I Wait

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. Psalm 130:5

Do not let the second part of the verse wipe out the first part of the verse. Many Westerners, or those prone to thought over experience, will treat the first part of this verse as a poetic statement, and quickly jump to the second part of the verse, “in his word I put my hope.” We see the latter as the action part, something we can do. We like the verse that says “love the Lord with all your mind” because we think we know how to think. But engaging our mind in thought before we have put our soul to work waiting can be futile. It is like putting a car in gear without first starting the engine.

Truth be told, we know very little about what it means to have our soul wait on God. We rush into things head first. Yet the psalmist says, “I wait for the Lord…” Somewhere in the depths of our being where our emotions and our will and our core being come together, we are to wait.

Have you ever been in a room waiting for a dignitary to enter? Or perhaps you have been to a concert and waited in anticipation for the artist to appear. In the Old Testament once a year a priest went into the “holy of holies” in the inner temple – that would have involved some anticipation. Imagine what he was thinking as they tied the rope around his ankle so that they could drag him out in case he had sin in his life and he was struck dead. How can we wait with anticipation when this could be the outcome of an up-close-and-personal encounter with God? In the preceding verses the writer says, “If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, therefore you are feared. I wait for the Lord, my soul waits…” He knew that God encounters were for all of us since our sin is forgiven.

We know there are many facets to the glory of God, and one of them is truth. Friends, when we get up in the morning, make our first cup of tea and come before God, let’s wait for the whole package. Let’s not stop short at just putting our hope in his word (which often means just engaging our thinking). Let’s bring all of us to sit expectantly, waiting for our rock star, our redeemer, our hope, to enter the room with his unfailing love, his truth, his forgiveness, his miracle working power, and his energizing of us for a new day. Let’s wait before we do other things. Let’s wait for the Person of God before engaging in the activities of God.

My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning. Psalm 130:6

Application

• What are you waiting for, a word from God, or God?
• Are you putting your mind into gear before putting your soul into “wait”?
• How can you blend your soul, your mind, and your hope in waiting for the Lord?