by Rev Douglas Brauner

The Difficulty of Waiting

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

Waiting usually means that we’re controlled by someone or something else’s schedule. Waiting for a train means we’re controlled by the public transit schedule. Waiting for surgery means we’re ruled by the surgeon’s schedule. Waiting for a baby means we’re governed by that baby’s schedule.

The psalmist had a different view of waiting.

“I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.” 
Psalm 130:5-6 English Standard Version

I have a faint memory of what it means to wait for the morning. I worked graveyard shifts at a restaurant when I was a senior in high school. I longed for the light of day and the softness of my bed.

The night watchman peered through the darkness to warn a city of danger, a job that was filled with anxiety at the possibility of a night time raid by an enemy army. Hope of morning light brought peace and consolation

Does waiting produce anxiety in us? We’re waiting to hear from a son or daughter we haven’t talk with in months. We’re waiting to hear the results of medical exams. We’re waiting for a paycheck that will help put food on our tables.

“Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD! O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy!” 
Psalm 130:1-2 ESV

The psalmist had messed up. He had rebelled against God and he pleads for mercy. He longs for mercy. He hopes for mercy. He waits for mercy

“If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.”
Psalm 130:3-4 ESV

We don’t have to wait any longer for God’s mercy. It comes to us in a baby whose birth we once again wait to celebrate. He is the one who relieves our anxiety because he alone bore our sins on his cross.

However, we’re still waiting. We’re waiting on God’s schedule to send his Son once again in the fullness of glory. May our longing for his return be more than the watchman who waits for the morning.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado