Stilllll Waiting...

I know what some of you may be thinking.  Enough already with the waiting thoughts.  I know, I know.  But just bear with me for one more post.  Then, I'll stop.  I promise. For now :)

As I meditated more on Psalm 27: 13-14, I was overwhelmed by how deeply God knows my heart and the difficulties that come with waiting.

Let me remind you of what Psalm 27:13-14 says (NIV): 

Psalm 27:13-14

 ¹³ I remain confident of this:
   I will see the goodness of the LORD
   in the land of the living.
¹⁴ Wait for the LORD;
   be strong and take heart
   and wait for the LORD. 

Not only does God want us to put our hope, assurance, and confidence in the fact that He will show His goodness to us here on earth, He also makes it clear that at times we will have to wait for it.

Here are a couple definitions I found of waiting: 

• remain inactive
• not taking any steps forward
• be in expectation
• ready to hear

What I love most about this passage is what comes next: "be strong and take heart."

Being strong requires mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual strength.  It means being brave, bold, unwavering, firm, and secure.

Take heart is a saying that means: Be confident, be brave, have a sense of courage, be hopeful, take comfort, be encouraged.

Why is this my favorite part?  Because God realizes that waiting is hard.  It's like He's saying, "I'm asking you to wait, but I'm not asking you to do it alone, I know what you will need for this.  I know you will need strength and that you will need to take heart."  God knows that waiting isn't easy.  He knows we're not patient, waiting people.  We're controlling people who like to take matters into our own hands.

When I've been waiting for my food too long at a restaurant, I get cranky.  When someone has to make a call on an item while I'm waiting at the check out line at the grocery store, I (furiously) make my way to another lane.  I feel like women especially find waiting difficult.  Welcome to my relationship with Dan- I was (desperately) waiting for him to ask me out 8 years (eek!) ago, then I was waiting for him to ask me to be his girlfriend (oh wait, I brought that one up- so that doesn't count as waiting, right?), then I was waiting for him to ask me to marry him.  Ugh.  I hate waiting.

But, what I see in this passage is that I'm not supposed to wait without hope.  We wait with confidence that we will see the goodness of the Lord.  It may not be the goodness we expected, but why would I want to see the goodness that I expected anyway?  God's goodness is way much better.

So, I am so thankful to serve a God who not only understands my needs, but gives me the truth I need to wait on Him.

PS: this quote gives great insight on how waiting is not done in vain (the topic seems to be popping up in my life everywhere) reading it comes highly recommended :)

Have a lovely weekend :)