Psalm 27e - Wait
8 When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee,
Thy face, Lord, will I seek
…
13 I had fainted, unless I had believed
to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
14 Wait on the Lord:
be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart:wait, I say, on the Lord. KJV
What is it about waiting that so goes against the human character? It’s like it brings out the great rift between time and eternity. Our allotted 3 score and 10 years passes quickly, and it seems such a waste to spend much of that time waiting. But on the other hand, in eternity, time, or at least the passage of time, is immaterial. But somehow, in the Lord's infinite wisdom, there is something about waiting, while we are subject to the inexorable march of time, that prepares us for eternity. We can not understand the role of time in eternity. Perhaps we will be able to move about in time then, like we move about in space now. It is a mystery.
So then, one of our tasks in this life is so seek the Lord, and that seems to always come with waiting. There is something about the intersection of and infinite God and a finite human life that seems to demand that we wait. Is it some sort of preparation for eternity? A purposeful setting aside, for a moment, the importance of time. We can grow desperate, as we see our allotted time on earth being consumed, but something about waiting teaches us that these 70 years are not so important, that there is a more important eternal period awaiting. Our finite mind can not comprehend. Not even the mind of a physicist, trained in the abstract principles or relativity and quantum mechanics, can fully comprehend. We can describe mathematically the progress of time and relate time and as three of the four dimensions of space, but we can not really comprehend time as God sees it.
"... unless I had believed...", there is a promise in that that our waiting is not incompatible with our limited time, but that God will answer us while there is yet time, "... in the land of the living." But in the waiting, and in the receiving from God, we are trained to be a bit more patient, a bit more understanding, maybe a bit more compassionate. (well, maybe those who are not totally analytical like some scientists that I know!)
So do not despair. Do not grow weary. Do not lose heart, but seek His face, and wait on the Lord.
Sons of Korah, Psalm 27 part e - Wait
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