My soul waits for the Lord

My soul waits for the Lord.

Did you know that there is a restaurant inside Disneyland with a fourteen-year waiting list?   Most of us will never wait that long for tickets to a Broadway play, let alone a nice meal!   We’re probably more used to waiting a few minutes for the bathroom to become free, for the microwave to finish, or for a bus to arrive.   What’s more, with the growth of devices like smartphones, we now have so many ways to pass the time that we can forget that we’re waiting at all.   But that’s not the kind of waiting the psalmist is talking about today.

We have all experienced God answering our prayers on a different timescale than our own.   It’s only natural to feel frustrated if we’ve been praying for something for a long time and still do not see him intervene.   “If you are almighty God, then why am I waiting so long for you to come and help?”   While it may be closer to the sentiment in today’s psalm, this kind of impatient, frustrated waiting is probably not what the psalmist had in mind either.

So if waiting for the Lord doesn’t mean keeping yourself distracted or grumbling impatiently, then what does it mean?   More than anything else, it means trusting that God is always good and that his timing is always perfect. It means saying, “Lord, you know best. My life is in your hands.”   It also means keeping our eyes peeled and not letting ourselves get so distracted or upset that we forget about the wait altogether.

Try waiting right now.   Begin by recalling the faithfulness of God.   Tell yourself that you will place your trust in him, no matter how long he takes.   Then name the things you are waiting for him to do.   Make the list as long and specific as you like.   Maybe even write it down.   Now, peacefully and confidently, take each item and say, “Lord, I ask you to do this, I trust you to do what is best, and I know you will do it at the right time.   I will wait, in trust, to see what you will do.”   Then go about your day confident in God’s goodness, his wisdom, and his schedule.

word among us