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That is the rendering of the Prayer-book version, and it brings out the exact meaning of the word "wait," which we have interlarded and lost sight of by making it mean such things — and legitimately enough — as prayer. It just means "wait." Wait for Him as you would wait for a friend at the trysting-place who does not come. Wait for Him, and wait, and wait until He does come. We know it to be a Christian duty to be patient with our fellow-men; have we ever thought of the necessity and the duty of being patient with God? "O tarry thou the Lord's leisure." It is hard, I admit it is hard, to have this patience. Indeed, the more earnest you are, the more alive you are to the needs of the world, the more eager you are to see the Kingdom of Heaven brought in among men; and the more you do on behalf of the Kingdom, the more is the temptation to lose grip of this patience with God. "Why tarry the wheels of His chariot?" are we not saying every day, and as we go out into the world and see the evil and sin of the world we say it with a more plaintive note in our voice than ever. We strain, some of us, and hurt ourselves straining to help the Kingdom of the King to prepare the way of the Lord. Some faithful Christian work may be said almost to be the fruit of faithlessness. Some make up in zeal what they lack in faith. Some rail at God for His leisure with the world and with the Church, and act as if their efforts in His cause are almost a rebuke to God.

O that His steps among the stars would quicken!

O that His ears would hear when we are dumb!

Many the hearts from which the hope shall sicken,

Many shall faint, before His Kingdom come.Patience is the Divine method in the world. Everything in the world is wrought patiently, smoothly, softly, naturally, sweetly. The seasons come and go. The world has been brought thus: far not by cataclysm but by change, by growth, not by creation, and it is so morally. The world has boon brought thus far by God with groanings and travailings that cannot be uttered until now, by His own Divine method of patience. The moral education of the race has gone on, step by step and stage by stage, as men were able to bear it, and able to understand it. Think of the patience of Christ. He came for the sake of the whole world to redeem the world, and He limited Himself of His own accord to twelve humble men, and He limited Himself still further, and He went on, over and over again, teaching these twelve men, preparing that morsel of soil for the precious seed. O man that art impatient, and speakest about the smallness of thy sphere, the small ministry you have in which to serve; think how limited Christ's sphere was, and the patience with which He began the redemption of the world. That is the Divine method for the world, and for the Church, and for ourselves.

(H. Black, M. A.)

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KJV: Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.

WEB: Wait for Yahweh. Be strong, and let your heart take courage. Yes, wait for Yahweh. By David.