How Long, O Lord?
Psalm 130:5 “I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word, I put my trust.”
Most of life is about waiting and none of us are very good at it. Two waiting failures of mine are: (1) waiting in line at a register, with the person in front of me taking way too long, and (2) traffic jams at the Squirrel Hill tunnel. At this time, all of us are waiting for this nightmare of COVID-19 to end.
In our verse, the Psalmist says, “I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word, I put my trust.”
The reason we all have a problem with waiting on the Lord is because we all have a waiting on the Lord allergy. Our struggle really begins when we decide what will truly make us happy and if we don’t get exactly that, then we conclude that God must not love us. John Piper writes, “Waiting is not about what I get when it’s done, but who I become as I wait.” Let that sink in.
The prophet Isaiah is speaking to Judah and Jerusalem, regarding a coming disaster. The army of Babylon will come and carry off the people of Judah into exile. He says, “Wait on the Lord who gives strength to the weary.” In other words God shares his strength with those who, by faith, wait upon him. He promises to give his people power as they wait upon him. The Hebrew word for waiting is not passive but it is an action word. It means that we actively serve or minister, like waiting on a king.
Elizabeth Elliott once wrote, “Waiting on the Lord is an important discipline for anyone who wants to learn to trust. It is a willingness to bear uncertainty, to carry within oneself the unanswered question, lifting your heart to God whenever the question arises. We ask: ‘How long Lord must I wait?’ And he answers: “Never mind, child. Trust me.’ I realized that the deepest spiritual lessons are not learned by him letting us have our way in the end, but by His making us wait, bearing with us in love and patience until we are honestly able to pray what he taught His disciples, ‘Thy will be done.’”
As we wage this war with COVID-19, God’s word gives us lessons on waiting. Abraham and Sarah began to wait but Sarah decided God was not keeping his promise and engineered, along with Abraham, another way to bring happiness. It was a disaster!
By contrast, the apostle Paul underwent tremendous suffering and impossible circumstances, yet he waited upon the Lord. He concludes, “I consider our present sufferings are not worthy to compare to the glory that will be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18).
In Church history Charles Simeon, a pastor in the Church of England was appointed vicar of the university church in Cambridge by the Bishop, against the will of that congregation. They opposed him because he was evangelical and believed the Bible to be the very word of God. He called for conversion and for holiness in God’s people and for world missions. For twelve years the people boycotted him each Sunday morning and locked their pews for afternoon worship so no one could sit in them. He preached to people in the aisles for twelve years! He said, “In this state of things I saw no remedy but faith and patient waiting. In my mind was the scripture, ‘The servant of the Lord must not strive.’”
Where did he get such patience? From God’s word: “I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I put my trust.” By the way, Charles Simeon served that Church for fifty-four years and his ministry became the center of evangelicalism in Cambridge. He had immense influence upon the university whose students filled the Church. Many became ministers and missionaries.
In this difficult time, when all of us are waiting, put this verse in your heart: “I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word, I put my hope.”