Strength, Courage, and Waiting

Waiting is hard.

Even in the midst of activity, life is full of waiting. We can't see the end results so the future always has a question mark over it. Even in the times that we think we know what we're going to do next, plans can change and life will take us in a direction we never expected to see.

This past week, God has been driving home Psalm 27, especially verse 14. The verse begins:

"Wait for the Lord..."

This is a verse we hear a lot. An encouragement to endure in trials that seem as though they will never end. A call to patience when you're waiting to find out about that post-graduation job you've been wanting. It's a verse singles are given a lot as they hope for marriage and are encouraged to be patient as they wait for God's timing. Yet this week, God has been highlighting the oft-forgotten second half of that verse:

"...be strong, let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!"

Sometimes, we get so caught on the waiting part ("ok, so I need to be patient.") that we miss the second half: "be strong, let your heart take courage."

I realized that the call to be strong and courageous is the very same call that God gives the Israelites as they prepare for battle (Joshua 1:9 for example).

I'll say it again: Waiting is hard.

There is a reason God ties waiting to the same encouragement He gives them to face battle. We wait because there is uncertainty, and with uncertainty often comes fear. Waiting requires strength. When our hearts grow weary and we are tempted to despair when answers to prayer are delayed, we must be strong and continue to press forward in faith. Waiting requires courage. When it seems that everything is going to fall apart and we want to grasp for control as fears run wild, we must be courageous to trust God and leave it in His hands when all we want to do is take action.

That's what He's been driving home this week. Waiting is sometimes the hardest thing we can do. Taking action means we direct the course of our future. Yet to wait means trusting that the future is in someone else's hands.

To say "wait for the Lord" is a call to faith. It's a call to be brave. To stand strong. To ready yourself for struggle. It's a call to trust the One who knows the good future He has planned, and who will not withhold those good things that will draw us nearer to Him.

And that is truly His purpose: for us to draw near to Him. Because Psalm 27 says to do more than just wait:

One thing I have asked over the LORD,
that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
and to inquire in his temple...
You have said, "Seek my face."
My heart says to you,
"Your face, LORD, do I seek."
Hide not your face from me. 

In the face of all his desires and fears, David knew there was one thing he needed above all else. He knew that even if God didn't answer his prayers the way he wanted, that the thing he wanted more than anything was to dwell in the house of the Lord. Even in the waiting, even in the striving, that was the thing his heart was fixed upon.

God wants us to seek Him. To know Him. To enter into a relationship with the God who created the universe, yet intimately knows the deepest longings of our souls.

If answer to prayer seems delayed, if the future feels fearful and uncertain, if your heart is growing weary...

Wait.

Wait for the Lord.

Be strong.

Let your heart take courage.

And in your waiting, seek the face of the Lord. Because the cry to know Him is one prayer He will always, always answer.