“In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation.” Psalm 5:3 (NIV)
Terry thought he knew about waiting, especially toward the end of the month. He waited in lines at the grocery, the bank, and the cafeteria. Yes, he knew about waiting. He didn’t like waiting. It was a necessary evil of society.
He sat in the hospital waiting for the doctor to bring him the news. He had been waiting so long. For the last two weeks, he had called his wife every day. He had kept his cell phone charged and on. He had arranged his schedule and workload so that others could deal with any issue there. For two weeks he had been on ready just so he could come here and wait. He now waited with an expectation greater than he could ever remember. What was taking so long?
Dr. Kaye came into the room and smiled at Terry. “Tired of waiting, huh? Well, the waiting is over. You have a beautiful, healthy girl. Both mother and baby are fine.”
Emotions flooded over Terry. He followed the nurse to Cheryl’s room and remembered how they had prayed for a child. He and Cheryl had tried for so long to have a baby. They had prayed and expected that God would give them a child. But still they had waited. Believing that God answers prayer, they had placed their request before him. Then with great expectation, they waited. Sure, at times they were impatient, but they continued to wait on his response. As Cheryl smiled up at him and he held his daughter in his arms, Terry decided this was well worth the wait.
Norman Vincent Peale wrote, “We tend to get what we expect.” Can you remember the expectancy, the happy hope instilled in waiting? Perhaps we should live our lives with this expectancy. God is going to respond to our requests. We will know the joy of fulfillment. We will grow in the excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ. We will know the power of his resurrection. Only if we are watching with breathless longing will our waiting be rewarded with a fresh sense of triumphal joy and love.
Dear Father, thank you for the struggles of waiting and expectation. Thank you for hearing our requests. Thank you for your responses to our needs. Thank you for answering prayer. We wait, with great expectation, the coming of our Lord and King. Empower us to live so that we may welcome him with shouts of praise and joy. In Jesus’ name. AMEN
Let us praise God for his plan and live for his purpose,
Pastor Smith