Ah, waiting. We wait all the time, don\u2019t we? Yet we\u2019re not very good at it. There\u2019s the annoying kind of waiting, like when my pedicure isn\u2019t ready for real life yet. There\u2019s the joy-filled kind, like the days leading up to Christmas. And there\u2019s the raw kind of waiting, like waiting to be helped, delivered, or saved. That last category hits close. We know this kind well, don\u2019t we? Waiting for the diagnosis or healing or reconciliation brings weariness. We know what it feels like when hope wanes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But then we read this promise: \u201cThe LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the person who seeks him\u201d (Lamentations 3:25).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What does that verse do to your heart? Does it feel like thin hope and the Lord being good don\u2019t go together?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let\u2019s look closer. In this verse, wait is qa.vah<\/em> in Hebrew, which means \u201cto wait, look for, hope.\u201d A likely literal translation is to twist and stretch and bind together, as in making a rope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As I read this verse, then, it seems that Lamentations is saying that He is good to those who \u201ctwist and stretch and bind themselves to\u201d Him in the waiting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n God\u2019s people knew what long-haul waiting felt like. They waited through years of bondage in Egypt. They waited through years of desert wandering. When making pilgrimages to Jerusalem, they would sing of deliverance and the hope of redemption with songs like Psalm 130, \u201cI wait for the Lord; I wait and put my hope in his word…Israel, put your hope in the LORD…he will redeem Israel,\u201d (v.5,7\u20138). They held promises from Scripture that, while their waiting would be long, their king would come and that His goodness would make them tremble (Hosea 3:4\u20135). They knew that with God there is faithful love and redemption in abundance (Psalm 130:7). They knew a child would be born to reign and that His name would be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6\u20137).<\/p>\n\n\n\n And then here, in Lamentations 3, while mourning the destruction of Jerusalem, the writer reflected on what it means to wait faithfully, while staying bound to God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So when Jesus was born, the hearts of God\u2019s people had long been set toward the promise of a coming Messiah. Waiting with this kind of expectancy is how we hold hands with hope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To qa.vah<\/em> IS to hope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In our own waiting seasons, even when the answers don\u2019t come, we can attach ourselves to God. We can hold hands with hope in the waiting. When we don\u2019t understand what\u2019s to come, we can know that the Lord is good to those who wait for Him, whose souls seek Him. And as we celebrate this season of joy that He came, we can also hold hope for Him to come again. We hold the hope that He will stand and shepherd us, too, in the majestic name of the Lord His God (Micah 5:4).<\/p>\n\n\n\n To wait IS to hope. May we wait for God with God. Because with Him, there is redemption in abundance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ah, waiting. We wait all the time, don\u2019t we? Yet we\u2019re not very good at it. There\u2019s the annoying kind of waiting, like when my pedicure isn\u2019t ready for real life yet. There\u2019s the joy-filled kind, like the days leading up to Christmas. And there\u2019s the raw kind of waiting, like waiting to be helped, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":142,"featured_media":72668,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[307],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-advent25"],"acf":{"hero_background_image":false,"related_plans":[72991],"weekly_truth":false,"grace_day":false,"share_text":"#SheReadsTruth","devotional_text":"GOD'S PEOPLE AWAIT THEIR MESSIAH<\/b> Ah, waiting. We wait all the time, don\u2019t we? Yet we\u2019re not very good at it. There\u2019s the annoying kind of waiting, like when my pedicure isn\u2019t ready for real life yet. There\u2019s the joy-filled kind, like the days leading up to Christmas. And there\u2019s the raw kind of waiting, like waiting to be helped, delivered, or saved. That last category hits close. We know this kind well, don\u2019t we? Waiting for the diagnosis or healing or reconciliation brings weariness. We know what it feels like when hope wanes.<\/p> But then we read this promise: \u201cThe LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the person who seeks him\u201d (Lamentations 3:25).<\/p> What does that verse do to your heart? Does it feel like thin hope and the Lord being good don\u2019t go together?<\/p> Let\u2019s look closer. In this verse, wait is qa.vah<\/em> in Hebrew, which means \u201cto wait, look for, hope.\u201d A likely literal translation is to twist and stretch and bind together, as in making a rope.<\/p> As I read this verse, then, it seems that Lamentations is saying that He is good to those who \u201ctwist and stretch and bind themselves to\u201d Him in the waiting.<\/p> God\u2019s people knew what long-haul waiting felt like. They waited through years of bondage in Egypt. They waited through years of desert wandering. When making pilgrimages to Jerusalem, they would sing of deliverance and the hope of redemption with songs like Psalm 130, \u201cI wait for the Lord; I wait and put my hope in his word...Israel, put your hope in the LORD...he will redeem Israel,\u201d (v.5,7\u20138). They held promises from Scripture that, while their waiting would be long, their king would come and that His goodness would make them tremble (Hosea 3:4\u20135). They knew that with God there is faithful love and redemption in abundance (Psalm 130:7). They knew a child would be born to reign and that His name would be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6\u20137).<\/p> And then here, in Lamentations 3, while mourning the destruction of Jerusalem, the writer reflected on what it means to wait faithfully, while staying bound to God.<\/p> So when Jesus was born, the hearts of God\u2019s people had long been set toward the promise of a coming Messiah. Waiting with this kind of expectancy is how we hold hands with hope.<\/p> To qa.vah<\/em> IS to hope.<\/p> In our own waiting seasons, even when the answers don\u2019t come, we can attach ourselves to God. We can hold hands with hope in the waiting. When we don\u2019t understand what\u2019s to come, we can know that the Lord is good to those who wait for Him, whose souls seek Him. And as we celebrate this season of joy that He came, we can also hold hope for Him to come again. We hold the hope that He will stand and shepherd us, too, in the majestic name of the Lord His God (Micah 5:4).<\/p> To wait IS to hope. May we wait for God with God. Because with Him, there is redemption in abundance.<\/p>","share_image_height":"640","day_number":"16","scripture":"Hosea 3:4-5, Isaiah 9:6-7, Micah 5:2-4, Psalm 130:7-8, Lamentations 3:26","available":true,"ad_banner_name":"","ad_banner_image":false,"ad_banner_url":"","songs":"","key_verse":"","key_verse_reference":"","background_image":false,"background_color":"#FBF7F3","scripture_references":false,"share_image":false,"author_name":"","author_bio":"","guest_social_media":false,"show_ad":true,"ad_override":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/142"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73054"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73054\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\r\nby Marnie Hammar<\/i>
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