Psalm 27: A Blueprint for Waiting Well

“I’m sorry. We can’t do that here. Didn’t you see the signs?” I couldn’t believe my ears. After an hour and a half of waiting, I had finally heard my number called—seventy-three, by the way—and thought I could at last do what I had come to accomplish. My kids and I had made the thirty-minute drive to the closest DMV to our house (conveniently open only two days a week) to transfer the title for our car trailer to our new state—one of the few things you can’t do online. 

So we loaded up the car and made what I assumed would be a relatively quick trip to tackle an errand I had admittedly been putting off. I was in good spirits when number seventy-one was called shortly after we sat down. Great, I thought, we should be out of here in no time.

Famous last words. 

More than an hour later, number seventy-two was called. After ninety minutes, we finally made it to the window . . . only to discover that we couldn’t complete our mission at that location. Needless to say, I wasn’t thrilled.¹

Perhaps you’ve had similar experiences: 

Waiting for food to arrive at a restaurant.
Waiting to see the dentist.
Waiting for your plane to take off or for your luggage to arrive. 
Waiting in traffic.
Waiting for paperwork to be processed. 
Waiting to hear about a job. 
Waiting for test results. 
Waiting for a repair to be completed. 

Because we do it so often, we don’t need any help in waiting. We are all experts at that. But we do need help waiting well. I doubt many (if any) of us would claim to have mastered that elusive skill. 

Waiting isn’t unique to modern life. Scripture is filled with examples: Abraham and Sarah waiting for the promised son. Joseph waiting for his dreams to become reality. Israel waiting for deliverance from Egypt and later waiting to enter the promised land. Caleb waiting for his inheritance. David waiting to become king. All of Israel waiting for the promised Messiah. John the Baptist waiting for the appearance of Jesus. Even Jesus waiting for his ministry to begin.

Certainly, each of these accounts has something to teach us about waiting well. But one of the clearest blueprints is found in Psalm 27. 

Tell Yourself the Truth (vv. 1–3; 5–6) 

David opens this psalm with a magnificent declaration of confidence: “The LORD is my light and my salvation—whom should I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life—whom should I dread?” (v. 1). Beginning on such a mountaintop, we might expect a triumphant psalm to follow. Yet as we read the next thirteen verses, we discover that David was not writing from a place of victory but rather from a place of waiting. 

The next verses reveal the severity of his circumstances. An army is deployed against him (v. 3). Enemies seek to devour him (v. 2). War threatens on every side (v. 3). If you or I said these things, we would probably be speaking hyperbolically. Not David. Throughout his life, enemies and conflict seemed to follow him wherever he went. 

From these opening verses, we see that David refused to give in to the lies that were no doubt swirling in his mind. You know the ones: 

This is pointless.
God must have forgotten about me. 
I must have misunderstood God’s will. 
I’m completely on my own. 

David’s confidence is neither feigned nor fabricated; it is firmly rooted in the character of God. He’s rehearsing what he knows to be true, even if he may not feel it at that moment. The verses that follow make that clear.

Pour Out Your Heart to God (vv. 7–12)

The middle section of Psalm 27 contains a prayer that may seem to contradict the confidence we saw earlier. David pleads with God not to turn him away in anger or abandon him (v. 9). He asks God not to be handed over to the will of his foes (v. 12). At first glance, it seems his confidence has wavered. So what happened? 

Nothing. 

In verses 1–3, David is preaching truth to himself and taking his thoughts captive. Now he shifts gears and leans into what is truly going on in his heart. He candidly presents his fears and concerns to his heavenly Father, knowing that the covenant God of Israel cares for him (v. 10). 

This instructs us in our own seasons of waiting. God doesn’t ask us to stoically suppress our emotions or pretend they don’t exist. What better example than our Savior Himself, praying in anguish in the garden of Gethsemane the night of His arrest (Luke 22:39–46). 

What are you waiting for right now? What emotions are you wrestling with? Take them to your heavenly Father. Though all others may forsake you, He never will. Cast your cares upon Him, confident in His compassion and care for you (1 Pet. 5:7). 

Set Your Heart on the Right End (v. 4)

Sandwiched between David’s assertions of truth, we find his heart’s desire: 

I have asked one thing from the LORD;
it is what I desire:
to dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
gazing on the beauty of the LORD
and seeking him in his temple. (Psalm 27:4)

Despite wrestling with real present difficulties, David’s heart was set on eternity. His greatest desire was not for Saul to stop chasing him across the countryside. It was not to become king. It was not even for the waiting to end. Though he undoubtedly longed for those things, what he desired above all else was to dwell with Yahweh, gaze on His beauty, and seek Him in His temple. In the words of Paul, David had set his “affection on things above, not on things on the earth” (Col. 3:2 KJV).

Sometimes the waiting itself can consume us. Before long, every thought, conversation, and desire circles back to the gap we’re living in. Our highest goal becomes simply getting to the other side of it. Psalm 27:4, however, reminds us to seek something greater than a fulfilled longing. We must lift our eyes from our circumstances and fix them on eternity. We have no greater example of this than Jesus Himself, who endured the suffering and shame of the cross “for the joy that lay before him” (Heb. 12:2). His focus was not on present relief but on eternal joy. 

Wait Confidently (vv. 13–14)

David ends where he began—with confident expectation. In Psalm 27:13, he once again speaks truth to himself, declaring that he “will see the LORD’s goodness in the land of the living.” He hasn’t seen it yet, but he intentionally reminds himself of what he knows to be true. 

Then he sets the course before him: 

Wait for the LORD;
be strong, and let your heart be courageous.
Wait for the LORD. (v. 14)

With your heart fixed on the right goal, your mind anchored in truth rather than lies, and the lifeline of prayer continually on your lips, you can wait with both strength and courage. You can wait well. 

¹ To give full credit to the DMV worker, she was able to help me figure out the cost so that I could get the title through the mail. So our time was not completely wasted.