Waiting in Hope

Christmas is fast approaching, which is hard to believe. It seems like summer was only yesterday. But here we stand on the cusp of another Christmas morning, and as that day approaches, I’ve been reflecting on waiting… just waiting… and how much patience that requires.

In my home, the arrival of Christmas usually brings with it a lot of ordering through Amazon. With those orders brings an eager expectation for the delivery to our front door usually within a 24-hour window. Within that 24 hours begins the waiting process. Waiting requires patience. But it also requires trust… trust that Amazon will make good on its promise to deliver within the time frame it promises to do so.  

I’ve found though that it is easier to wait for an expected delivery when the promise of delivery can be tracked. Technology is amazing. I can open the Amazon app and see exactly where my package is and track its progress to my home. Waiting with the ability to know when the promise will be fulfilled is not too difficult. But waiting for the fulfillment of a delivery without an Amazon app is far more challenging.

I wonder what it must have been like for Adam and Eve, as they waited for that first Christmas morning that assured a guilty, grieving man and woman that there would be a day when the curse of sin would be lifted and all things would be made right again [1]. What was it like for Adam and Eve to wait for the fulfillment of that promise? For that day to come when joy is ushered in and the curse of sin is removed. Who would be the promised Seed? When would he come?  Was their hope lifted with the birth of Cain and Abel? Was their hope dashed when Cain killed Abel as they realized they would have to continue to wait?  

What was it like for Israel who waited and waited for centuries for the coming of their Messiah… of THE Messiah…for the arrival of the Prince of Peace, for deliverance, for justice [2]. There must have been a weariness, even a hopelessness at times.

Waiting is hard especially when there is no way to know when the waiting will end. Waiting stirs up all sorts of feelings in us both emotionally and spiritually - from fear and worry to doubt and hopelessness. Waiting is hard. But, for the Christian, waiting can also be where we come to know the Lord more deeply and cultivate hope more faithfully [3]. For it is in the waiting that the Lord assures us he will strengthen, uphold and carry us AS we wait for his perfect timing and his perfect purposes [4].

How then shall we wait when there seems no end in sight?

Psalm 131 captures perfectly how we might answer that question:

O Lord, my heart is not lifted up;
my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things
too great and too marvelous for me.
But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child is my soul within me.
O Israel, hope in the Lord
from this time forth and forevermore.

HOPE

Though it is at the end of Psalm 131, I believe that the final verse ‘hope in the Lord’ is where we must begin, because the foundation and basis upon which we find the strength and patience to wait is rooted in where we place our hope.  

Hope in things of this world are flimsy and feeble. They give the impression of strength and certainty, but in the end the world is shifting sand and will ultimately give way when rains come down and the floods come up [5]. And when that hope does give way - and it will - the feelings of fear, worry, hopelessness take root and those feelings lead to restlessness and discontentment [6].

But biblical hope anchors our soul to the nature, character and promises of God, and as we rest upon these wonderful truths and promises our hearts, minds, actions can’t help but reflect the restfulness promised by Christ who bids that we come to him so that we might find rest for our souls [7].

How then might we strengthen our hope in the Lord?

HUMILITY

“Oh Lord my eyes are not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high”

Humility seems obvious on the surface but in times of waiting humility can be hard to come by; for it is in the waiting that we are prone to grumble, to complain, to doubt, to fear, to worry because we believe we know best. Our timing is perfect. Our plans are foolproof and when things don’t go according to our plans we grow impatient, irritated and can soon lose hope.  

But humility admits that we don’t know all things and that we aren’t in control of time or events, and that God’s purposes in the waiting (unknown to us in the moment [8]) are better than we can even imagine [9]. In humility, we exalt the plans and purposes of God and we submit our wants and desires to his perfect will knowing His aim is our good [10].

