In the meantime, we can embrace the wait because it offers an invitation to grasp the heart of God. “Love is patient,” Paul penned. To see the essence of patience is to see the essence of love, which is God.

If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,
    O Lord, who could stand?

But with you there is forgiveness,
    that you may be feared.

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
    and in his word I hope;

my soul waits for the Lord
    more than watchmen for the morning,
    more than watchmen for the morning.

 

Waiting is an unavoidable reality. The tortuously long red light. Standing in the Trader Joe’s grocery line so long that it zigzags, even on a Thursday night. The buffering of a website when the Wifi’s down. In a society full of instant gratification, waiting appears to be just another one of those inconveniences technological advancement offers to remove.

However in Psalm 130, David’s poetry reveals that waiting is not just a pesky disruption, but vital to a flourishing relationship with God. The Christian is called to engage in waiting on both a micro and macro scale. We wait on God for provision, for answered prayers, and for new morning mercies. But some waiting requires a longer time; like the conversion of a loved one or the death of a habitual sin. Earthly life is divinely and indelibly marked by waiting. But our posture in the waiting reveals what we believe to be our hope. 

The waiting in David’s Psalm 130 is active and engaged. The “watchman” probably referred to either the man responsible for protecting the city at night or the priests who took the night shift watching the temple. The watchman, weary as he is, continues to wait expectantly, knowing that the light will come. It’s a matter of when, not if. As Christians, we are also called to the holy occupation of the watchman. We are to wait actively, feeling the seconds, rather than withdrawing into idleness.

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