Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show mercy to you.
For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him. – Isaiah 30:18
I heard the announcement yesterday, in the evening. I knew rumors were bouncing around, I knew it was going to be a possibility, but now it is confirmed. Stay at home orders extended until April 30, 2020. I get it, Lord, we will wait to be safe. We will wait to gather in your house again. We will wait because of our love for neighbor and our desire to keep them well as we would ourselves.
I know and believe that patience is a virtue, but in that regard I have never been very virtuous. It’s not a matter of an inability to wait, but once a task gets started I want to see it through. I have learned to wait on starting a project until I know all contingencies, and have all funds and materials at hand. I have learned to have patience with others when things are out of their or my control. Yet, even in learning, I still don’t enjoy the waiting.
Isaiah has a word for us, it comes at the end of a section entitled “A Rebellious People.” At the time of his writing, Isaiah was trying to warn, to prepare the people of God for a time when God would leave them to their own devices, that God would allow other nations to come and conquer them, for they had rebelled against God’s word, and against God’s love. Therefore, the Lord will wait to save them.
Yet, in the time of exile, Isaiah give hope to the faithful. For God will delay, but God does not abandon. The Lord waits, but his waiting ends with graciousness. God’s waiting ends with mercy. And, for those who choose to wait on God, a blessing will come.
So, we wait, and we wait a little more, but I will learn, and I hope you will learn with me, that as we wait, we can look forward to the sweet blessings God will bring in grace and mercy to us.
May such grace be new every morning, and such mercy bring calm each evening as we wait on God’s blessings, Amen.
Grace & Peace,
Sam