I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in His word I put my hope. –Psalm 130:5
I read this verse and my heart was drawn to it, but my mind wanted to run in the other direction because the word “wait” makes me very uncomfortable. I find it quite hard to wait on the Lord sometimes, and He knows it. I have often claimed that I was waiting for the Lord concerning one thing or the other, but the truth was that I was waiting for one thing or the other and hoping that the Lord would bring them to me.
Many times, we come before the Lord with our list of requests and hope that He would give us what we want, and if He does not, we feel disappointed and let down. I have probably shared this example with you before, but I remember getting an email joke/forward about a religious man who climbed up onto his roof when a flood hit, praying for God to save him. A boat came by, and he waved them off: "Save someone else, God will save me." A helicopter came by; same thing. The flood waters rose higher, and he drowned. Finally face-to-face with God, he demanded, "Why didn't you save me when I prayed?" God sighed. "I sent a boat, I sent a helicopter..."
Many of us read the story above and laugh about how ridiculous the religious man was, but the truth is that a lot of us often act the same way. Many of us often come to the Lord with our prayers, and already have in mind the way we would like for Him to answer and when He doesn’t do things our way; we claim that He is not listening. The author of the psalm was not waiting on God in ordinary times; we read in the first verse of Psalm 130 that “Out of the depths I cry to You O Lord.” He was desperate and in distress, yet he chose to wait on the Lord. Why? Because as he wrote in verses 3 and 7, he knew the Lord, he knew that He was a forgiving God that expressed His unfailing love to His children. He knew that that the Lord had the power to redeem and he remembered the Lord’s faithfulness to Israel. This gave him hope, and therefore he waited on the Lord.
Do you know the Lord? Do you trust Him? Do you trust in His unfailing love for you? Do you trust in His power to do all things whenever and however He pleases? Do you know about His faithfulness? Do you believe that He has plans to prosper you and not to harm you? Do you believe that He bestows honour and favour, and no good things does He withhold from those whose walk is blameless? Do you believe that His power is made perfect in weakness? Do you know and believe that you are the apple of His eye? Do you know and believe that he knows and can account for every strand of hair on your head? Do you know and believe that He has engraved you on the palm of His hands?
If you believe these things, then let them give you hope, and you just simply wait for Him. I don’t mean wait for that house, car, person, job, etc that you have been eying for a long time, but wait for Him. If He wills it, He will give you all those things, but just wait for Him. You might have been eying the house at the top of the hill, but he might give you the one in the cul-de-sac instead. You might have been eyeing the 5 foot 7 skinny dark girl, but He might bring you a 5 foot 5 light-skinned girl instead. God knows you and knows what you need, so leave it all in His hands and wait for Him to bless you however He sees fit. When you trust a person, you give them room to surprise you. Will you trust the Lord today?
I leave you with the words of Isaiah from Isaiah 30:18; “Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; He rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for Him.”
Grace and peace be with you.
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