“The LORD is good to those who wait for him,
to the soul who seeks him.
It is good that one should wait quietly
for the salvation of the LORD.”
Lamentations 3:25-26
It is good to wait quietly, because His salvation will come.
It is good, because He is good. He is faithful. And this quiet, expectant waiting demonstrates our belief that we will see His faithfulness to us. That He sees, and hears, and is at work in the details even when we can’t see Him.
It is not an absent, empty, passive waiting. Rather, it is moving forward, seeking His face, and acting in obedience as far as we can see (even if that doesn’t seem to be very far) as we look to Him for salvation, movement, and further guidance. Knowing that our own strength doesn’t win the land; His does. We trust not in ourselves, our wisdom, our understanding, our plans or ability to cover all the bases – but in His sovereignty and faithfulness to get us where He wants us. And to do so in the right timing.
“Let us know; let us press on to know the LORD;
his going out is sure as the dawn;
he will come to us as the showers,
as the spring rains that water the earth.” Hosea 6:3
“Behold, I am doing a new thing;
now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert.” Isaiah 43:19
“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son” Galatians 4:4a
May we find hope in knowing that God orchestrated the details to bring Jesus into the world “when the fullness of time had come” – when everything had been set in place, and exactly when He intended to fit it all together – to accomplish our eternal salvation from sin and death.
He who loved us this much, to give us His Son at the perfectly appointed time, will He not work sovereignly in the details of our lives to bring about deliverance and revelation of His plans at their perfectly appointed time as well?
He is doing a new thing. To bring about a new song of praise from your lips, spilling out of the renewed joy and wonder in your heart. As surely as the spring rains come to renew the earth and bring about flourishing beauty and life, as surely as the sun continues to rise over the horizon, our God will come to us. With healing in His wings and shouts of deliverance echoing from the voice that spoke the heavens and earth, and you, into existence.
He has plans for you. For glory, for healing, and for hope. Trust in who He has shown Himself to be, and watch expectantly for Him to come through in His steadfast, unchanging love and unwavering faithfulness.
“It will be said on that day,
‘Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us.
This is the LORD; we have waited for him;
let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.’”
Isaiah 25:9
In Pleasant Places 