WAIT IN JOYFUL HOPE

“My soul trusts in His word. My soul waits for the Lord.” —Psalm 130:5-6

When I was younger, waiting used to be for me like chalk squeaking on a chalkboard. My prayer often went like this: “Lord, I want this so bad, this conversion, this vocation. It’s not a selfish thing I’m waiting for; You Yourself have put it on my heart, Lord. Hope deferred is making my heart sick (Prv 13:12), and still it hasn’t happened…” Gradually, I Iearned that waiting for the Lord, if done in a spirit of “waiting with” the Lord, grows into a time of daily trust in Him, for His ways are high above my ways (Is 55:8-9). “My soul trusts in His word” (Ps 130:5).

The Israelites waited forty years in the desert. During that waiting, they were transformed from a rebellious people into His trusting people, ready to inherit what God had promised. The waiting itself became their heritage. So it is to be with us disciples of Jesus. Just to be with Him, to wait “with Him,” is enough, regardless of the outcome of the situation for which we pray. To wait one hour with Jesus, as at Gethsemane (Mt 26:40), becomes our heart’s desire. Eventually, the “waiting for” becomes a “waiting on,” a desire to console His heart. Being with Jesus transforms our heart from desiring what we want to desiring what He wants. Somehow, it dawns on us that He has been handling the situation our heart desired all along.

“Wait for the Lord with courage; be stouthearted, and wait for the Lord” (Ps 27:14). Wait in joyful hope, for the waiting is your heritage and your privilege.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus Christ, I will wait in joyful hope for the coming of Your kingdom.
PROMISE: “Through His blood, God made [Jesus] the means of expiation for all who believe.” –Rm 3:25
PRAISE: Emperor Trajan forced the Christians in Antioch to choose between death and apostasy. Bishop St. Ignatius would not deny Christ and was condemned to death.