Waiting is Exhausting

Psalm 119:81-88

Verses 81-82 My soul faints with longing for Your salvation, but I have put my hope in Your word. My eyes fail, looking for Your promise; I say, “When will You comfort me?”

Today we start our venture into the eleventh stanza of this prayerful song of the psalmist who loved the law of the Lord.

This stanza seems to take yet another turn as the psalmist seems to be struggling a little with feeling like God isn’t as close as He has been in the past. Of course we know that God never leaves His children and yet if we were honest with ourselves we would all admit to having times when God seems further away. This may be because of what is going on in our lives at the moment.

The psalmist starts by expressing how exhausted he is waiting for God’s promised salvation. We too can lose hope when it seems that God is taking His sweet little time keeping His promises in life. We know that He promises to provide for all our needs but we see that gas needle getting closer and closer to the “E” and don’t know how He is going to provide the money needed to fill it since payday is still days away. Or maybe we wonder how soon He will guide us to the job that we have been needing.

There are so many ways that we could be awaiting His direction. We look and look and as the songwriter says, our eyes hurt from the strain of looking to see what He is doing. This can be one of the great dangers we face when we are awaiting a promise and can’t figure out how it will be fulfilled. Abraham and Sarah found themselves in this very situation and gave us a good example of what not to do.

They had been promised a child that would bring them many descendants but after many years with no pregnancy and with both of them well up in years they decided that it was best that they set about making it happen in the best way they knew, a second wife who could give them a son. This isn’t what God had promised. But their desire for the promise to be fulfilled burned through the amount of faith they had in God. And this is the same danger that we face when we start questioning if God is who He says He is and wondering if He really can provide for our needs.

Making It Personal

Have you ever doubted that God would give you what you need? Have you ever tried to force God’s hand or fulfill His promise on you own? How much better could those times have been if you had patiently waited?

Making It Personal Kids

Have you ever had to wait for something that was promised to you? Did you like waiting? What helps you wait patiently?

Closing Prayer

Father, thank You for Your promises. Give us the wisdom needed to await Your fulfillment of them. Keep us from thinking we can make them happen in Your way of our own effort. In Jesus’ name, amen.