Waiting … On God
Psalm 25
1 Unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.
2 O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me.
3 Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed: let them be ashamed which transgress without cause.
4 Shew me thy ways, O Lord; teach me thy paths.
5 Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.
20 O keep my soul, and deliver me: let me not be ashamed; for I put my trust in thee.
21 Let integrity and uprightness preserve me; for I wait on thee.
Psalm 27
13 I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
14 Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.
Psalm 37
9 For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth.
34 Wait on the Lord, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land: when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it.
Psalm 40:1 - I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.
Psalm 52:9 - I will praise thee for ever, because thou hast done it: and I will wait on thy name; for it is good before thy saints.
Psalm 130
1 Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord.
2 Lord, hear my voice: let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.
3 If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?
4 But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.
5 I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.
6 My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning.
7 Let Israel hope in the Lord: for with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption.
8 And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.
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You don’t get too far into the Psalms before you encounter the concept of waiting: waiting in general, but more specifically waiting on the Lord. Waiting is a theme that is interwoven into the fabric of Psalms. Which means: waiting on the Lord is a theme that is to be interwoven into the fabric of our lives.
But, there’s a problem.
Waiting is HARD. Waiting is painful. Waiting is excruciatingly agonizing. Waiting is contrary to our natures. It doesn’t come easily to most of us. And the worst part is that waiting doesn’t give you a time as to when you won’t have to wait any longer. Waiting is open ended. Waiting leaves you hanging. Waiting makes you feel stupid: did I miss it, did I misunderstand, do I have the right time, is this even the right day? Maybe they’re waiting on me ….
There’s no way to get around it: waiting is a trial in-and-of itself.
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Probably most people have at least one or two “waiting” incidents or stories to share. For some of us, early in life waiting experiences stick with us and shape us as to what kind of “waiters” we become. I have mine.
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Growing up both sets of grandparents had cottages. I lived a large portion of my summers at one or the other. Looking back now, those were some of the greatest times of my life. I loved the settings and I loved the water.
My dad’s parents had a beautiful cottage that was right on the waterfront. I spent many hours sitting on the dock listening to the sounds of the water, the birds, the wind. I spent much of my time either in the water or on the water. Sadly, I never did perfect my fishing skills. I killed so many fish trying to get hooks out that I decided it would be better for the fish population if I didn’t fish.
Admittedly I didn’t seem to have the knack. My grandfather and dad had a lot of fishing gear and enjoyed fishing together. At times they took me out with them in the canoe for … HOURS. They didn’t talk much. At times they didn’t catch much. And I had to sit there … waiting to get back to the shore so I could do something fun.
But, prior to that was the drive to get there.
Every time (and I do mean EVERY TIME) we went to the cottage we would pack the station wagon and have it all ready to go. Then my mom, my younger sister and I would get in the car to go and … wait, and wait, and wait for my dad to get into said car. My mom would repeatedly honk the horn, yell through the car window, and at times, eventually go back in to get him. Not good.
It seemed like the wait was always close to an half hour. It was torture. And of course you couldn’t even get out of the car — in the hot summer heat. And … woe unto you if you had to go back into the house to use the bathroom. Not good.
So, when I think of waiting my mind automatically sees me as this young kid sitting in the back seat of the hot station wagon … waiting on my father and … having to go to the bathroom again.
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Consequently, I (not sure I can blame it all on my dad) find it difficult to “sit in the car” and wait on my Heavenly Father. I get antsy. I get jittery. I get anxious. I get frustrated. I get mad.
But …
I’m finally realizing that, because I get so entangled in my emotions of waiting, I miss what my heavenly Father has for me to learn in His queue of life experiences.
The reality is that it’s during a good portion of those waiting experiences that God teaches us what it is He knows we need to learn - about ourselves and about Him.
One of the first things this kind of waiting teaches us is that if we don’t wait on God, if we run ahead on our own … we will pay the price. Running ahead of God tends to have its own consequences. Not good.
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God is our Heavenly Father. No matter how good or not so good our earthly fathers are/were, God is our perfect Father. He knows what is best for us. He’s trying to teach us the humility of waiting on Him.
It’s a frightening thing to wait … unknowingly on a Father we’ve never seen or heard. He’s teaching us He’s in control and that it’s during those times of waiting we come to love Him more because we have to trust Him more.
So the next time you feel like God has left you “on hold” or that He has forgotten you in the queue of life, or that you are all on your own …
Find solace in the Word of God.
Good things do truly happen to those that wait on the LORD.
Isaiah 40
27 Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God?
28 Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.
29 He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.
30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:
31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. —
Sounds good to me.
I trow so to you as well.