Watching and Waiting

“In the morning, O Lord, You will hear my voice; in the morning I will order my prayer to You and eagerly watch” (Ps 5:3).

Most of us pray. Perhaps not as often as we would like or as eloquently as we would like. But still we pray. We petition God. We ask Him to move. We ask Him to intervene. We long for Him to act on our behalf. So we pray for anything from wisdom in relationships to obtaining a job to healing from cancer. We may pray in the morning, we may pray in the evening, in our bed or in our car, sitting down or on our knees. Whenever, however, we send forth our voice into the heavenly realm.

And many of us leave it at that. We say our prayers and then go on with our day or go to sleep. We tend to think of prayer as only the voicing of our requests. But in Psalm 5 David includes another part in his petitioning— watching.

He says his morning prayers, and then throughout the rest of the day David looks for God’s response. More than mere lip-service, as if he half-heartedly believes something will result from his prayer, he comes to God because he believes God will help. He is fully convinced God cares about his situation and more so, that God will do something about it. In an act of faith, he watches, eagerly anticipating His response.

Sometimes I wrestle with watching. There are circumstances in my life in which I plead with God for His active involvement. Most days He seems silent. I see no movement. I receive no response. There are moments (that sometimes turn into days) in which I struggle to believe He will come to my aid.

But the words and actions of David keep me lifting my eyes upward. God may not always give us what we want or respond the way we want. For many reasons, perhaps unknown to us, God may not answer our request as we desire. But sometimes He will. However He moves we can rest in the truth that He is always with us and in every situation, painful or joyful, working for our good and His glory (Rom 8:28). At minimum then we can watch how he labors for these in the midst of our longings.

So what about you? When you pray, do you think He hears you? Are you convinced He cares? Do you think He is able to and will work in the situation?

David concludes his prayer, "For it is You who blesses the righteous man, O LORD, You surround him with favor as with a shield" (v.12). Let his words of faith encourage us to keep watch, believing and hoping in God’s loyal love. And may the Spirit grant us discernment to note the gentle, sometimes subtle, hand of God weaving through the moments of our day.

Distressed But Full of Joy

“In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls” (I Pet 1:6-9).

Marital conflict. Job loss. Cancer diagnosis. Defiant children. Car accident. These and many other trials fill our weeks, months, and sometimes, years. And as they beat down upon us, they test not only our character, but our faith. Will we keep trusting God? Can we believe He will see us through? Will we dare to keep hoping?

Peter, like to the men and women he wrote, was separated from friends and family, enduring harsh persecution (v.1). And yet he describes the possibility of joy inexpressible in the midst of such suffering. How, I wonder?

Peter directs our attention to God's salvation. It seems he longed for those scattered abroad, and for us, to so prize God’s grace, to look beyond what is seen and temporal to Christ's final return, that we not only endure life's trials, but that we do so with joy that abounds.

But we often mistake happiness for joy. While happiness comes from the feeling we have when life is good, joy remains in the shifting of circumstances, even in the presence of pain.

It’s difficult, though, if not impossible, to feel joy when we feel anxious. Joy results from trust and confidence; anxiety, contrarily, often results from insecurity and uncertainty. Peter, and all believers, can express inexpressible joy because of Christ. No matter the circumstance, He remains faithful and our salvation secure.

Many days, however, my hope is not fixed completely on the grace to be brought to me at the return of Christ (I Pet 1:13). In difficult times, I often place my hope in improved circumstances. I begin to demand too much from this world, to set my heart on secure employment, enjoyment of friends and family, a rich church community.

It's not wrong to long for these good gifts. But to have a life of worry, stress and even despair reveals a heart that is not consumed with the love and grace of God. It exposes a heart that needs adjusting.

So what do you feel stressed and anxious about? Can you identify a current trial that may be challenging your faith?

Let us, as Peter exhorts, cast our worries upon Christ knowing He cares for us (I Pet 5:7) as proven at the cross. And let us yearn for His return more than we long for the comfort and riches of this world. May we enter into His joy by clinging to His enduring love and abiding presence that sustains us on this often rocky journey home.