Psalm 123, Psalm 130, Ezekiel 36:8-15, Luke 24:44-53
Perhaps you have felt it before – the restlessness, anxiety-building symptoms of a “waiting” allergy attack. It tends to happen in long checkout lines and definitely in Nashville traffic. We are allergic to waiting, or at least I am. We try to avoid it or at least minimize it. Instacart, DoorDash, Waze, and of course the beloved Disney Fast Pass are key tools in our anti-waiting arsenal, designed to minimize wait times wherever they may appear. In essence we hate to wait.
Yet, in today’s scriptures, the psalmist presents a counter-cultural idea. In Psalm 130 he actually encourages us to wait. That’s right, WAIT for the Lord. It’s a theme seen in each of today’s scriptures. In Ezekiel, Israel is encouraged to wait for the Lord’s redemption, and in Luke 24, the disciples are encouraged to wait for the one “my Father has promised.”
So how does a 21st century believer with a severe allergic reaction to waiting respond? Surely there is a saintly fast pass hidden within the verses. Unfortunately, no. Rather the psalmist encourages us to lean into the waiting with specific instructions on how we should wait. The psalmist describes waiting with his “whole being” and in anticipation of its fulfillment. To underscore this, the psalmist twice repeats “I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning.”
Notice too that waiting has a companion, the antidote to our allergic reaction — hope. In the waiting, the psalmist places his hope in God’s word and encourages us to do the same. Thus, the psalmist illustrates that waiting is not a passive, religious thumb-twirling enterprise, but an action. God calls us to actively wait by placing our hope in Him.
Finally, the psalmist ends with why we should wait on the Lord. He tells us to “put your hope in the Lord for with the Lord is unfailing love and with him is full redemption. He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins.”
Waiting is hard. Thankfully we are not called to wait alone. In Luke 24, as Jesus prepared to ascend into heaven, he told the disciplines that he would send them a helper in the Holy Spirit. Thus, even in the waiting, God is with us., showing us His unfailing love.
Christie Kleinmann, Associate Professor
Department of Public Relations, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences