Yesterday we sat with James. The one who tells us to count the trial as joy.

Today we go back further. Centuries further. To a man in the thick of it, writing poetry at the end of his rope, and finishing with a sentence that reads almost like he is talking to himself.

Read the verse.

“Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” - Psalm 27:14

Read it again. Notice the shape.

Wait. Be strong. Take heart. Wait.

The command to wait appears twice. Not once with a pause between them. Twice. He opens with it, lets a short instruction land in the middle, then circles back and says it again. The repetition is the whole point of the verse.

David knows what we are like.

He knows we will do the first wait. The first wait we can manage. The first wait is almost noble, almost spiritual, almost a thing we can tell ourselves we are good at. We will even post about the first wait on social media.

But by the second wait, the romance is gone. The second wait is where the self-pity sneaks in. The second wait is where we start checking the clock. The second wait is the one where we start quietly deciding God has forgotten.

So David repeats himself.

He is not padding the line. He is pastoring us. He is saying: when the first wait runs out, do not give up. Here is the next instruction. The next instruction is the same as the first one. Wait.

Patience in Scripture is almost always this shape. Not a one-off act of endurance. A posture you have to keep returning to. A thing you have to choose again every morning, because every morning the thing you are waiting for is still not here.

The first wait is the easy one. The second wait is where faith is actually made.

YOUR ONE THING FOR TODAY

Name the thing you are currently waiting for. The one that has gone past the point of romantic faith and into the quiet exhaustion of it. Say out loud: I am going to wait again. Not forever. Just today. Then tomorrow, do it again.

A PRAYER FOR TODAY

Father, I have done the first wait. I did it well. I was patient and faithful and I even felt a little bit spiritual about it. But I am now in the second wait, and I am tired. Teach me the discipline of returning to the instruction. Help me wait again today. And again tomorrow. And again the day after. Make the second wait a place I meet you, not a place I lose you. Amen.

If this landed, hit reply. I would love to hear what you are waiting for right now.

God bless you, my friend.

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