I’m standing on tiptoe

Psalm 130: 6-7

My soul waits for the Lord, more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning.  O Israel, put your hope in the LORD, for with the LORD is unfailing love and with him is full redemption. NIV

Wait.

Hope.

Trust.

Obey.

All of these remedies for worry are stated either explicitly, or implicitly in these few lines from Psalm 130, a song of ascents.

I’ve written often of my previous obsession with the future, my need to know how things would turn out, my futile attempts to control my earthly destiny.  All of these are the negative side of a forward-looking personality.

But, there is a positive side.  My mother is also future focused, and, she is a pillar of faith.  A true child of God, she waits and hopes with great anticipation for what comes next.  And, she has the gift of encouragement, never failing to point her girls toward God and his plans for us.

So often this last year as she has walked this road with me, she has said, “I am just standing on tiptoe waiting to see what God is going to do!”

More than watchmen wait for the morning … I picture my mother on her toes so as to ever so slightly alter her perspective on the curve of the earth, so that she might catch a glimpse of what is to come just a moment sooner.

Put your hope in the LORD … to see what God is going to do!

Not, “if God will do something,” but a blessed assurance that God indeed has a plan, that He will act in His timing and that … with the LORD is unfailing love and with him is full redemption.

That’s what I’ll think about today

It’s not like you’re waiting for a bus …

Psalm 130:5

I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope.  NIV

Wait and hope.  Two words.

Interestingly, according to my concordance, wait and hope are synonyms.

The Hebrew word for “wait” here, means “to hope in.”  It also means, “to hope for, long for, put trust in, wait expectantly and wait eagerly.” And, the Hebrew word for “hope,” means, “to wait for, put hope in, expect.”

That got me thinking … do “wait” and “hope” mean the same things to us in 2010?

They don’t.

Dictionary.com lists 18 definitions for the word, “wait,” but the word, “hope” is not among them.  The most common synonyms listed there are, “await, linger, abide, and delay,” and the first definition is, “to remain inactive or in a state of repose, as until something expected happens: to wait for the bus to arrive.” Similarly, the definition for “hope,” does not include the word, “wait.”

But for David, waiting and hoping were inextricably linked … and he was waiting for the LORD, for Yahweh, for the one true God.

I will not wait for God as one waits for a bus, or for a doctor’s appointment.  I will not occupy my time by worrying, or by being frustrated or impatient.

I will wait for God as David waited … with hope, with trust, with expectancy.

I will keep David’s perspective.  God, Yahweh, the Maker of the Universe cares for me.  He has a plan for my life.  I don’t know what it is, but I know that it is immeasurably better than any plan I might devise on my own.

Today, I wait in expectation for what’s next.

I’m waiting on God

Psalm 119:166

I wait for your salvation, O LORD, and I follow your commands.  NIV

Yet another reminder that waiting is not a passive activity.

While I wait for God’s will to be revealed, for His answer to come, for His plans to be fulfilled, I must continue to be obedient.

“I wait expectantly for your salvation; God, I do what you tell me.” MSG

David isn’t doing what he thinks is best … he’s doing what he’s been told to do.

And, he waits … with expectation.

Our pastor this morning preached an amazing sermon.  It was about Mary’s worship of Jesus.  He noted that when she  poured an entire bottle of expensive perfume on Jesus’s feet and wiped it up with her hair, she illustrated three principles of worship.  All of them, he noted, were costly.

Worship is costly in terms of reputation.  Mary’s behavior was certainly inappropriate for the time.  He also note the example of David earning the scorn of his wife, Micah, for his open display of worship.

Worship has a financial cost.  Mary’s act cost the equivalent of a year’s wages.

And worship takes time.  Time, he said, was probably the most valuable thing that we can give to God.

When I wait upon the Lord, I am being obedient.  Waiting is a form of worship.  When I am waiting on the Lord, I am consenting to do things on His timetable, not mine.  It takes patience, and hope, and trust and perserverance.

Waiting requires love.

I’m waiting on God.

That’s what I’ll think about today.

Wait, God will answer

Psalm 38:15

I wait for you, O Lord; you will answer, O Lord my God. NIV

Faith.  Hope.  Trust.

David has all of these things.  In this Psalm, he writes of being weary and persecuted.  Verses 10 says“My heart’s about to break;  I’m a burned-out case” MSG

But even though he is at the end of his rope, he waits, in hope, for God.

I am so thankful for David’s example.

This morning, as I was looking at the occurrences of the word, “wait” in the New International Version of the Bible, Psalm 33:20 caught my eye, “We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield.” NIV

God is my hope.  He knows the future.  My hope is in Him.

He is my help.  I may not have the strength to withstand all that I encounter here, but, His strength is limitless.

He is my shield.  I don’t have to worry about standing up against all of the circumstances that might assail me here … God is my shield.

“I will wait for you, O Lord.” I will wait and hope and not worry about the future.  “You will answer, O Lord my God.”

That’s what I’ll think about today.

Wait, don’t worry

Ruth 3:18

Then, Naomi said, “Wait, my daughter, until you find out what happens.  For the man will not rest until the matter is settled today.” NIV

Last week, a woman from my church spoke on the word “wait.”  She had several verses that she asked us to look up, and, as she talked about all of the ways that we are called to wait, it struck me that many of them were reminders not to worry.

Take this verse.

Ruth’s husband has died.  She has returned with her mother-in-law, Naomi, to her husband’s hometown where Boaz, a kinsman redeemer, is.

Naomi has given Ruth detailed instructions about what she should do to find favor with Boaz.  Ruth has done those things.  At this point in the story, Boaz is off cementing the deal with another male relative who actually has first rights to Ruth’s husband’s land and to Ruth herself.

It does not appear that Ruth is fully aware of all of the customs of her husband’s people.  She is a Moabite, and they are Israelites, so, that’s very possible.

Naomi, however, is very wise.  She has seen the whole thing from the beginning and has instructed Ruth on the steps to take to solve her problems.

Now, Ruth must wait.

Waiting is HARD!

And often, when I’m waiting, is when I’m most prone to worry … “What if this doesn’t turn out the way I’ve planned?  What if I don’t get what I want?”

But, God doesn’t want us to focus on the future.  He wants us focused here, on the current moment, and in our current circumstances.  The future is His, and His alone.

One of the points that the woman who spoke the other night made so eloquently was that, “waiting is not a passive activity.”

There are many other “wait” verses that are reminders.

As I wait to see what God has next for me, I’ll spend my time looking into what He says on the subject of waiting … I know he says not to worry while I’m doing it.

That’s what I’ll think about today.