what it takes to wait

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,

and in his word I hope;

my soul waits for the Lord

more than watchmen for the morning,

more than watchmen for the morning.

Psalm 130:5-6

Waiting isn't easy because time is a very precious investment. We really have so little of it, and waiting seems to take up so much of it. But those dim nights of waiting can be rewarded by the dawn of God's gracious light, if we can hope our way through, trusting God until then.

This psalm gives us the way to wait: our hope must be placed in God's Word. We need to fill those dark times of uncertain waiting with the strengthening power and the hope of the scriptures. Why? It is in the bible that we find God's power, control over everything, His love for us, His grace toward us in Christ, His mercy, and His judgment at work. We can identify through scripture with just the thing we are waiting upon God to do and we can make it through, like a watchman on the wall, knowing that daylight will safely bring our hopes to pass as we trust in God through His Word.

So what I need most when I wait on God is hope. And I am promised to find hope by trusting God's Word. So I must read His Word, know what His Word says, identify with God's Word, and believe what He tells me in His Word and I will find hope in my waiting time, no matter how long or how dark.