(first published October 19, 2010)

I wrote to a friend yesterday. I said,

“Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.”

It wasn’t very original. It was the end of a prayer that David wrote (Psalm 27). But it’s what came across my desk yesterday and I passed it on to him.

“Waiting. That’s a really tricky one for me.” That’s how he replied.

I understand. Waiting is really hard.

• When it’s Christmas and you know there must be something amazing and you want to find out what it is, waiting is hard.
• When it’s report card day and you are pretty sure it isn’t going to be something amazing and you are wondering what your parents are going to say, waiting is hard.
• When there are a million seeds in the field, when those million seeds represent everything you own, and there is a race between the seeds sprouting and drought and storms and seeds ripening and the combine working and the market  falling, waiting is excruciating.
• When the enemies of your soul are all around your house and it is the early hours of the morning and you cannot sleep, waiting is hard.

As a professional worrier, I understand.

In the middle of that prayer, David talks about how he talks to himself:

My heart says of you, “Seek his face!”
Your face, LORD, I will seek.

David’s heart, the voice inside that is feeling the pressure, the despair, the stress of everything, wants hope. It longs for something other than the current uncertainty. And that voice says, “Stop trying to figure it all out. Just look for His face.”

David looks.

When at the end of the prayer he talks of waiting, he’s assuring his heart (“take heart”). It’s a “just wait. You’ll see” kind of wait.