Waiting
Waiting in Scripture is not idleness. It is a posture of soul that turns away from self-rescue and looks toward Yahweh for what only he can give — rain on the field, mercy in court, salvation in death, and the appearing of the Lord. The Hebrew Bible weaves the verb through psalm, prophet, and proverb; the wisdom of Sirach and the New Testament carry it forward into the Lord's coming. The same word covers the farmer's hope for harvest (Jas 5:7), the prisoner's hope for release (Lam 3:26), and the church's hope for the revelation of Jesus Christ (1Co 1:7).
Who Yahweh Is to Those Who Wait
Waiting is anchored in confession about Yahweh's character. He is the God of providence, on whom the rains and the nations depend: "Are there any among the vanities of the nations that can cause rain? Or can the heavens give showers? Are you not he [by your Speech], O Yahweh our God? Therefore we will wait for you" (Jer 14:22). He is the God of salvation, by whose Speech rescue comes: "Guide me in your truth, and teach me; For you are the God of my salvation; For you I wait all the day" (Ps 25:5). He gives daily bread and pardon, and his people address him as the God of every temporal mercy. Even the patriarch's last word casts itself on him: "I have waited for your salvation [by your Speech], O Yahweh" (Gen 49:18).
The waiting is reciprocal. Yahweh himself waits in order to be gracious: "And therefore Yahweh will wait, that he may be gracious to you⁺; and therefore he will be exalted, that he may have mercy on you⁺: for Yahweh is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him" (Isa 30:18). And he is longsuffering by nature toward those he made: "For God, the Master and builder of all things, he who made all things and set them in order, was not only loving toward man, but also long-suffering" (Gr 8:7); "Therefore is the Lord longsuffering toward them And pours out his mercy upon them" (Sir 18:11).
What Saints Wait For
The objects of waiting span the present and the eschatological. Saints wait for mercy and pardon, lifting eyes "as the eyes of male slaves [look] to the hand of their master ... So our eyes [look] to Yahweh our God, Until he has mercy on us" (Ps 123:2). They wait for protection: "Our soul has waited for Yahweh: He is our help and our shield" (Ps 33:20). They wait for guidance and teaching, the same line opening and closing the prayer of Ps 25:5.
Sirach calls the same audience to the same posture: "You⁺ who fear the Lord, wait for his mercy; And do not turn aside lest you⁺ fall" (Sir 2:7). Sirach also expects God to "Give the reward to those who wait for you, That your prophets may be shown to be faithful" (Sir 36:16).
Saints wait for the fulfillment of God's word and his promises. The prophet is told the vision is sure even when delayed: "For the vision is yet for the appointed time, and it hurries toward the end, and will not lie: though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not delay" (Hab 2:3). Paul names the Christian register of this waiting in two registers: "For we through the Spirit by faith wait for the hope of righteousness" (Gal 5:5), and the gathered church waits "for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1Co 1:7). The Thessalonians "wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, [even] Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come" (1Th 1:10).
How the Waiting Is Done
The shape of the waiting is as instructive as its object. It is to be done with the soul, not only the lips: "My soul, wait in silence for God only; For my expectation is from him" (Ps 62:5). It is to be done with earnest desire, the soul straining toward dawn: "My soul [waits] for the Lord More than watchmen [wait] for the morning; [Yes, more than] watchmen for the morning" (Ps 130:6). It is to be done with patience: "I waited patiently for Yahweh; And he inclined to me, and heard my cry" (Ps 40:1); "Rest in Yahweh, and wait patiently for him: Don't fret yourself because of him who prospers in his way" (Ps 37:7).
It is to be done with resignation and quietness: "It is good that a man should hope and quietly wait for the salvation of Yahweh" (Lam 3:26); "Yahweh is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him" (Lam 3:25). It is to be done with hope in his word: "I wait for Yahweh, my soul waits, And I hope in his word" (Ps 130:5). It is to be done with full confidence: "But as for me, I will look to [the Speech of] Yahweh; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me" (Mic 7:7). And it is to be done continually: "Therefore you will turn to your God: keep kindness and justice, and wait for your God continually" (Hos 12:6).
