Patience in Waiting

Psalm 37: 7
Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him…

Patience… We often will find ourselves admitting to our impatience with people, or circumstances or even with ourselves for how slowly we are progressing in our faith journey, but if we really truly reflect on our impatience, I think we would find that at times, it is with God that we are impatient.

He is not changing this person, or making these circumstances go away, alleviating the pain… He is not answering our prayers in the way, or in the timing of how we would like it.

Our lives are filled with waiting.  We must learn to live our lives within the waiting.  To learn to be content in all circumstances, joyous times and times filled with sorrow.  Times of waiting in the noise and times of waiting in the silence.

And Scripture is filled with stories of waiting.  Moses, Elijah, Abraham, Noah…and David to name a very few.  I would say that pretty much every account of a life in the Bible has some form of waiting in it because that is what life consists of.

David was anointed king as a young man, but how many years did he wait to become king?  And his waiting was not a peaceful waiting.  His life was full of trials, yet I love his writing.

 For instance in Psalm 13 it starts out:

How long, O Lord?

Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart?...

But he goes on and ends his Psalm with:

But I trust in your unfailing love, my heart rejoices in your salvation.
 I will sing to the Lord, for he has been good to me.

In the very end of the Scriptures, the last words in Revelations attests to what we wait for.

Rev. 22:20  He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.”  Amen.  Come, Lord Jesus.

 Yes, our life is a life of waiting…learn to live your life within the waiting.  A life for the One in whom we wait for…

I Wait

The empty of my heart impels me forward.

I seek you at the water’s edge.

I listen for your footsteps next to mine

In the quiet of the forest.

I close my eyes and lift my face towards the sun,

yearning for your warm caress on cheek. 

Or spread my fingers to drops of rain

To feel your touch.

I sing out loud in Your house filled with worshipers

With the beat of Your music inside my soul.

Or sit alone in an empty room,

with silent liquid prayers spilling down my face.

I wait… I wait for that day

When I will see You, I will hear You, I will feel You.

The yearning will be satisfied.

The empty will be whole.

Your fire will consume me with white hot heat.

This body will no longer capture me,

with joyful song my soul released,

Forever to be with Thee.

 Father,

Teach us to wait patiently for You, both in short periods of time for a specific answer to prayer, as well as a continuous life practice.  Help us to grasp that this world is going to be full of trials and tribulations, and that what we wait for and long for within our souls will not be completely satisfied until we are reunited with You. Give us Your joy and peace that surpasses all understanding as we wait for You.

In Jesus Name,
Amen

- Sue Parrott