How to Wait Well
I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning. – Psalm 130:5-6 NIV
There are times when we are desperate for something to happen. When our insides itch for more than ordinary breathing and steady heartbeats.
We have a restless desire to fly and dance and run, yet our wings feel clipped.
It makes us afraid. Afraid that if we don’t move now, we may never move in significance again. As if the whole of our being – of who we were created to be, can only survive by the next thing we do.
We might as well die as to wait one more day.
Author, Margaret Guenther, once said:
“As a people, we are not comfortable with waiting. We see it as wasted time and try to avoid it, or at least film it with trivial busyness. We value action for its own sake. It is hard to trust in the slow work of God.”
There are times when I hold a deep stubbornness for the slow work of God. When I pack my life and fill my soul with hectic motion hoping to feel accomplished.
Recently, a dear friend told me her daughter suffered from F.O.M.O. (fear of missing out). She runs herself ragged – afraid all the best, most important stuff will happen without her.
How many of us run life in F.O.M.O. mode? How many of us let the fear of missing out drive us towards the next thing, and the next, and the next?
Friend, we have no reverence for waiting.
In Psalm 130, we see a beautiful picture of what it means to wait well for the Lord. In verse six, the palmist says:
photo: Raye Wortel
Watchman – or night guards, worked in the cold, lonely and lightless part of the day. When the world was asleep, they were awake – out of sync with the rest of humanity. They would watch in anticipation for the morning to come, for the first rays of light to spill over the land. Dawn meant rest and the end of work. It meant another night passed in safety. Morning meant warmth and the shedding of fear the dark night often brought.
Can you imagine the joy a watchman felt when the sun began to rise?
Well, the psalmist waited with more. More anticipation and expectation for the dawning work of the Lord. With hope in the Word and his soul at rest, he seems to face the breaking light of day with his eyes wide open, eagerly waiting for God to reveal the next morsel of his will.
Waiting wasn’t drudgery, it was joy. It was hope-filled.
It wasn’t wasted time, it was crucial time spent well.
This is how we get comfortable with waiting. We see it as an expectant adventure. We let go of our persistent action and rest in the light-filled joy of the slow, continual, and promise-laden work of God.
We’re talking about waiting in this month’s In Hope Bible Reading Plan. You’re invited to download the plan today and find out what God says about waiting well. God bless!