PSALM 40:1-3
Waiting is a difficult task. We wait in line at the supermarket, in traffic, and at the doctor’s office. We tweak our thumbs, suppress our yawns, and grumble to ourselves, frustrated. We wait for a message that never arrives, a wayward child to come back, or a spouse to completely change. We look forward to the arrival of a baby in our home. We are patiently awaiting our heart desires.
David said in Psalm 40 that he waited patiently for the Lord. David waited and waited and waited for God to answer his request. Yet, as he reflects on this period of delay, he gives thanks to God.
We can develop the quieter virtues of surrender, modesty, tolerance, joyous perseverance, and persistence in well-doing through the discipline of waiting – virtues that take much longer to cultivate.
What are our options when God appears to be withholding our deepest desires? He is capable of assisting us in loving and trusting Him enough to rejoice in the delay and see it as a chance to grow in some virtues – and to glorify Him.
It is never a waste of time to wait for God.
🙏🏼Lord, do as You please! Have it Your way! We are clay, and You are the Potter.
Photo: Eric Masur (@eric_masur)
