If you have enough time, read Psalm 130.
My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning. Psalm 130:6
I happened to be at Lutheran World Relief offices (www.lwr.org) this morning for a meeting and stayed for their daily devotion time. In the devotion the leader mentioned a difference between anticipating and waiting.
Expanding on what she talked about, anticipating is something we do when we know what is coming and maybe even when it will arrive. I may not have it yet but I am certain that it is on its way without delay. Anticipating gives us a growing sense of excitement as we look forward to that which we know is nearer and nearer to us each day. We anticipate the return of a loved one. We anticipate the celebration of our birthday and the presents we will get. We anticipate that vacation that will take us away from our daily hardships.
Waiting, on the other hand, seems something deeper and at times maybe even darker. Waiting might be what we do when we don’t know what is coming or when it would if it did. And yet we know that what is now cannot be the end – O please Lord, let it not be the end. Waiting, rather than giving us a growing sense of excitement, will often provide a growing sense of anxiety and maybe worry and fear, if not despair. We wait for the results from the test. We wait for the forgiveness of a loved one or the ability to give this forgiveness to someone else. We wait for life to finally turn around in our favor.
If I knew for certain that the Lord would make things good for me next month, or even next year – or even 10 years from now – if I knew this for certain – then I could much easier spend my time between now and then eagerly anticipating its arrival.
But if I have no sure and certain promise that my life then will be any better off than it is today – and indeed might even seem worse – without fully giving into despair – all I can do is wait. Wait. And wait.
Faith is tested in waiting. Trust is lived out in waiting.
Indeed, waiting is at times all we can do when what we thought were our faith and trust has run out.
Waiting (and maybe this is the key point) forces me back to HIM – not knowing what He might bring or when – whereas anticipating might often direct me to that which is coming, rather than to the ONE who brings it.
This season of Lent is a season of waiting – a season to remind us that much of life is lived in waiting – but also that our waiting, as hopeless as it might at different times seem, will not be in vain. For our waiting is not about looking forward to a specific event or happening or break in life (which may or may not happen) – our waiting is a reliance on the LORD – and the LORD lives!
Prayer: O Lord, help me in my waiting, to focus less on the life I would like to live and more on the ONE who is life – you, my Lord. In your name, Amen.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I like your thoughts. In a way, Lent is both waiting and anticipating. In the trials of our life it is a time of waiting. For our faith, however, it is always a time of anticipating. Perhaps that's why the Sundays are Sundays IN Lent, not OF Lent. Even in our waiting, we look forward to that which is to come.
ReplyDeleteThank you for these devotions.
In my humble opinion we realize our faith in anticipation not waiting.
ReplyDeleteWhen we anticipate we move forward fully CONFIDENT that we will receive
(that person in our Life, a job offer, a birthday present, God's promises
received and embraced) and there is utter trust - we, in fact, ACT as if
we have already received. Waiting is drudgery but anticipation is joy.
Just think what we could achieve (no - better word is realize) if we
anticipate rather than wait! Jesus said that we would do even greater
things than these that you see me do. But I know very few people who
BELIEVE that and find themselves unable to accept or understand how God
empowers us.
JoAnn