“The LORD is good unto them that wait for Him, to the soul that seeketh Him” (Lamentations 3:25).

If ever there was a man who had to wait on God, it was Jeremiah. He watched while his whole world fell apart, and yet he could say “the LORD is good.”

The concept “wait” is interesting. It is an expectant, joyful waiting for the just resolution of all things by the one who created, redeemed, and sustains all things. The word “wait” in the Hebrew comes from an agricultural term meaning to bind together (as sheaves). This could either refer to the active employment of reapers in the field, or it could refer to the actual binding together itself. On the one hand, we can think of ourselves as always being employed by God: “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” (Psalm 123:2). On the other hand, we can see ourselves bound to our Lord by His great love and power: “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand” (John 10:28).

And what is the reward of waiting? “I waited patiently for the LORD: and He inclined unto me, and heard my cry” (Psalm 40:1). In this verse, the same Hebrew word is used twice, once translated “waited,” once translated “patiently.”

When we think we have waited on God long enough, we can take heart from this psalm that God can give the grace to wait longer than we ever thought possible. The result? God “inclined;” He bends down and He hears our cry. This word “cry” is not a feeble moan. It is an insistent cry that could also be translated help! or, free me! God will hear when His children cry because, as Jeremiah said, “the LORD is good!” CJH