Waiting & patience · Prayers
Six prayers for a season of waiting
These are written to be spoken, not studied. Each one is for a different day of the same wait, because a long wait is not one feeling — some mornings you are tired of asking, some mornings you want to grab the wheel, and some mornings you simply need your own soul to sit down. Say the one that is true today.
When you are tired of asking for the same thing
Psalm 13 opens with how long, four times over, before it turns. The complaint is not the failure of the prayer; it is the beginning of it.
God, I have asked for this so many times that I am embarrassed to bring it again. How long? I do not know what to do with the silence and I am tired of pretending I am fine with it. Here it is anyway, one more morning. I am still asking because I still believe you are there. Amen.
How long, O LORD? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? How long must I wrestle in my soul, with sorrow in my heart each day? How long will my enemy dominate me?
Salmo 13:1-2, BSB
When your soul will not settle
The psalmist does not wait for calm to arrive; he tells his own soul where to wait. Say this one out loud to yourself as much as to God.
Lord, my mind has been running all night on this. Quiet me. Let my soul wait for you and not for the phone, not for the message, not for the news I keep refreshing. You are where my hope comes from. Bring me back to that when I drift, which will probably be within the hour. Amen.
Rest in God alone, O my soul, for my hope comes from Him.
Salmo 62:5, BSB
When you want to take the timing into your own hands
David says his times are in God's hands, and he says it while being hunted. It is not a serene sentence. It is a decision made under pressure.
Father, I am about to force something because I cannot stand the wait. Stop me if it is not the moment. My times are in your hands, not in my grip. Give me the honesty to know the difference between doing my part and trying to run yours. Amen.
My times are in Your hands; deliver me from my enemies and from those who pursue me.
Salmo 31:15, BSB
When morning comes and nothing has changed
Psalm 130 compares waiting for God to watchmen waiting for the morning — men who are certain the light is coming and still have to stand there in the dark for hours.
God, another morning, and it is exactly the same as yesterday. I am watching for you the way a night guard watches for sunrise: sure that it comes, tired of standing here. Keep me at my post. Do not let me fall asleep on this. Amen.
I wait for the LORD; my soul does wait, and in His word I put my hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning— more than watchmen wait for the morning.
Salmo 130:5-6, BSB
When you are waiting on someone else's decision
Naomi tells Ruth to sit still until she knows how the matter will fall, because the man will not rest until it is settled. It is one of the most practical waiting verses in the Bible: some outcomes are being decided in a room you are not in.
Lord, this one is not in my hands at all. Someone else is deciding, and I have already said everything I had to say. Help me sit still today instead of sending one more message. Whatever comes back, be with me on both sides of the answer. Amen.
“Wait, my daughter,” said Naomi, “until you find out how things go, for he will not rest unless he has resolved the matter today.”
Ruth 3:18, BSB
When you decide to keep watching
Micah, looking at a situation with nothing good in it, says he will watch for the Lord and wait for the God of his salvation. It is a choice, made deliberately, in bad conditions.
God, I am choosing today. I will keep looking toward you, even with nothing to show for it, even if today ends like the last hundred. You hear me. I am not waiting on nothing — I am waiting on you. Amen.
But as for me, I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me.
Micah 7:7, BSB
Say one of them tomorrow too. A wait is survived the same way it is endured: one plain morning at a time.
Scripture quoted from the Berean Standard Bible. Public domain (CC0)
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