Waiting is something that most of us find very hard to do. From childhood we anticipate (often with great impatience) the excitement of Christmas or going away on holiday. Waiting for results of exams, job interviews or medical appointments may fill us with anxiety. Looking forward to dinner when we are hungry or for summer to come after weeks of wet weather are yet more examples of waiting that we all live with day by day. As someone who is deaf and visually impaired, waiting is a big daily part of my life. I wait to find out what people are saying or what a plan of action is. Waiting for buses to arrive presses my triggers of impatience and exasperation. And waiting for the bigger things of life to be resolved can send me into a place of stress and anxiety.
If you are in that place of waiting and feeling anxious then I empathise with you. But the Lord reminded me today that I’ve only been considering the negative aspects of waiting. Waiting is something that can help us grow in our character and also in our heart knowledge of God. It is a different kind of waiting because it involves seeking the One who loves us so much and choosing to linger in his presence rather than rushing off to do other things.
David exhorts us to wait in this way: Wait for the Lord, be strong and let your heart take courage, wait for the Lord. (Psalm 27:14)
David is being bombarded with dangers. His enemy is beset on destroying him and he knows that humanly he’s in a very hard place. Sometimes we turn away from the Lord when times are hard, but David determines to affirm who God is and to keep his focus on that rather than on the fear and hopelessness of his situation. He finds courage rising within his spirit as he does so and is able to declare:
The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?
It is so easy to want all the solutions as soon as possible but waiting on the Lord is an act of trust that he is working to bring exactly the right results about. The other day, while wrestling with a hard situation, the Lord said in my heart, Stop trying to work out all the details. Have I not already gone before and promised to make the way smooth? Trust in me beloved child and live in my peace.
As I prayed to put the situation in his hands, I did feel his peace and was able to let go of the struggle. As we wait on him it is like letting our hearts be open and receptive to his voice of love. It is an expectancy that he will draw close and give us new revelation of his heart. As David said, our hearts take courage as we receive all he loves to give us. As he continues expressing his deepest feelings to God in Psalm 27 he receives beautiful, healing insights that give him a whole new perspective on his present isolation: Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me (10) Other translations say The Lord will make me his own, or take me up or hold me close. How wonderful that as he waited on the Lord, David came to that knowledge of how deeply the Lord loved him.
God wants to give all of us similar healing, comfort, guidance and peace as we give ourselves the permission to put things aside and make time to ‘wait on him.’
Praying you will be strengthened and filled today as you open your heart to his loving presence.
