When sleep seems to evade me at night (which thankfully is rare), I find myself waiting out the night in hopes of the new day—the morning. I might read. I might write. I might sit in the darkness to pray and think. I rarely get up and start my day…because I am waiting for what I know is coming…the sun cresting the eastern horizon which I see from my kitchen window and deck door. It is then that I will often begin my day. It is almost like permission to move.
In Psalm 130:5-6 we read about waiting: “I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning, more than those who watch for the morning.”
It is difficult to wait. In our waiting we can often become discouraged, lose focus, and begin to travel roads and ideas that take us further away from the Lord. In a culture where perceived boredom is cured with electronic devices and social media, we become less about waiting well. We want to escape to somewhere else, looking at someone else’s life. It builds envy, jealousy, and feelings of inadequacy in our hearts. Instead of waiting being a time of expectation and hope, we find ourselves becoming discouraged.
The Psalmist tells how he waits in God’s word which is his hope. It is not a conjured-up hope or a thinking oneself to hope. The hope is found in God’s word and in God’s faithfulness through all generations. When we look to God’s word and we hear account after account of God being faithful to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Elijah, to name a few, we know this same God is the “same yesterday, today, and forever.”
Just as the promise of the morning when the sun breaks across the eastern horizon, we can know the Lord is one who is not far off and is attentive to our prayers. At the beginning of this psalm, the Psalmist states, “Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications” (Psalm 130:1-2). We know the Lord hears these supplications, and we know the Lord is always on time.
Where are you waiting in your life? Do you wait well in expectation of the Lord’s response and the Lord’s direction? Or, do you tend to escape to other areas as you wait: social media, television, phone calls, or anything else to take your mind off waiting? Let me invite you to wait in the hope found in God’s word. God is faithful and as the Psalmist is wrapping up this psalm he writes, “O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem” (verse 7).
Prayer: Lord, help me to wait better. I often want to escape to something else, but this psalm invites me to wait in your word. Draw me back to your word and remind me of your steadfast love and faithfulness. In Jesus’ name. Amen.