In Moments Like This

“I waited patiently for the LORD to help me, and He turned to me and heard my cry.

Psalm 40:1

Waiting is hard on any day, and it’s especially hard today with all the coronavirus unknowns. We spend our time waiting, while social distancing, to see which direction the world will head after the virus runs its course, and more time waiting to see if we will run out of food or toilet paper.

I had to ask myself why waiting can be so hard, and who waits ‘patiently’ while they do wait? Waiting, in my mind, calls for keeping my hands still, placed nicely in my lap, or calls for a deep inner strength I have to conjure up. Waiting is frustrating when there are things to do and places to go. It’s a fact, waiting is just hard.

I recall a time when I had planned a play date with my grandson, Roman. My daughter-in-law and I sent texts back and forth setting a time for the promised play-date pick up. The last text she sent included a picture of Roman sitting on the front porch in a chair he had placed there, waiting patiently for me to pick him up. He wasn’t pacing or coming in and out of the house asking his mom when I would be arriving, he just knew I would keep my promise and waited for me to follow through. Roman trusted that every time I promised him a play date, I followed through to keep that promise. He waited in hope, with trust and patience. Roman had placed his hope in my arrival at the exact time I said I would show up for him. Roman made waiting look easy.

I’ve been in the ‘waiting chair’ more times than I can count, I think we all have. And after recalling my grandson’s front porch chair waiting, I had to confess Roman waited with so much more patience than I ever have in the past. My past waiting moments have consisted of me losing patience with God, and having arguments with Him about how He isn’t moving fast enough or supplying answers quite as quickly as I think He should. There were waiting moments I got up off the ‘waiting chair’ and gave a push-start to get something started, convincing myself the waiting would be more endurable and purposeful for me if I had control.

Sadly, and I believe I’m not alone, I’ve also had been convinced God had abandoned me to be in a place I really never asked for; leaving me alone on a wrong chair, on the wrong front porch, somewhere I wasn’t meant to be. I was guilty of believing God was supposed to be directed by my ‘waiting chair’ timeline. I was not, unlike my grandson, someone who waited patiently.

But in spite of me, He still ‘turned to me and heard my cry’ for His help. Jesus has, and always will be, waiting alongside of me, using His own endless patience in the waiting. Psalm 40:2 & 3 says, “He lifted me out of the pit of despair, and out of the mud and mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along. He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see what He has done and be amazed. They will put their trust in the LORD.”

You might be in a ‘waiting chair, and you might feel like God has forgotten about you, abandoned you, leaving you alone on a porch you didn’t choose to put your chair on. The good thing is, He doesn’t plan on leaving you there alone, but offers action in the midst of the waiting process. His plan is to stand you on your feet, take you for a walk, singing a song as you go, and at the same time using your time waiting, amazing others around you witnessing the amount of peace and joy that comes when we wait patiently with Him.