Scripture:

Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.

They are new every morning; Great is your faithfulness.

I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”

The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him;

it is good to wait quietlyfor the salvation of the Lord.

Consider:

I think the hardest part of any interaction with the medical field is the space between when you start to feel bad and when someone gives you a diagnosis. I’m normally a pretty patient person - except in a doctor’s office waiting room. It’s not that I don’t understand all the things happening behind closed doors, the way the Assistants and Staff scurry about preparing the room and the provider, reviewing the chart, and familiarizing yourself with the details of the coming interaction. I get all that.

But I feel bad.

So I’m grumpy and short-tempered and impatient and snarly. It’s not much different when I’m waiting with my sick kids, because while they are the ones feeling bad, I feel bad because I can’t make them feel better, so now add the frustration and impotence of not having my private store of appropriate medical supplies.

I took one of my kids to the doctor a couple of weeks ago for a cough and fever which wouldn’t go away. And though there wasn’t currently a sore throat because of the prevalence of strep throat, the provider thought it best to run a PCR strep test which takes 30 minutes. And while I’m all for caution - It’s hard to wait on a test that’s just going to say negative or no result.

We can often feel the same way with God in the space between. There is often a time between when the crisis comes and when the next steps of the process can begin. We find ourselves waiting on God in the waiting room of life for what feels like forever. What we can’t see is the scurrying behind the curtain, the reviewing of the chart, and the preparing of a room for you in God’s office.

When we can’t see what God is doing next, we often feel grumpy and short-tempered and impatient and snarly. Those reactions aren’t sinful or wrong - they are normal and human.

Lamentations reminds us while we are waiting to remember God’s steadfast love for us. While we may feel as if God is silent, that doesn’t mean God is absent. Sometimes, God is just sitting quietly with us in the next chair, holding our hand while the testing machines whirl. More often, God is working for our future, preparing a path for us, and making sure there are water stations along the way. Sometimes, God is preparing a place for us in his house. All of those are holy waitings, but not empty or unused. They are important and precious times of rest, before we begin what is next.

Respond:

Christian Hope is built on the repeated telling of stories where God has shown up in the darkest hours throughout history. The stories we read from the Old and New Testaments are meant to help us find and shore up our anchor in the midst of storms.

Is there something for which you are waiting or somewhere you find yourself in between? What kind of waiting are you doing? Take a moment and imagine God working away in the background. What kind of work do you imagine God doing to prepare for you?

Pray:

Redeeming God, we are not very good at the in-between moments of waiting. Remind us while we feel static and frozen, you are not and give us an extra dose of patience when ours is found wanting. Amen.

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