In the waiting...

Psalm 5:3 says, "In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation."

Psalm 33:20 -22 says, "We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name.  May your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord, even as we put our hope in you."

"Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord." Psalm 27:14

"I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope."  Psalm 130:5

Psalm 40: 1 says, "I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry."


Much of my life these days is spent waiting.  I'm waiting for the doctor to see me, waiting for lab results, waiting while I receive chemotherapy, waiting to recover from it, waiting in line at the pharmacy, waiting to go back to work, waiting to go to bed, waiting to get out of bed, waiting for surgery, waiting for a miracle... It seems everything I do requires some form of waiting on my part. 

Newsflash!  I am not good at waiting!  I don't like to wait, I like to do things now.  Why?  Because I have other things I want to do.  I want to jog great distances again. I want to hang out with friends.  I want to clear the creek bed and mow the lawn and build a flower garden with my daughter.  I want to clean my house.  I want to go on a family vacation.  I want to be whole again.

But waiting teaches us a great many things.  Waiting teaches us to submit to the Father's will.  Not everything in our life is for us to control.  Our thoughts are not His thoughts and our ways are not His ways.  We do not know what is best for us and therefore waiting teaches us to submit to the Father's will, even when we don't understand it. Many things are for our good, but we have to wait on them to see the blessing.

Waiting teaches us patience.  Not everything is for our good right now.  If we had everything we asked for when we asked for it, we would be nothing more than a bunch of righteous spoiled little brats.  Only forgiveness is immediate.

Waiting teaches us trust.  When we need something desperately and cannot see our way clear of the struggle...we wait.  And in the waiting we learn to trust.

I believe there we are taught to wait for the Lord, and to do so with grace.  

Psalm 5 teaches us to wait in expectation.  I love this one!  I believe when we ask, we shall receive.  Believing that truth allows us to wait in expectation.

Psalm 30 teaches us to wait in hope for the Lord.  Sometimes we simply do not know what the outcome will be.  Therefore, we wait in hope.

Psalm 27 teaches us to be strong and take heart while we wait for the Lord.  Sometimes waiting can test our patience, our hope and our our strength.  But we are reminded to be strong in our waiting.  Believing that when we are weak, He is strong.

Psalm 130 teaches us to wait and put our hope in His word.  What a great source of hope, strength, patience and peace comes from His word.  Every day I find strength for my journey simply through His word.  

Lastly, Psalm 40 teaches us to wait patiently.  I am not a patient person, I'm afraid.  But I am learning patience.  This verse is dear to my heart because it gives me hope.  "I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry."  I know that when I cry out to God he will hear my cry.  

I need only to wait on him. Patiently, in expectation, in hope, in strength and in His word.

Only By His Grace,

Billie