Strength and Encouragement

Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord– Psalm 27:14

The blind poet John Milton, a devout Christian, famously observed: “they also serve who only stand and wait.” This kind of service—the service of patiently waiting on God’s timing, on God’s direction, on God’s plan—can be the most difficult and grueling to render to God.

We are tempted, in a time of uncertainty or calamity, to rush to our own set of solutions; we might even feel irresponsible to simply wait prayerfully for the Lord to give clear direction. And yet we must.

Twice the command is repeated in this single verse: wait. Our answers are usually not the right answers. Our instincts cannot be trusted. Our hurried assessment will doubtless yield an inadequate response. So, dear believer, wait.

Wait on the Lord because he will strengthen your heart. He will answer your prayers. He will give the direction you need. He will send the help you require. In his own good time and in his right way, God will come to you when you wait on him.

So be of good courage! Do not despair because the solution has not presented itself yet. Do not presume that God will not keep his appointments. He has promised to strengthen you, so wait, I say, on the Lord.