Before the Cross – Easter Devotional 13

“I waited patiently for the Lord,” the Psalmist said. Pregnant words… filled with unspoken backstory and unfulfilled desires. Painful words, because we don’t want to wait… don’t like to wait. I’m embarrassed to say if I could take an elevator that had a passing lane I would. We don’t like to wait.

“I waited patiently for the Lord,” and I think of prayers offered for children not yet born to a young family. Of the petitions of a lonely single hoping for a chance to wear a wedding dress. Or of the unemployed father trying for the chance at an interview for a job to care for his family.

“I waited patiently for the Lord….” And I think of our Lord’s hours of silence on Calvary’s tree when the heavens were locked against Him. Waiting is far from a passive activity. It is not a stance of weakness or a sign of faith lost. We wait with anticipation that something is coming… rescue… salvation… something that will take us out of the “slimy pit” (Psalm 40:2)

When I stand waiting before an elevator door after pushing the button… the light is on… the direction is requested… and then, there is silence. Waiting. The door hasn’t opened yet, but I stand waiting… knowing that it will.

Prayer is just that simple… and that profound. We wait… request made… petition cried out… helplessness confessed. And then, the door opens! We knew it would.

And so we pray… and we “wait patiently for the Lord” with the certainty of the Psalmist who first wrote these words:

“And He heard my cry…” and He delivered me.

FOR MEDITATION: I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. Psalm 40:1-2

FOR REFLECTION: Is your waiting expectant… believing God will “incline His ear and hear you when you pray”? He’s waiting for YOU to allow Him to “lift you out” of your impossible situation!

 

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