All you who wait for the LORD, be strong and let your heart take courage. - Psalm 31:24
Waiting seems like all we do anymore. Waiting to see if things will get better or worse. Waiting to know when we can go out next, or if we can send our kids to school. If you have ever been in a waiting room, anxiously desperate to hear from a doctor about a loved one, you know how difficult it can be to wait.
Waiting is not something that we want to do with our time, but it is how we spend most of it. We probably we spend more time waiting than we care to admit. So what should we do about all this waiting around? Honestly, I believe it depends on what we’re waiting for.
When we are waiting to reach a certain age to do something, or waiting till there is enough money for something than our wait may not be worth what we are waiting for. There are new adventures in life popping up all the time and if we wait we might miss something. Young couples always seem to say they are waiting till the right time to have children when there will be enough money, or stability in jobs – if that is the case, the “right” time might never come.
There are joys that wait for us, however, if we simply start living, and stop waiting, sure there will be struggles, and right now things we cannot do. However, hope helps us mange beyond the struggles to find the true joy. The joy in the things that we can do. Joy in the little things of life, the simple blessings that have not disappeared even as things are closed temporarily.
What brings us to the other side of waiting? When waiting becomes the necessary, such times are never easy; yet we can wait and pray, and find the joy of God’s presence in our waiting. It is for this reason the psalmist tells us to be strong and let our hearts take courage. For when we wait with such great anticipation and hope, we are waiting on the miracle of the Lord’s presence with us.
God promises to always be by our side, and that when we pray with a grateful heart, God hears our prayers and answers us. His answer may come in His time, yet we trust in Him, even in the waiting. We are God’s people, and wait for His answers, His love, and His presence. When we seek the Lord, we sometimes have to wait, and in our waiting, it can seem like dark and trying times, but just as mourning turns to dancing, when the morning star arrives, we are at peace, and all our worries and fears can cease. Pray without ceasing, so the bible says, but never forget to stop, and listen, and wait for the presence of God with you.
Grace & Peace,
Sam