Watching for the morning on the island of Kauai, July 2008
Psalm 130 – A Psalm of Ascents –
Today’s New International Version
Out of the depths I cry to you, LORD;
Lord, hear my voice.
Let your ears be attentive
to my cry for mercy.
Let your ears be attentive
to my cry for mercy.
If you, LORD, kept a record of sins,
Lord, who could stand?
Lord, who could stand?
But with you there is forgiveness,
so that we can, with reverence, serve you.
so that we can, with reverence, serve you.
I wait for the LORD, my whole being waits,
and in his word I put my hope.
and in his word I put my hope.
I wait for the Lord
more than watchmen wait for the morning,
more than watchmen wait for the morning.
more than watchmen wait for the morning,
more than watchmen wait for the morning.
Israel, put your hope in the LORD,
for with the LORD is unfailing love
and with him is full redemption.
for with the LORD is unfailing love
and with him is full redemption.
He himself will redeem Israel
from all their sins.
from all their sins.
_______
Waiting.
That’s my word for this year.
Waiting.
I don’t wait very well. That’s a fact. I am a restless person by nature and learning to be still, to live in patience –
this is extraordinarily difficult for me.
Which is probably why this is the word that came when I asked God about it near the end of 2011.
Waiting.
But what I don’t think I’ve thought about very much is that this song about waiting…
waiting for God,
waiting for mercy,
waiting for forgiveness,
…is also a song about moving.
This is a pilgrimage song, not a sitting under the palm tree song.
This is a song of hope, not resignation.
This is a song of long-term relationship,
of hope borne of history,
of promises fulfilled over time.
“For with the Lord is unfailing love,
and with him is full redemption.”
So…Israel…
So…follower of Jesus…
PUT YOUR HOPE IN THE LORD.
Can I do that today? Can you?
Just for today.
And then we can sing this song again tomorrow.
_______
God of the morning, I am thankful beyond words for signs of your mercy, your forgiveness, your faithfulness over time. Help me to stand with confidence on the foundation of your loving-kindness, to trust that today will be okay because you are in it with me. Thank you for all my yesterdays in which this has been so very true, even when I couldn’t quite see you ‘in the moment.’ Thank you for all my tomorrows, in which this will continue to be true. But most of all, thank you for today, in which this IS true. Help me to wait for you all day through, to wait while I follow this road to Calvary. Just for today. Amen.
Those colors in the sky are gorgeous!
I have found that the difficult part of waiting is that you do have to keep moving. You have to get up and make meals and work and walk the dogs and pay your taxes and all of it while you’re simultaneously w-a-i-t-i-n-g.
It was the morning we left after our longest stay ever in Hawaii – a full month, with lots of family visiting. It was the last time I was able to do something for my troubled youngest brother before he died and the last time we were able to have either of our mothers do any long-flight traveling. So that summer of 2008 is particularly special to me.
And yeah, yeah, YEAH – you do have to keep moving. And sometimes that’s a blessed distraction, sometimes it’s a pain in the butt and sometimes it’s the only thing that makes the waiting bearable.
Diana, I am so grateful that we are getting to see/read the pastoral side of you. I love your insight and the sweet way you handle Scripture. Your posts make me want to wait well and move well.
Easter is almost here.
I’ve learned much about waiting in this “disability” season…how in the midst of waiting, God is still at work around me and I am to join Him in it. Beautiful devotion, Diana. Thank you.
Oh, Patricia – I know you are learning things about waiting that you might not choose to! But I am glad that you can see God at work in and around all of it. Thanks for your encouraging words!
Thank you, Glenda. I so appreciate your kind presence here!