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Hope in Waiting

Hope Discovery of the Day:

There is hope in waiting; not that everything will be made perfect on this earth, but that it is achieving something of worth and is not in vain.

Scriptures of the Day:

Psalm 37:7

“Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. 8 Do not be angry and frustrated! Do not fret! That only leads to trouble!”

Psalm 31:24

“Be strong and confident, all you who wait on the LORD!”

Psalm 27:13-14

“13 I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. 14 Wait patiently for the LORD. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the LORD.”

Isaiah 30:18

“So the LORD must wait for you to come to him so he can show you his love and compassion. For the LORD is a faithful God. Blessed are those who wait for his help.”

Speaking with a friend this morning, my heart was breaking for her. She wondered how she ended up rejected. Again. She did all the right things, but somehow once again it was not enough. Did God see her? Did He see the things people did to hurt her? When her employer lied to scapegoat her own error? When her husband was unfaithful? When she lost her home?

Stating the obvious, waiting is hard. Really hard. Especially when everything around us shouts out pain and hopelessness. We wonder if things can get worse, and when they do, we find it hard to continue to wait and hope and trust. But God.

Patience is a virtue. At least that is what the poet Prudentius penned in the 5th century in his work, Psychomachia, an allegory about the conflict between vices and virtues. Patience is a virtue – those apt words have stuck through centuries. But patience is not admired by those who have to endure it.

The Psalmist advises us to wait patiently. Some waiting is a matter of convenience, but when our soul thunders, “Why must we wait?” when we are conflicted or in agony, then waiting seems pointless, like a suffering we should not have to go through. That is until we see what God can do with the occupation of waiting.

Why do we despise waiting so much? When we cannot see the future, if our current circumstances are seemingly unbearable, we can be uncertain as to what we should hope for. We are afraid to hope because we already feel crushed by life. But there is hope in waiting; not that everything will be made perfect on this earth, but that it is achieving something of worth and is not in vain.

Waiting is a part of being human in this life God has given. Can we rise above the wait and see what God is doing? Or do we want what we are waiting for so desperately that we lose our focus and give up? Those that wait on the LORD will renew their strength. God’s purposes are so much deeper and every bit of waiting is redeemed by His loving hand. In the waiting game of life, God is developing our heart and attitude and is using the waiting period to fashion us into His image. Surely not in vain, at all.

While we are waiting, God is waiting too. Waiting to see if we will seek Him in our waiting. Waiting to see if we will trust Him at all times. Do we trust Him even if the waiting is long or never satisfied? Can we trust His provision for our life? He is not uncompassionate for our suffering and our waiting and wants to be our comfort through every bit of it. Although it might seem pointless or unnecessary to have to wait, in His sovereignty, God knows everything and when the best time is for our waiting to be over.

Whether or not our waiting will ever be satisfied, we who are in Christ have a hope and a future that far exceeds what we are waiting for on this earth.

 

 

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