watching and waiting safely

O my Strength, I will watch for you,

for you, O God, are my fortress.

My God in his steadfast love will meet me;

God will let me look in triumph on my enemies.

Psalm 59:9-10

In times of trial, as we wait for the Lord to deliver us, to make His strength known in our weakness, to hide us in His fortress, we will know a faithfulness even as we wait. The waiting itself becomes sustaining. I have known this in ways deeper than I ever thought possible. God is near in the waiting. That nearness produces confidence in our faith.

David wrote this psalm from a specific circumstance. It was composed during that awful time before David’s kingship, when Saul was bent on killing him. The jealous rage of a commander-in-chief who had become unhinged had put David’s home under military surveillance. David thus could not go home. He had to hide. But David hid not in caves or the wilderness alone, but in the protective care of God. He fell back in faith into the fortress of His God. 

This was not a retreat of defeat. This was a turn to trust that hoped for the future triumph of God over anything that opposed David. David believed God Who had already anointed him king and made promises to David. He let God handle the details of his defense even as it looked like the system was irreversibly stacked against him.

Saul’s mania and minions would all run their course. The jealous king would eventually die by his own hand, wounded in battle against Israel’s foes. Saul would fail in his campaign against God’s plan. And in God’s timing, the forces aligned against David fell in one day. David’s wait, in faith, was well worth it when God’s timing came.

And so when we watch for God to work, let us take heart from this psalm of praise. God will surround us with His protection as we do so. God’s grace and power will lead us beyond the trial if we only stay faithful and lean in!