The Hebrew word “quavah” is used here as “wait”. And it has a root that means “bind together” or “gather”. It has the sense of collecting oneself. This waiting is not apathy, or even inactivity, but part of the journey of proper action.
It is like a running back who takes slight steps, or sometimes none at all, as he waits for a hole to open up in the line. He is waiting, but not inactive. Sometimes he will just pump his feet, running in place. He is gathering himself. Collecting his energy. Doing so with vision, with purpose.
Our society tends to hate waiting. When the Internet takes five seconds to load we get irritated. When we want something we want it now. But of course getting it now only makes us want something else. Perhaps we need a little more active waiting to help remind us that happiness is not in our circumstances, but in our choices. If we spent more time shuffling our feet until we find the right hole to run through, perhaps we would gain a lot more ground toward our destination.
Waiting helps us be deliberate rather than reactive. If we bind the truths of our circumstances with the truth of God’s Kingdom, we can make choices to take maximum advantage of the opportunities we encounter.