pray, wait, trust

I have a little sign in my living room, it says: Pray, WAIT, Trust. I’m not one to pick up signs to decorate with but this one spoke to me, and I keep it in a prominent place. At one point in my life, I did a study on the word ‘wait’ in Psalms.

There are several words we translate as wait that have different roots in Hebrew. The focus of my study was the meaning: look for, hope, expect eagerly. (I‘d give you the Hebrew word for it, but I can’t pronounce it nor spell it correctly).

I don’t know about your world but in my world, there is a lot of waiting. Waiting in line for groceries, waiting in line at the car wash, waiting to pick up prescriptions, waiting on the phone to get to a real live person (that one can take over an hour).

Are these the types of waiting that we are to look for and expect eagerly? I think not but they are expectations. We are expecting to get groceries, a clean car, prescriptions to help us, and once we get that live human, hopefully they will solve the problem. But certainly, that is not what the word wait in Psalms refers to.​

When my dog Oliver was three, he was temporarily on a bland diet of rice and ground beef. He only had the same food all his life (boring). He was beyond excited when feeding time came to get that new taste sensation. He would come into the kitchen and carefully watched as I prepared it.

He would prance as we went into the laundry room where I feed him. I made him sit and wait while I set his dish down. He could barely control his body. His eyes glued to the dish, his body trembling… the expectation took over his body and mind as he eagerly waited for the signal to go for it. ​

Not to oversimplify things, but I think this is what the Psalmist is referring to in Psalm 130:5 (my favorite verse in Psalms) when he says:

“I wait on the Lord, my soul waits and in His Word I hope.” (ESV).

The NIV translate it as:

“I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits and in His Word I put my hope.”

When I gave Oliver that new food everything in him waited in eager expectation. As I read this verse, I think that is how the Psalmist felt. It reminds me that is how I should be…eagerly awaiting to learn/hear from God and to be singly focused on His Word (the Bible).

I have found that no matter how painful or dramatic a situation is…the Lord never changes. My focus needs to stay on Him.  And I need to wait on Him, be faithful and obedient during the time of waiting. 

My trust is in the Word that He has written for us to understand Him and how to live our lives. And I eagerly wait for the day I am with Him as His Word has promised.

(Even though I look forward to that day, I am in no hurry!)

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.” John 3:16-17