Read Psalm 31:19-24. 19Oh, how abundant is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you and worked for those who take refuge in you, in the sight of the children of mankind! 20In the cover of your presence you hide them from the plots of men; you store them in your shelter from the strife of tongues. 21Blessed be the Lord, for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me when I was in a besieged city. 22I had said in my alarm, “I am cut off from your sight.” But you heard the voice of my pleas for mercy when I cried to you for help. 23Love the Lord, all you his saints! The Lord preserves the faithful but abundantly repays the one who acts in pride. 24Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord!
The desperate man of Psalm 31 now becomes the delighted man. He has finally seen the abundant goodness of God, and he has experienced the steadfast love of God. Now he will implore the saints to love the Lord. To take courage. To never stop waiting on the Lord.
The Psalmist’s experience is the Christian experience. And the Christian’s experience is always the waiting experience. There is very little that God does quickly. From waiting for the return of Christ to free the world, to waiting for the Spirit of Christ to form the heart of Jesus within us, waiting is our faithful response to God in our time of alarm. Learning to trust the truth of God over and above what we feel is the result of such faithful waiting. Our feelings may despair as if cut off from the sight of God. But the truth declares that in Christ we are forever stored in the shelter of his love.
So let your heart take courage Christian. Be strong. Why? Because your waiting is strengthening the resolve of your heart. Your waiting is producing perseverance. Your perseverance, hope. Your hope, faith. And your faith, love. A love for God and others that will sustain you even in the darkest of nights.
To live is Christ is to wait on the Lord, learning to trust in our union with Christ over what we feel.
Prayer. Jesus, teach me how to wait for you in faith and courage. Amen.
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To Live is Christ 