The proud never feel the need to wait on God. They move in their own mind, spirit, and strength to do whatever pleases them or they think good.
The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts. (Psalm 10:4)
Those who trust in the Lord wait for Him to arise, whether in them or apart from them.
Arise, O LORD; O God, lift up thine hand: forget not the humble. Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God? he hath said in his heart, Thou wilt not require it. Thou hast seen it; for thou beholdest mischief and spite, to requite it with thy hand: the poor committeth himself unto thee; thou art the helper of the fatherless. Break thou the arm of the wicked and the evil man: seek out his wickedness till thou find none. The LORD is King for ever and ever: the heathen are perished out of his land. (Psalm 10:12-16)
The “desire of the humble” is for God to fight their battles. They are willing to give Him the “space” to work.
LORD, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear (Psalm 10:16)
The humble get out of God’s way. They “let” Him do what only He can successfully do.
Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered: let them also that hate him flee before him. As smoke is driven away, so drive them away: as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God. (Psalm 68:1,2)
The humble are not hasty. They get their “marching orders” from God. They make sure He is going before them before they move.
O God, when thou wentest forth before thy people, when thou didst march through the wilderness; Selah: The earth shook, the heavens also dropped at the presence of God: even Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel. (Psalm 68:7,8)
The Psalmist remembered how God has worked in His people in the past. He saved them not by their own power, but by His own right hand.
We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what work thou didst in their days, in the times of old. How thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand, and plantedst them; how thou didst afflict the people, and cast them out. For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them: but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favour unto them. (Psalm 44:1-3)
The Psalmist reminds himself that once again God’s people cannot rely on themselves; they must look to Him.
Through thee will we push down our enemies: through thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us. For I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me. (Psalm 44:5,6)
Even in their greatest extremity the afflicted call upon the Lord to “arise” for their help.
Yea, for thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter. Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord? arise, cast us not off for ever. Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and forgettest our affliction and our oppression? For our soul is bowed down to the dust: our belly cleaveth unto the earth. Arise for our help, and redeem us for thy mercies’ sake. (Psalm 44:22-26)
Even when man’s wrath is bearing down on them, God promises the meek that He will arise to save them.
Thou, even thou, art to be feared: and who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry? Thou didst cause judgment to be heard from heaven; the earth feared, and was still, When God arose to judgment, to save all the meek of the earth. Selah. Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain. (Psalm 76:7-10)
Jesus did not move in His own power to save Himself, even in the most dire situations He faced.
Likewise also the chief priests mocking said among themselves with the scribes, He saved others; himself he cannot save.
Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe. And they that were crucified with him reviled him. (Mark 15:31,32)
As we grow in Christ, we become less self-willed and more meek. In wearing His yoke we may move too slow, or too fast, for men’s tastes. We may be too passive or too proactive in their eyes. But we have learned to move in concert with God. We take our cue from Him. We sit when He sits; and arise when He arises. Whether moving or sitting still, we have entered His rest, because we have ceased from our own works.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. (Matthew 11:29)
For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. (Hebrews 4:10)
The way of Christ was meekness. To be rightly guided in our decision making we must be established in the way of Christ.
The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way. (Psalm 25:9)
We become our own worst enemy when we go our own way, rather than God’s.
Destruction and misery are in their ways: And the way of peace have they not known (Romans 3:16,17)