The exhortation tightens in adversity. "Wait for Yahweh: Be strong, and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for Yahweh" (Ps 27:14). And in the way of his judgments, the prophet remembers: "Yes, in the way of your judgments, O Yahweh, we have waited for you" (Isa 26:8); "O Yahweh, be gracious to us; to your [Speech] we have waited: be the arm [which attacks] them every morning, our salvation also in time of trouble" (Isa 33:2). Even the saint's prayer of integrity leans on it: "Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, For I wait for [your Speech]" (Ps 25:21).
When Waiting Hurts
Sirach concedes that the long view costs the waiter something: "The longsuffering man endures until the [proper] time, And in the end joy will arise for him" (Sir 1:23). Sirach urges the steadfast heart against haste: "Direct your heart aright, and continue steadfast, And do not hurry in time of calamity" (Sir 2:2); "Accept all that is brought on you, And be patient in changes of your affliction" (Sir 2:4). It also warns: "Woe to you⁺ who have lost patience, And what will you⁺ do when the Lord visits you⁺?" (Sir 2:14).
Patience is tested. The psalmist's body fails before his hope does: "I am weary with my crying; my throat is dried: My eyes fail while I wait for my God" (Ps 69:3). And the lament voice can lose grip: "And I said, My strength has perished, and my expectation from Yahweh" (Lam 3:18) — the same speaker who, a few lines later, recovers the confession of Lam 3:25-26.
The opposite of waiting is not motion but impatience, and Scripture catalogues its damage. Moses, hurried in spirit, struck the rock and forfeited the land (Num 20:10). Naaman almost lost his cleansing because the prophet's instruction did not match his expectation (2Ki 5:11-12). The disciples wanted to call down fire on a Samaritan village (Luke 9:54). Martha was "cumbered about much service" while her sister sat (Luke 10:40). Jonah, told to wait on Yahweh's mercy toward Nineveh, asked instead to die (Jonah 4:8-9). The wisdom verdict: "Better is the end of a thing than its beginning; [and] the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit" (Eccl 7:8).
The New Testament therefore enjoins patience as a Christian discipline. Believers are to be "rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing steadfastly in prayer" (Rom 12:12). They are to "be long-suffering toward all" (1Th 5:14). They are to let "patience have [its] perfect work, that you⁺ may be perfect and entire, lacking in nothing" (Jas 1:4). They are reminded: "you⁺ have need of patience, that, having done the will of God, you⁺ may receive the promise" (Heb 10:36). The saints are recognised by it: "Here is the patience of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus" (Rev 14:12).
What Waiting Receives
Scripture pronounces specific blessings on those who wait. They are not put to shame: "Yes, none who wait for you will be put to shame" (Ps 25:3); "and you will know that I am Yahweh; and those who wait for me will not be put to shame" (Isa 49:23). They renew their strength: "but those who wait for Yahweh will renew their strength; they will mount up with wings as eagles; they will run, and not be weary; they will walk, and not faint" (Isa 40:31). They inherit the land: "those who wait for [the Speech of] Yahweh, they will inherit the land" (Ps 37:9). They are saved and made glad: "Don't say, I will recompense evil: Wait for Yahweh, and he will save you" (Pr 20:22); "Look, this is our God; we have waited for [his Speech], and he will save us: this is Yahweh, we have waited for him; we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation" (Isa 25:9). They are simply called blessed: "blessed are all those who wait for him" (Isa 30:18); "Blessed is he who waits, and comes to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days" (Dan 12:12).
And what waiting reaches is finally something only God can do. "For from of old men haven't heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither has the eye seen a God besides you, who works for him who waits for him" (Isa 64:4).
