Waiting is hard.
Not just when the result of a medical test is pending or when a college application is on its way … but in our everyday world. Let’s face it, delayed gratification isn’t our strong suit.We touch an app, push a button, or scan a code, and receive instant feedback. If we have a question, we turn to Google for an immediate answer. If we need information, we send an abbreviated message (?4U, lmk, lol) and expect an instant response.
And, now, in the midst of sheltering-in-place, social distancing, and stay-at-home orders, waiting is harder. A tiny virus has placed an entire world, literally, in a holding pattern. In some countries and in certain walks of life this is truer than others, but no matter where you live or how you view it, we’re all in some form of limbo.
With no deadline. No one knows when we’ll be able to push play.
Isn’t it interesting that in a time when speed is our go-to … and maybe even our idol … the God of the universe has seen fit to allow a pause. A pause on work as we know it. A pause on school as we typically experience it. A pause on our vacations. A pause on our budgets. A pause on our plans.
Simply, a pause.
Psalm 119 beautifully describes how God’s Word enables us to grow in holiness and handle persecutions and pressures that always accompany an obedient walk of faith, but in verse 81, even the psalmist is saying, “I am worn out waiting for your rescue” and in verse 84, “How long must I wait?”
You may be worn out from waiting. Maybe you feel you’ve reached your limit of limbo.
That’s when the reminders of David, the shepherd-king, come into play…
Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act. Psalm 37:7
You are my strength; I wait for you to rescue me, for you, O God, are my fortress. Psalm 59:9
Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him. Psalm 62:5
While we pause, may we find our hope in our rock and our shield, our deliverer, and a very present help in time of trouble – The Good Shepherd.
Staying put and delaying action may be how this unique time in history is one day described, but may we – the sheep of His flock – remember it as a time of hope in our Lord, of confidence in His ways, and of peaceful service and worship of our Rescuer.
