How to W.A.I.T. for the Lord

“Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy!”

This is how Psalm 130 begins and maybe you can relate. Have you ever faced a struggle or challenge or circumstance, either external or internal, that has led you to cry out to God like this? You feel like you’ve reached the end of yourself. You know you need God to make a way where there is no way. You cry out to God and then… then you wait. Sometimes the deliverance is immediate. More often than not, the wait lasts. It lasts for a while or for a season or maybe even a lifetime.

So, what do we do with the wait? Does it matter?

Of course it does.

How we wait for the Lord tells everything about what we believe about him. There is waiting that honors God and is good for our souls and there is waiting that does not honor God and leads to sin.

I’ll confess that too often my waiting for the Lord is not honoring to him. For me, it looks like this: W-A-I-T — Worried, Anxious, Irritable and Tired. I’m a mess and I’m miserable…and I’m miserable to be around. Sins I didn’t know I was harboring manifest. The dissonance between my confession and my disposition becomes unsettling. The waiting exposes my heart but this exposure is actually a grace from God that can lead to repentance. If, by God’s grace, I repent, what will my waiting look like? Psalm 130 can help.

Psalm 130 helps us change W-A-I-T to Watching, Anticipating, Inclining and Thanksgiving. Waiting for the Lord is an active waiting. Verse six says “my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning.” Just as watchmen are actively looking for danger, when we wait for the Lord we should keep guard over our hearts to not give the enemy a foothold. In our waiting we should be watching.

And pay close attention to the end of verse six. Don’t stop at the watchmen looking for danger. Of course they are, but the psalmist says “my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning.” The watchmen are anticipating! Morning will come. When dawn breaks they will have relief. The light will shine and expose the enemy. Reinforcements within the city will be awake. The watchmen don’t have an unsure hope that the sun will rise, they are confident that the night will end. So it is with us. The Son has already come and he will come again. We anticipate his deliverance, knowing that the trial will end.

While we are watching for the dangers of sin and anticipating the deliverance of Jesus, we incline our ear to God’s word. Verse five says, “I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope.” We are tempted in our waiting to believe that God is silent and, if silent, maybe he doesn’t care about us. But if we incline our ears to his word, we find hope in his truth. Verses 7-8,

“O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption. And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.”

If we are watching and anticipating and inclining, then we will also be filled with thanksgiving. Verses three and four say, “If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness that you may be feared.” Christian, you are a Christian because God has forgiven you. He sent his Son to live a righteous life and to die a substitutionary death in your place. Then God raised Jesus from the grave to claim victory over sin and death. He has given you his own Spirit to seal you. Your wait is not an abandonment. Far from it. It is a kindness meant to bring you closer to God. Do not despise the waiting or make it an excuse for sin. Be thankful that your Father in heaven continues to refine you and to draw you in.

This reminds us of our need to confess our sins.

Father God, forgive us for declaring your sovereignty and your steadfast love but living like you are powerless, absent, and uncaring when we are tested. We are wrong to do that. Forgive us for our lack of faith. Forgive us for doubting that you are who you say you are. Please forgive us for these sins and for the sins that we confess to you now in this moment of silence…

…Almighty God, you are doing more in every moment than we could possibly imagine. When we wait for you, it is not because you are overbooked or too busy. You are working in our waiting — working all things for your glory and for our good. We are sure of that because of your Son, Jesus. How can we, as frail and failing as we are at times, have any interest in the Savior’s blood? ‘Tis mercy all, immense and free. Thank you, God. Thank you for saving us, for cleansing us, and for keeping us. Help us, by your Spirit to wait for you like redeemed people — confident that Christ has come and Christ will come again. In Jesus name, amen.