Focus

Prepare yourself to discern what is and what is not of God today. Still yourself so you can hear how God is calling you.

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Read

Psalm 130 (NRSV)

Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD.
Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
to the voice of my supplications!

If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities,
Lord, who could stand?
But there is forgiveness with you,
so that you may be revered.

I wait for the LORD, my soul waits,
and in his word I hope;
my soul waits for the Lord
more than those who watch for the morning,
more than those who watch for the morning.

O Israel, hope in the LORD!
For with the LORD there is steadfast love,
and with him is great power to redeem.
It is he who will redeem Israel
from all its iniquities.

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Reflect

I have found waiting to be perhaps one of the most difficult of human experiences. We may have an intense longing for answers and resolution to life’s problems, but the minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, and years can drag on with no clear direction. The psalmist knew the pain of waiting, but we can also see in these words a deep faith that the Lord hears our cries and will provide redemption.

A few years ago in a sermon my pastor referenced the Mumford & Sons song “I Will Wait.” That reference really stuck with me. If you have not heard the song, I encourage you to seek it out. If you have heard it, I encourage you to listen again with a different perspective. I often think back to that sermon when I hear the song, and imagine that the words of both desperation and resolve are a prayer to God instead of sung to an earthly someone.

The songwriter tells of coming home, collapsing into open arms, having gone through “days of dust.” The song speaks of kneeling down, perhaps in countless prayers expressed through a contrite heart.

After a few verses the tone of the words changes. It sounds as if the writer has discovered that waiting causes us to understand that things will not always be this way, and that we are somehow being transformed by the waiting and the love of the One worth waiting for. Like the occasional repetition we see in the psalms, the refrain states over and over, “And I will wait, I will wait for you.”

Do you find yourself waiting for something? Do not be afraid. Fear is a type of faith. It’s the faith that things won’t work out. If you are waiting, keep your focus on the Lord and do not lose heart.

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Pray

We trust and wait for you, God, to bring new life out of a tough situation. Renew our vision. We pray that you do a new thing in us and through us. Amen.

Go with God.