Waiting is not wasted
When you are waiting on God, the hardest lie to resist is that the time is wasted, that nothing counts until the answer comes. Scripture treats the wait itself as part of what God is doing. He is not only preparing the thing you are waiting for, He is preparing you while you wait for it, building a trust in you that only grows when you cannot see the outcome. The instruction is plain and a little stubborn: wait for Him, and let your heart take courage in the waiting. That is a deliberate choice to keep your hope fixed on Him when everything in you wants to force the issue. Bring Him the thing you are waiting on, and ask Him to do the slow work in you that only this kind of waiting can do.
Wait for Jehovah: be strong, and let thy heart take courage; yea, wait thou for Jehovah.
Psalm 27:14 · ASVDavid repeats the command to wait and frames it with courage rather than collapse. Waiting on God is presented as an act of strength, a way of standing firm until He acts.
I wait for Jehovah, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.
Psalm 130:5 · ASVThe psalmist doubles the verb to show waiting is his whole posture, and roots it in God's word. Hope has an anchor here, the promise God has spoken.
Jehovah is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.
Lamentations 3:25 · ASVJeremiah connects God's goodness directly to those who wait for Him. The waiting is met by a God who is good to everyone who seeks Him.
I waited patiently for Jehovah; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.
Psalm 40:1 · ASVDavid looks back on a long wait and reports the outcome: God turned toward him and heard. The patience was answered, in God's time and not before.