"I waited patiently
for the Lord
and he heard my cry...
He put a new song in my mouth."
Psalm 40:1-3
Waiting is hard. My tears are real and they hurt. Sometimes I feel as if no one is listening. I feel all alone in my grief. Like the old spiritual that wails, "Nobody knows the trouble I've seen. Nobody knows my sorrow," I, too, wail as I wait. It does not feel good, but it is all I know to do on many days as I grieve.. and as I wait.
Wait for what? Wait for my situation to be reversed? Wait for explanation to the unexplainable? Wait for resolution? Restoration? Healing?
Maybe the key is in how we wait...
The psalmist waited patiently. Ah, patience. A word that is more and more foreign to our self-reliant and self-confident nature.
Patience comes from the Latin word for suffering. Waiting is often referred to as long-suffering. Grievers can breathe a sigh of relief because that word explains the empty abandonment a griever can feel.
But maybe the other key is the One on whom we wait...
The psalmist waited "patiently for the Lord."
And what did the Lord do? He heard my cry! Did you hear that? The Lord heard my cry and then he "put a new song in my mouth."
Why does the Lord do that? Because we have placed our will under the will of God.We have turned to God and trusted Him with our grief. We have become less and allowed God to be more. We have learned to say like someone else said, "Not my will, but Thy will be done."
And then one by one, little melodic notes of a new song begin to chime in our hearts.
(adapted from Waiting on God by Andrew Murray, Day 14)
No comments:
Post a Comment