As we consider the second essential verb in leadership, many will likely reject it. It’s not intuitive, in fact, it’s actually counterintuitive.

 Wait when you’re right - Conventional wisdom says that if you are right, you should not waste time moving forward. Go for it! You checked the facts, researched, listened to others, so why should you wait? Just because everything lines up, doesn’t mean it’s time to move forward. Consider for a moment David, who at the time wasn’t king, but had been promised he would be.

While David could have seized the day and become King in a dark cave one day in En Gedi, he chose to wait. He checked the facts…’yep, God has promised kingship to me.’ He researched the situation…’this is a perfect time; Saul walked into this cave all alone. It’s got to be a God thing!’ David heard the counsel of his closest allies; they were encouraging him not to wait, but act. Nonetheless, David refused to dishonor God by not waiting on God to accomplish His plan, in His timing, in His way. David could have killed Saul in a dark cave where the only witnesses were his closest allies who were rooting for him. His willingness to wait on God, proved wise (1 Samuel 24 – 2 Samuel 1).

Waiting is seldom easy, especially when everything seems to say ‘go’. The problem is one of perception. Just because everything and everyone seems to be saying ‘go’, doesn’t mean its so. We are after all partial to our own opinions, which has a way of altering our judgment.

The obvious question is: ‘If everything lines up, why should I wait?’ Truthfully, sometimes there is no good reason to wait, but more often than not, it has huge benefits. Patience is after all one of the highest character traits of a godly man or woman (Gal. 5:22, 1 Tim. 6:11, Rom. 15:5).