Being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy. Colossians 1:11 (ESV)
With many years of intensive training, I’ve learned to wait in many situations. The lines, the traffic jams, and waiting rooms of life don’t faze me. I can sit or stand serenely. I can do this mostly without toe-tapping or grumbling. But the weightier waits . . . they can still churn me up, though I see progress.
At the heart of it is the unknown, the uncertain outcome, and the big question mark. Waiting for relief from my pain and fear to subside those first few months after my son Isaac was born with Down syndrome. Waiting to see if we could sell our home to relocate to Florida. Waiting for the results of my lymph node biopsy. Waiting now, with hopeful curiosity, to see what Jesus has planned for my career with so many treasured balls aloft.
Hard waits. Yet this is the heart of faith: entrusting unanswered questions and unknown outcomes to a knowing God. There’s no faith in waiting for slow-changing lights or my name being called or a new roll of register tape. Jesus is found in those cliff-hanger moments of waiting. There can be sweet freedom, joy, and peace (Jesus things!) in waiting.
In Psalm 27, David isn’t waiting on his pound of turkey breast or an oil change. Concluding with verse 14, David reminds me that if Jesus is the object of my wait, I can wait with thanks and praise on my lips, even with a little mortal toe-tapping on the way to hope-filled rest.
Faith Step: Read all of Psalm 27 and be blessed. Journal about three instances when you waited for something and how you saw the goodness of the Lord.
