As I write this, my wife, Raina, is home caring for our 4-year-old, Theo, and our soon-to-be 2-year-old, Edison, all while 37 weeks pregnant with our first daughter. Along with our hearts, our hands are a bit full.
If you are reading this and have a similar story of a bunch of littles at home, my sympathy goes out to you. There is an apparent difficulty in doing everyday tasks with two littles, but that comes with the territory, right? The diapers, getting meal time, snack time, and nap time all at the right time are just part of everyday life.
It is our current normal. But the part that is the most painstaking, anxiety-ridden, and unknown is the waiting.
Waiting for the day when we take a drive to the hospital and get to meet the newest member of the Songer Family, Winifred Rose. And yes, we know we can schedule a day, but that isn’t for us. We kind of enjoy the wait. It’s like the best surprise birthday party. Waiting is just a part of the journey.
I know what you’re probably thinking. “Chip, Advent is over. We don’t have to think about waiting, anticipation, longing, or expectancy for like 12 more months.” The problem is that “waiting” is a significant piece of our faith and lives. And most of the time, it isn’t very fun.
Waiting for freedom from an addiction that’s been suffocating us.
Waiting for joy and hope after the loss of someone we love.
Waiting for a real spiritual breakthrough after it feels like God has forgotten about us.
Waiting is just a part of our journey.
Recently a friend reminded me of Psalm 13. It says this:
How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?
Psalm 13
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
and day after day have sorrow in my heart?
How long will my enemy triumph over me?
Look on me and answer, Lord my God.
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death,
and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”
and my foes will rejoice when I fall.
But I trust in your unfailing love;
my heart rejoices in your salvation.
I will sing the Lord’s praise,
for he has been good to me.
Quick background – this is a Psalm of David. He’s been on the run from King Saul, who is searching him out to kill him (you can find the full story in 1 Samuel 19). David is ready to not live in the waiting of uncertainty of his death.
Some questions in the middle of waiting are often beyond our capacity to answer, “How long, O Lord?” The longing, the anguish, and the desire to get out of whatever storm you find yourself in can be found in that question.
“How long, O Lord?”
And maybe that’s the exact place you are. And that’s okay. Remember, waiting is just a part of the journey. The good thing about a journey is you’ve still got to move forward. And the even better news for us is that Jesus meets us in it.
See, Jesus asked a similar question with death on his heels, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” And because Jesus experienced the agony of the cross and the glory of the resurrection, we receive this promise. “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” We can now have hope in the middle of waiting.
My favorite thing about this Psalm is that it starts with a sigh and ends with a song. Moving from despair to confident hope. So as you journey in this life and find yourself in seasons of waiting, remind yourself of the good news of the Gospel. And as David did, sing a song of confidence, knowing that your God is with you as you wait.
I trust in your unfailing love;
Psalm 13:5-6
my heart rejoices in your salvation.
I will sing the Lord’s praise,
for he has been good to me.
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