These days I find myself waiting for a lot of things – both the important and then the not-so-much.
Right now my husband and I are waiting for significant direction. I’m waiting with longing to see my precious daughter and her family who are missionaries in Jamaica – and for their baby twins to understand I’m their Memaw and love them desperately! I’m waiting for answers to prayer about things that are vastly important to my friends.
And if I’m getting honest about waiting, I do it for far less significant things, too. I’m often found waiting on technical things I don’t understand, or to see if people “like” my latest blog post, or for my turn – in line, to get to do something, or to be noticed or appreciated. (Lots of confessions there.) And on and on the waiting drudgery goes.
Then this morning I read this:
“I wait for the LORD, my soul does wait, And in His word do I hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than the watchmen for the morning; Indeed, more than the watchmen for the morning” (Psalm 130:5).
After I read that, I paused to think about how the watchmen who wait for the morning wait. Because I need to wait “more” than that. The watchman waits until morning shows up. He waits until the morning shows him what it’s come to show him – until it’s shone its light on the things that it wants him to see. He waits until the morning has revealed what’s in the dark places. He waits until the morning has accomplished its purpose for him. And then he can stop waiting – until tomorrow.
It didn’t take me long to figure out that not only do I wait for other things more hours of the day than I wait for God, but I often wait more thought-consuming, emotion-driven hours of the day for them – only to be let down 99% of the immediate time. (That’s a lot of wasteful waiting!) And frankly, waiting on the wrong things just makes me so weary.
God expects me to wait for Him “more” than all these other things that so consume me. After all, He’s promised He will accomplish what concerns me as I wait on Him (Psalm 138:3, 8). He never overlooks my requests – though I may get a no or keep waiting.
I obviously can’t spend the most hours of my day on my knees waiting on God, but my most earnest, heart- and mind-invested waiting needs to be on Him. This is the tough part and essential part of what He wants to do in and through me.
Waiting for where God wants to shine new light each day is what will give me life and “hope.” Precious hope! Plus it greatly affects the hows and whys of the rest of my waiting. And as I release all the other things that so easily consume my waiting thoughts into His hands, I find peace, satisfaction, and thankfulness. I need to place all of who God is between me and all of my other waiting thoughts.
“My soul, wait in silence for God only, For my hope is from Him” (Psalm 62:5).
And of course, waiting for God will make my worship sweeter as He envelopes me in His new light for the day and opens my eyes to greater wonders of who He is there.
Lord God, help me to wait on You “more than the watchmen for the morning. Indeed, more than the watchmen for the morning.”
What do you spend too much time waiting for?
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