"I waited patiently for the Lord;
 And He inclined to me,
 And heard my cry."  Psalm 40:1
 
There are three things we can look into in this verse:  waiting on God, divine 
condescension and prayers heard.  Let's see what Scripture tells us of each
 of these.  I will only touch upon each, but encourage your further study.
 
Waiting on God--
How are we to wait?
With patience:
"I waited patiently for the Lord..." as our opening verse tells us.
 
With the soul, silently:
"Truly my soul silently waits for God;
 From Him comes my salvation."  Psalm 62:1
 
"My soul, wait silently for God alone,
 For my expectation is from Him."  Psalm 62:5
 
With quietness:
"The Lord is good to those who wait for Him,
 To the soul who seeks Him.
 It is good that one should hope and wait quietly
 For the salvation of the Lord."  Lamentations 3:25-26
 
With courage:
"Wait on the Lord;
 Be of good courage,
 And He shall strengthen your heart;
 Wait, I say, on the Lord!"  Psalm 27:14
 
All the day:
"Lead me in Your truth and teach me,
 For You are the God of my salvation;
 On You I wait all the day."  Psalm 25:5
 
Continually and with hope:
"I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
 And in His word I do hope.
 More than those who watch for the morning--
 I say, more than those who watch for the morning."  Psalm 130:5-6
 
What are the objects of waiting?
Salvation:
"And it will be said in that day:
 Behold, this is our God;
 We have waited for Him, and He will save us.
 This is the Lord;
 We have waited for Him;
 We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation."  Isaiah 26:9
 
Protection:
"Our soul waits for the Lord;
 He is our help and our shield."  Psalm 33:20
 
Pardon:
"And now, Lord, what do I wait for?
My hope is in You. 
Deliver me from all my transgressions;
Do not make me the reproach of the foolish."  Psalm 39:7-8
 
And we have these blessing--
Spiritual renewal:
"Bu those who wait on the Lord
 Shall renew their strength;
 They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
 The shall run and not be weary, 
 They shall walk and not faint."  Isaiah 40:31
 
Inherit the land:
"For evil doers shall be cut off;
 Those who wait on the Lord,
 The shall inherit the earth."  Psalm 37:9
 
"Wait on the Lord,
 And keep His way,
 And He shall exalt you to inherit the land..."  Psalm 37:34
 
Though hard, we wait!  We will look into 'divine condescension' and 'God
hearing our prayers' the next time.  Today, let's praise our glorious God for 
His loving kindness and tender mercies to those He has drawn to Himself.
 
Lord, thank You for teaching us to wait.  In doing so, You develop in us the 
virtues of submission, endurance, humility and persistence along with 
patience.  How blessed we are that You discipline Your children for 
righteousness sake.  Father, have Your perfect way in each of us.  Amen