependent One upon the earth, His ear was attentive to catch every indication of that will which He had come into this world to do. Ah! how much we miss because we are not thus quietly waiting, looking up, and meditating in the sanctuary.

Thus, while God, who forgets not the smallest in His care for the greatest, nor one of His people in His concern for the rest, is to be for us personally and intimately ours, at the same time, He is to be the Lord God of Israel to us, and we are to stand before Him as such. Now, this standing before Him, what does it mean? It is not an expression of confidence — there is abundant confidence you see at once — or of rest, or of peace. Too often we make that the whole thing. He stands before the Lord God of Israel. This is the attitude of service. He is waiting, ready at His bidding. Not merely walking before Him; not running about, surely, with the restless hurry of many, too busy with His service to listen to His word. "Standing" is waiting to have His will expressed. We stand before the Lord God when we are waiting for Him to direct us, and do not move without His guidance. There may be much more standing than moving even, no doubt. If you take Elijah's life, how much more of standing, or waiting, or being alone with God, than there was of acting for Him; but the acting for Him, in consequence, came just at the right time. So should we be ready to serve, not merely occupied with the service, much less hurrying about, as if to be doing was the whole matter, but to be in His path, to be doing His will, conscious that all else is worse than idleness.

The word “wait” in Isaiah 40:31 has the thought of simply and singly looking to Him. It also embraces waiting for Him, and expecting from Him. It is a very full word. That accounts for it being variously translated. One word in English does not give the fullness of its meaning. It is upon God alone then we are to wait. We are to look to Him; to wait for Him; and to expect from Him only. In this exercise we deepen in the knowledge of that which is before the mind of God; and that displaces things which have been before our own minds that are not according to His. Who has been HIS counsellor? Who showed HIM the way of understanding? HE makes known to us HIS counsels, and directs our minds in the way of understanding, as we wait upon Him. His thoughts, not those that originate in our minds, are to abide! His strength, not ours, will prevail! and it is this which He would have us to possess. He says, The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it; and again, They that wait upon the Lord shall renew (change) their strength (40:5, 31). The word of our God shall stand for ever (v. 8). Let the eyes look up to the heavens—He created them, and all their starry host. Let them look abroad upon the earth beneath—He weighed the mountains; He meted out the dust of the land; and the waters of the sea; He measured in the hollow of His hand! They all manifest His eternal power and divinity. Even the nations, so prominent now by their strifes and ingenuity in destruction, are to Him as the small dust of a balance. “All nations before Him are as nothing,” and vanity! They are counted to Him less than a cypher (v. 17)! WAIT UPON HIM!

Psalm 62. Waiting on God is the subject of this psalm. it implies dependence, confidence; and both in such sort that we abide God's time: dependence, because we cannot do anything without Him, and ought not, because what He does is what the soul alone desires, because action without Him, even in self-defence, is only the action of our own will, and so our being without God so far. Saul did not wait upon God. He waited nearly seven days; but if he had felt he was dependent, and nothing could be done without God, he would have done nothing till Samuel came. He did not; he acted for himself, and lost the kingdom. Deliverance from God is sweet; it is love; it is righteous, holy deliverance; it becomes the revelation of the favour and grace of God. It is perfect in time, way, place. So where the soul waits for it, will not being at work, it meets and enjoys the deliverance in this perfectness; and we are perfect and complete in the will of God. But it implies confidence too; for why should we wait if God would not come in? The soul is thus sustained meanwhile. And this confidence is such that we tarry the Lord's leisure. Patience has its perfect work, so that we should be perfect and complete in all the will of God. There is too an active reckoning upon God. But this leaves the soul absolutely and exclusively waiting on Him. It is not active for itself; it waits only upon God. ("Truly" in verse 1 and "only" in verses 2, 4, 5 and 6 is the same word in Hebrew.)

Verse 34 adds one further thing. We are not only to wait patiently for the Lord, but also to "wait on the Lord, and keep His way." Waiting for Him means exercising trustful patience until He intervenes. Waiting on Him means the maintaining of that holy intercourse and communion with Him that ensures obedience to His will, while we wait for His intervention.