MEEKNESS

“I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me”

With humble hearts, we must maintain a disposition of meekness and submission to God. In our waiting, we may not be able to see God’s immediate purposes, and that may lead to fear, and anxiety reigning in our hearts and minds. Yet, meekness before God places us in humble submission to God, trusting that though His ways are not our ways [11], and  that though His purposes may not align with ours, He nevertheless remains trustworthy and dependable and true. It is here in the waiting, that we trust that God is at work, molding and shaping us into the image of Christ [12].

In times of waiting, restful hope is cultivated in meekness and humility as you occupy yourself with what you know about the nature and character of God, rather than what you don’t know about your circumstances.

TRUTH

“But I have calmed and quieted my soul”

When the ground is hard and unusable, a farmer must cultivate the ground… but he can’t use his bare hands, he must use the proper tools. He must break the soil with his spade, remove the rocks and turn the soil with his plough. He must then fertilize the ground, sow the seeds, and then water the field. He then must continue to tend to his field in order for it to thrive.

Similarly, the psalmist too has cultivated the ground of his heart. His soul is ‘calmed’, which carries the idea of plowing a field and preparing it for planting. His soul is ‘quiet’ - literally still - because in the rough waters of waiting his soul is steady and fixed upon what he knows is true.

In times of waiting, we, too, must cultivate the soil of hearts and minds. We must sow truth into our hearts [13], setting our minds on things above [14] and setting our affections on the riches and blessings of being known intimately by a loving Father [15]. We fix our minds with the promise that we are not alone and that Christ is near [16]. We fix our  minds on the promises of God that are in Christ Jesus, sowing truth into our hearts and minds so that when the waiting comes our souls are still and the restlessness of the unknown is held at bay.

REST

“Like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me.”

A hungry newborn in the arms of her mother is anxiously expecting to be fed. If you’ve had children you know. If you’ve ever seen a newborn anticipating getting fed, you know how anxious the little one is when she is waiting expectantly for food.  

The picture the psalmist is painting, though, is a child at rest in the arms of her mother. No longer worried. No longer anxious. No longer wondering when food will arrive. The weaned child is at rest in her mother’s arms because she knows that food will come in the right time and in the right way. The weaned child is at rest as she waits for food because she trusts her mother. Her mother has proven over and over and over again that there is nothing to fear, nothing to worry about, food will come. The mother says in a soft voice, “Just wait. Food is coming. I love you.”

Let me ask: Are you at rest in the arms of your Father? Are you weaned from the cares and concerns of what you cannot see, understand or control? Has He not proven over and over again that He loves you [17], that he cares for you [18], that he is faithful [19], trustworthy [20] and good [21] to you? If the answer to those questions are yes, then in humility and meekness trust that God is with you, cares for you, loves you and will meet your every need in his perfect timing. If you are unsure about your answers, then I bid you to come to the fountain of living water and find rest for your weary soul.

WAITING IN HOPE

Waiting is hard, but God is faithful to provide for us a way to have rest in the waiting - we simply need to trust Him. Waiting is hard, but better to wait restfully in the arms of our Savior [22] than clutching restlessly for answers to questions that are ‘too great and too marvelous" [23] to understand. May we all in our waiting find rest as we “hope in the Lord for this time forth and forever more” [24].

Scott Denny is an Elder at Grace Bible Church

1. Genesis 3:15
2. Isaiah 9:6, 7
3. Romans 5:3-5; James 1:2-4
4. Isaiah 40:31; Romans 8:28
5. Matthew 7:26-27
6. Lamentations 3:17-20
7. Matthew 11:28
8. Deuteronomy 29:29
9. Romans 8:28-29
10. IBID
11. Isaiah 55:8-9
12. Romans 8:29
13. Philippians 4:8-9
14. Colossians 3:1-2
15. I John 3:1
16. Philippians 4:5
17. Romans 5:8; Ephesians 3:18
18. Matthew 6:26-31
19. 1 Corinthians 10:13
20. Psalm 145:13
21. Psalm 145:9
22. Psalm 40:10-11
23. Psalm 131:2
24. Psalm 131:3