Waiting both eagerly and patiently
I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits,
and in his word I put my hope.
I wait for the Lord
more than watchmen wait for the morning,
more than watchmen wait for the morning. Psalm 130:5-6
I say to myself, ‘The Lord is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.’
The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;
it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord. Lamentations 3:24-26
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
It seems the Lord is speaking to me about patience! First there was the book I read recently (The Patient Ferment of the Early Church). And now, this last week, two passages in my personal Bible reading (the verses quoted above) which both speak of waiting for the Lord.
This waiting is both eager and patient. It is eager because we really want to see the Lord, just as watchmen in the night are eager to see the morning. It is also patient in that “it is good to wait quietly.” How can we be both patient and eager in our waiting? We are eager because we really want the thing – or in this case the person, the Lord himself – that we are waiting for. And that thing is so good that we are willing to wait patiently for it. Surely both apply to waiting for the Lord and his final salvation: we wait both eagerly and patiently.
We live in an impatient age, where everything is meant to be instant and we struggle to wait for anything – it is too much even to wait a few more seconds for a website to load! And it is easy for that impatience to rub off on us. It is one of the ways in which we show that we still want to be God ourselves, rather than letting God be God and submit to his perfect timing as part of his perfect will.
Here is part of a prayer of confession which identifies some of the ways we are impatient and asks God for his forgiveness. It comes from a book called Prone to Wander: Prayers of Confession and Celebration by Barbara Duguid and Wayne Duguid Houk. One of the things I find hardest in my own prayers is confessing my sins in an honest and fresh way. This book has helped me do that. Here’s the prayer:
“We confess that we find it difficult to wait for you, Lord. As we look back on the cross, we know that you are a promise-keeping God who is wiser, kinder, and more loving than we are. You are powerful beyond our imagination, and you always accomplish your will. You saved us from sin, you are saving us from ourselves, and you have promised us future salvation, but we want our desires satisfied now. We want excellent health and financial security; peaceful relationships and satisfying careers; perfect spouses, children, parents, and friends; perfect churches; and freedom from weakness and besetting sins. We want heaven now, and we struggle with anger and bitterness when you keep your promise that our lives here on earth will be characterised by suffering and tribulation. We rush frantically from one painful moment to the next, desperately trying to fix our problems and escape discomfort, instead of quieting our hearts before you. Father, forgive us.”
That may be a prayer you will find helpful to pray and to adapt, to return to and to share with others. May our patient Lord teach us to wait for him.
Yours warmly, in Christ,
Chris Hobbs (Senior Minister)