Waiting...

Reading:

I believe I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord

in the land of the living!

Wait for the Lord;

be strong, and let your heart take courage;

wait for the Lord!

(Psalm 27:13-14)

Meditation:

“We’ll just have to wait and see.” Have you used those words recently? I imagine you have when you’ve talked about how long the quarantine will last, or whether or not you or someone you love will be infected, or how the economy will turn out at the end of this.

We’re not very good at waiting. We’re a people of action. We want to know what are the next steps to take. We want to be doing something productive. It’s hard for us to wait around. Waiting almost feels like a step backwards, a step toward defeat.

But what if we were always closer to defeat than we were ever willing to admit? What if finding ourselves in a place of waiting is really just getting in touch with the way things really are for the first time?

The longer human history goes on, the more power over our circumstances we seem to have. This has led to medical breakthroughs and longer, healthier lives. But it also seems like it’s put us out of touch with the fragile quality of life. Is it ever more than just a few days away from unravelling?

Circumstances like these bring us back to earth, put us in touch again with what things are really like. From this place, waiting becomes a viable option—indeed, it might be the only option left.

But for a follower of Jesus, there may be no better place to be. And that’s because nothing has so much assurance of hope as waiting on the Lord.

“We can wait because we believe that we shall ‘look upon the goodness of the Lord,’ and it is this goodness in which we can always and ultimately trust. It is God’s goodness that gives us strength to wait for Him in the difficult times” (Bonnie Poon Zahl).

What marvelous thing might God be doing, here? We’ll just have to wait and see.

Prayer:

Father, waiting is hard for us. Help us to have an eye for what you are doing. Help us to see what you’ve done. Help us to pray according to the Spirit while we wait on you to act.

You said, “Surely, I am coming soon” (Revelation 22:3). We wait for you, now.

Amen