Wait On The Lord!
Psalm 27:7-14
Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice!
Have mercy also upon me, and answer me.
When You said, “Seek My face,”
My heart said to You, “Your face, Lord, I will seek.”
Do not hide Your face from me;
Do not turn Your servant away in anger;
You have been my help;
Do not leave me nor forsake me,
O God of my salvation.
When my father and my mother forsake me,
Then the Lord will take care of me.
Teach me Your way, O Lord,
And lead me in a smooth path, because of my enemies.
Do not deliver me to the will of my adversaries;
For false witnesses have risen against me,
And such as breathe out violence.
I would have lost heart, unless I had believed
That I would see the goodness of the Lord
In the land of the living.
Wait on the Lord;
Be of good courage,
And He shall strengthen your heart;
Wait, I say, on the Lord!
The temptation, when facing struggles and trials, is to withdraw from community with God and try to either face the foe or run away from the foe. Either way, we focus on the problem instead of on the solution. Our situation seems to suck us in and we lose all perspective. All we can think about is IT, and how IT is affecting us.
The Psalmist, instead, cries out to God for relief, salvation, and mercy. He focuses on God to such an extent that his fighting doesn’t look like fighting at all. It looks more like a prayer and praise meeting. He says, “Hear, O Lord!” “I am seeking your face!” “Don’t turn away from me!” “You told me to come to you, and here I am!” “Teach me your Way!” “Don’t deliver me to my enemies!” “I believe in you, that you are my rescuer and my savior!”
Then he turns to us and encourages us to do the same: “Wait on the Lord, be of good courage, God will come through, he will give you strength to believe and triumph. Wait on the Lord!”
What a glorious reminder that we are not in this struggle alone. God is not only in it, but he wants us to trust him, lean on him, wait on his deliverance. All while praising him, obeying him, living for him—focused on him. Take your eyes of your struggle, off your enemy, off the things that bind you, off your naval. “Wait, I say, on the Lord!