Waiting on the Lord

July 12, 2026 homily on Psalm 40 and James 5:7-11 by Pastor Galen

“I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry.” – Psalm 40:1

Learning to Be “a Little Patient”

You’ve probably heard the joke about the man who realized he was shrinking. He ran to his doctor and said, “Doctor, you have to help me right now! I’m getting smaller and smaller by the minute!” The doctor turned to him and said, “I’m sorry, I can’t help you right now. You’re just going to have to learn to be a little patient.” (Get it? A “little patient.”)

There are few things that I dislike more than waiting. When I’ve set my mind to do something, I want to do it right away. And I especially dislike waiting in long lines. I will do anything to avoid waiting if I can. And I’m sure I’m not the only one here who is the same way.

And so, I was struck when I read in Psalm 40 that David said he “waited patiently” for the Lord. I wondered: How did David learn to be patient? And what did David do while he was waiting? 

How David Learned to Wait on the Lord

We know that David spent many years of his youth working as a shepherd. Shepherding no doubt taught him a lot of patience. I’m sure that he spent a lot of time in the fields, just watching his sheep, with very little to do. He didn’t have an iPhone or an iPad to help pass the time. He couldn’t watch Netflix or play video games. He probably didn’t even have anyone else to talk to much of the time, except God and his sheep.

David also spent a lot of years waiting to become king. David was anointed to be king by the prophet Samuel when he was a teenager. But it wasn’t until many years later, at the age of 30, that he finally began to reign over Judah. And it took an additional seven and a half years before he became king over all of Israel! That’s a lot of waiting! 

But during all those years of waiting, David was not just lying around doing nothing. As a shepherd boy, he had to watch carefully to make sure no wild animals came to attack his sheep. He was constantly tending to their needs, making sure they had water to drink and green grass to eat, and searching for any sheep who wandered astray. And then later, as he became a warrior, he fought in many battles and had very real enemies who were out to get him and who wanted to prevent him from becoming king.

In fact, here in Psalm 40, David speaks metaphorically of the challenges he was facing, saying that God “drew me up from the desolate pit, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure” (Psalm 40:2).

He says later in Psalm 40 that evils have compassed him (Psalm 40:12), that there were those who sought to snatch his life (Psalm 40:14), and he describes himself as “poor and needy” (Psalm 40:17). 

So David was not living a life of luxury and ease during all those years of waiting. He wasn’t just sitting around under a tree eating figs and grapes all day. He faced real challenges and real difficulties, and he needed God to deliver him.

Eager Expectation

So how, then, was David able to wait patiently for the Lord? 

Well, the phrase “waited patiently” captures only part of the meaning of the original Hebrew. The Amplified Bible translates the Hebrew, “I waited patiently and expectantly for the Lord,” and Young’s Literal Translation says, “I have diligently expected Jehovah.” The Hebrew has a connotation of eager expectation, and it could even be translated as “to lie in wait for.”

When I think about lying in wait for something, I think about our cat, who loves to perch on our windowsill, waiting for birds to land in our yard or fly past the window. She is eagerly waiting and watching for the birds, and she would even pounce on them if the windowpane weren’t in the way.

But the point is that waiting patiently for the Lord doesn’t mean that we just lie around doing nothing. It is waiting with eager expectation. One writer put it this way: “Waiting in Scripture is never passive resignation; it is faith stretched toward the sure character of God.”

I love that phrase: “Faith stretched toward the sure character of God.”

Waiting on the Lord

So what does it look like for us to have this kind of eager expectation as we wait for the Lord to work in whatever situations we may be facing? And how do we balance faith and trust in the Lord while also being diligent and doing our part?

The New Testament book of James provides a helpful analogy here. James was writing to Christians who were going through difficult times. He wrote to them, saying, “Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming” (James 5:7a). He goes on to use the imagery of a farmer who is waiting for his crops to grow. James says that the farmer is “patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains” (James 5:7b).

The implication here is that the farmer has already done his part. He plowed the field and planted the crops. He pulled up the weeds and watered the little seedlings to make sure that they sprouted. He did everything that was in his power to do, while also recognizing that there were some things outside of his control.

And so, while he was doing his part, he was also waiting eagerly for God. The farmer did his part, and then waited patiently, eagerly, and expectantly for God to do what only God could do.

“Start Packing”

Back in 2008, an opportunity opened up for my wife and me to purchase a large property in Southwest Baltimore that we wanted to live in and turn into a community house, where we could host college students for short-term service and learning projects in the community.

In order to buy this property, we first had to sell the house that we had renovated when we got married. The problem was that 2008 was when the real estate market crashed due to the subprime mortgage lending practices of predatory lenders, so it was a really difficult time to sell a house. 

We prayed and waited while our house sat on the market, hoping someone would make us an offer.

Eventually, my wife received what we felt was a word from the Lord: “Start packing.” 

Our outward circumstances had not changed. We still didn’t have an offer on our house. We didn’t have the money to move forward with purchasing the new property. We still needed God to act.

But we felt called to do the one thing that we could do—the one thing that we had control over—which was to get ready to move. 

And so, we started packing, and as we packed, we waited eagerly for God to act. Sure enough, we got an offer on our house. The offer was less than we had hoped for, but it was exactly what we needed to put a down payment on the other property. And the great thing was that by that time, we were already packed and ready to move!

When We Don’t Know What to Do

Of course, there are some times when there is nothing obvious for us to do. We are facing a situation where there just seems to be no way out. We would act if we could, but there just doesn’t seem to be anything we can do.

When we’re facing a situation like this, it’s important to remember that prayer is a form of action. Prayer is not passive. It is active. In prayer, faith and action come together. When we pray, we are acknowledging our trust and dependence on the Lord, but we are not sitting back and doing nothing.

In prayer, we are bringing our situation before God. We are listening for God’s guidance, strengthening our hearts, and opening ourselves to whatever God may call us to do next.

Conclusion: While We Wait

So the question for us today is not simply, “how can I wait patiently on the Lord?” but  also, “What can I do faithfully while I wait with eager expectation for God to act?”

Maybe God is telling you to start packing. Maybe God is calling you to make a phone call, offer an apology, submit an application, ask for help, serve someone in need, or take one small step toward the future for which you have been praying. 

Perhaps, for now, the only thing you can do is pray. But even then, remember that prayer is a form of action. Not only bringing our requests to God, but opening ourselves up to God’s will and God’s direction.

We cannot produce the rain or force the harvest to grow. But we can prepare the soil. We can plant the seeds. We can tend the field. We can strengthen our hearts and wait with eager expectation, trusting that the God who heard David’s cry still hears ours.

“I waited patiently and expectantly for the Lord,” “he turned to me and heard my cry.” May we wait with that same faith, that same hope, and that same expectation. 

Amen!

Questions for Personal Reflection

1. What am I waiting for in this season of my life?
2. What makes this particular season of waiting difficult?
3. Is there a phone call, apology, application, conversation, or act of service I need to undertake?
4. What seed can I plant today, even if I may not see the harvest?
5. Where is God inviting me to move from passive waiting to eager expectation?