Hope Set on God
The waiting is anchored on hope, and the hope is anchored on God. "And now, Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in you" (Ps 39:7); "Be strong, and let your⁺ heart take courage, All you⁺ who hope in [the Speech of] Yahweh" (Ps 31:24); "Look, the eye of Yahweh is on those who fear him, On those who hope in his loving-kindness" (Ps 33:18); "For you are my hope, O Sovereign Yahweh: [You are] my trust from my youth" (Ps 71:5); "Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, Whose hope is in Yahweh his God" (Ps 146:5); "Blessed is the [noble] man who trusts in [the Speech of] Yahweh, and whose trust is [the Speech of] Yahweh" (Jer 17:7).
Sirach gathers the same confession around the fear of the Lord: "Trust in him and he will strengthen you, Make straight your ways and hope in him" (Sir 2:6); "You⁺ who fear the Lord, hope for good things, And for eternal gladness and mercy" (Sir 2:9); "The blessing of God is the lot of the righteous; And in time, his hope will blossom" (Sir 11:22); "The spirit of those who seek the Lord will live, For their hope is on him who saves them" (Sir 34:14); and of the fathers, "Nevertheless, these were men of piety, And their hope has not ceased" (Sir 44:10).
The New Testament moves the same hope onto its Christological footing. Abraham "in hope believed against hope" (Rom 4:18). The believer is saved in hope and waits for what is not yet seen (Rom 8:24). "Hope does not put to shame" (Rom 5:5). Faith, hope, and love stay (1Co 13:13). The Christian hope is "laid up for you⁺ in the heavens" (Col 1:5), is "the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:13), and is a "living hope" begotten by the resurrection (1Pe 1:3). It is the anchor for the soul, "the hope set before us" (Heb 6:18), and the believer who has it "purifies himself, even as he is pure" (1John 3:3).
False Expectation, True Reward
Scripture distinguishes the two outcomes by their object. "The hope of the righteous [will be] gladness; But the expectation of the wicked will perish" (Pr 10:28). "When [a] wicked man dies, [his] expectation will perish; And the hope of iniquity perishes" (Pr 11:7). The godless man's hope perishes (Job 8:13; Job 27:8). Cities trusted in their securities and were disappointed: "Ekron, for her expectation will be put to shame" (Zech 9:5); peoples looked for peace and got dismay (Jer 8:15; Jer 14:19).
By contrast, where the wise have found wisdom there is "a reward, And your hope will not be cut off" (Pr 24:14). And where Paul writes from prison, the same expectation drives mission: "according to my earnest expectation and hope, that in nothing will I be put to shame, but [that] with all boldness, as always, [so] now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life, or by death" (Php 1:20).
Yahweh's Call, the Saints' Resolve, the Nations' Turn
Yahweh himself summons his people to it: "Therefore wait⁺ for [my Speech], says Yahweh, until the day that I rise up to the prey" (Zeph 3:8). The saints take it up as resolution and prayer. The same posture is predicted for the Gentiles: "He will not fail nor be discouraged, until he has set justice in the earth; and the isles will wait for his instructions" (Isa 42:4).
Exemplified
Scripture closes the case with exemplars. Jacob: "I have waited for your salvation [by your Speech], O Yahweh" (Gen 49:18). David: "And now, Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in you" (Ps 39:7). Isaiah: "And I will wait for Yahweh, who hides his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him" (Isa 8:17). Micah: "I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me" (Mic 7:7). Joseph of Arimathea: "a councilor of honorable estate, who also himself was looking for the kingdom of God" (Mark 15:43). Of the lord's slaves at the door it is said: "be⁺ yourselves like men looking for their lord, when he will return from the marriage feast; that, when he comes and knocks, they may right away open to him" (Luke 12:36). And of the husbandman: "Be patient therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. Look, the husbandman waits for the precious fruit of the earth" (Jas 5:7).