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"I wait for
the Lord, my soul waits, and in His word I hope." (Ps
130.5)
Waiting
None of us like to wait.
Traffic on the freeway, lines at the grocery store, and
music on the phone make us impatient. Doctors never run
to time, people never send reply emails or text-messages
quickly enough, and we'd like much faster drive-through
service.
We have so much to do and too little time to do
it. So ... waiting irritates us. Amidst our obsession
with productivity and making every minute count, waiting
feels like a waste. It steals our most precious
commodity -- time -- and messes with our
plans.
For unknown reasons, we've accepted the cultural heresy that a
life well-lived is full and the more
filled we can make it the more
fulfilled we will be.
The
Psalmist confronts such deadly thinking.
"I wait for the Lord; my soul waits ...." Pause
and consider his words.
If we rush through
our days, how can we wait for the Lord?
We have bought the lie
that busyness implies significance, action means
motivation, achievement of multiple tasks demonstrates
competence, and a full schedule suggests an important
life. So ... we dare not wait.
Waiting
means falling behind others in this mad dash of a life. And
in our hurry, we fail to experience the
moment.
The joy is in the journey. Yet, we
assume that our greatest delight lies in the
destination. Ironically, we dare not tarry too long at
any particular destination lest we fail to
get to the next one. So we live
discontent and always anticipating; only occasionally aware of
the gift of the moment. In the process we
miss the richness of a smile, the wonder of a touch, the
rejuvenation of a breeze, the beauty
of a leaf, and the Presence of
God.
Our impatience to
live life to the full handicaps our ability to wait for
the Lord or simply "abide" in Him. If we wait at all,
perhaps we wait just long enough for a specific word or
solution or blessing ... something that will propel us
over the next mountain we need to conquer. Can we
simply wait for Him?
The Psalmist's short statement
rocks the foundations of our lives. If everything stopped
right now,
if God outlawed ambition (which lives fully
in the future) and pride (which emerges mostly from
the past) what would we have left? If we
could not collect manna for tomorrow and He asked us
to let go of the failures and successes of yesterday, could
we live fully with Him in this present moment -- and
remain there? The Psalmist did, and invites us to join
him.
Perhaps today, right now, we can
practice the wonder of waiting -- being fully attentive
to Him and this moment. It's life-changing.
In Hope -
David
Hope Happenings
for Executive Pastors
We could
use your help. Hope International University is
developing a Master of Science in Executive Ministry. We
have created a short survey to help guide our
curriculum decisions. Could you take 5-10 minutes and
complete it online for us? It would be a tremendous
help. Just go to:http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=KSVhk0nI4ZrSBXrHuAcnzA_3d_3d. |
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