Have you prayed and prayed, and waited and waited, and still you see no evidence of an answer? Are you tired of seeing no movement? Are you at the point of giving up? Then perhaps you have not waited in the right way, which removes you from the right place—the place where the Lord can meet you.

“Wait for it patiently” (Romans 8:25). Patience eliminates worry. The Lord said He would come, and His promise is equal to His presence.

Patience eliminates weeping. Why feel sad and discouraged? He knows your needs better than you do, and His purpose in waiting is to receive more glory through it.

Patience eliminates self-works. “The work of God is this: to believe” (John 6:29), and once you believe, you may know all is well.

Patience eliminates all want. Perhaps your desire to receive what you want is stronger than your desire for the will of God to be fulfilled.

Patience eliminates all weakness. Instead of thinking of waiting as being wasted time, realize that God is preparing His resources and strengthening you as well.

Patience eliminates all wobbling. “He touched me and raised me to my feet” (Daniel 8:18). God’s foundations are steady, and when we have His patience within, we are steady while we wait.

Patience yields worship. Sometimes the best part of praiseful waiting is experiencing “great endurance and patience . . . giving joyful thanks” (Colossians 1:11–12).

While you wait, “let [all these aspects of] patience have her perfect work” (James 1:4 KJV), and you will be greatly enriched. C. H. P.

Hold steady when the fires burn,

When inner lessons come to learn,

And from this path there seems no turn—

“Let patience have her perfect work.”

L. S. P.

Someday we will understand that God has a reason behind every no He gives us through the course of our lives. Yet even in this life, He always makes it up to us. When God’s people are worried and concerned that their prayers are not being answered, how often we have seen Him working to answer them in a far greater way! Occasionally we catch a glimpse of this, but the complete revelation of it will not be seen until later.

If God says yes to our prayer, dear heart, And the sunlight is golden, the sky is blue, While the smooth road beckons to me and you, And songbirds are singing as on we go, Pausing to pick the flowers at our feet, Stopping to drink of the streams that we meet, Happy, more happy, our journey will grow, If God says yes to our prayer, dear heart.

If God says no to our prayer, dear heart, And the clouds hang heavy and dull and gray; If the rough rocks hinder and block the way, While the sharp winds pierce us and sting with cold; Yet, dear, there is home at the journey’s end, And these are the trials the Father does send To draw us as sheep to His Heavenly fold, If God says no to our prayer, dear heart.

If only we had the faith not to rush into things but to “be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him” (Psalm 37:7)—waiting for His full explanation that will not be revealed until Jesus Christ comes again! When has God ever taken anything from a person without restoring it many times over? Yet what are we to think if He does not immediately restore what has been taken? Is today His only day to work? Does He have any concerns beyond this little world of ours? Can He still work beyond our death, or does the door of the grave open on nothing but infinite darkness and eternal silence?

Even if we confine our thinking to this life, it is true that God never touches the heart with a trial without intending to bestow a greater gift or compassionate blessing. The person who knows how to wait has grown to an exceptional degree in God’s grace. SELECTED

When the frosts are in the valley, And the mountaintops are gray, And the choicest blooms are blighted, And the blossoms die away, A loving Father whispers, “This all comes from my hand”; Blessed are you if you trust When you cannot understand.

If, after years of toiling, Your wealth should fly away And leave your hands all empty, And your hair is turning gray, Remember then your Father Owns all the sea and land; Blessed are you if you trust When you cannot understand. SELECTED

It is easier to work than to wait. It is often more important to wait than to work. We can trust God to do the needed working while we are waiting; but if we are not willing to wait, and insist upon working while He would have us be still, we may interfere with the effective and triumphant working that He would do in our behalf. Our waiting may be the most difficult thing we can do; it may be the severest test that God can give us.

Oswald Chambers has said truly: one of the greatest strains in life is the strain of waiting for God. God takes the saint like a bow which He stretches; we get to a certain point and say I cannot stand any more, but God goes on stretching. He is not aiming at our mark but at His own, and the patience of the saints is that we hold on until He lets the arrow fly straight to His goal. If we are willing to remember God’s call and assurance, there need be no strain at all while we are waiting. The stretched bow time may be a time of unbroken rest for us as we are “still before the LORD and wait patiently for him” (Psalm 37:7).

Unless a violin string is stretched until it cries out when the bow is drawn over it, there is no music. A loose violin string with no strain upon it is of no use—it is dead, has no voice. But when stretched till it strains, it is brought to the proper tone, and then only is it useful to the music-maker. A. B. Simpson

In God’s eternal plan, a month, a year, Is but an hour of some slow April day, Holding the germs of what we hope or fear, To blossom far away. The Almighty is tedious, but He’s sure!

An Israeli named Uzzah lost his life because he “reached out and took hold of the ark of God” (2 Samuel 6:6). He placed his hands on it with the best of intentions—to steady it, “because the oxen stumbled” (2 Samuel 6:6)—but nevertheless, he had overstepped his bounds by touching the Lord’s work, and “therefore God struck him down” (2 Samuel 6:7). Living a life of faith often requires us to leave things alone.

If we have completely entrusted something to God, we must keep our hands off it. He can guard it better than we can, and He does not need our help. “Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes” (Psalm 37:7).

Things in our lives may seem to be going all wrong, but God knows our circumstances better than we do. And He will work at the perfect moment, if we will completely trust Him to work in His own way and in His own time. Often there is nothing as godly as inactivity on our part, or nothing as harmful as restless working, for God has promised to work His sovereign will. A. B. Simpson

Being perplexed, I say, “Lord, make it right! Night is as day to You, Darkness as light. I am afraid to touch Things that involve so much; My trembling hand may shake, My skilless hand may break; Yours can make no mistake.”

Being in doubt I say, “Lord, make it plain; Which is the true, safe way? Which would be gain? I am not wise to know, Nor sure of foot to go; What is so clear to Thee, Lord, make it clear to me!”

It is such a comfort to drop the entanglements and perplexities of life into God’s hands and leave them there.

The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.—Rest in the Lord .—He that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works.

Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace.—That . . . we be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ.

I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love.

Sit still, my daughter.

Take heed, and be quiet; fear not, neither be fainthearted.—Be still, and know that I am God.—Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?—The loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.

Mary . . . sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word.—Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.—In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength.—Commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still.

Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.

He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord. His heart is established.

He that believeth shall not make haste.

Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies?—I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes: nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried unto thee.

Shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily.—Wait on the Lord, and he shall save thee.—Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.

Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord.

Let us not be weary in well doing: . . . in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.—Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.