ESPERANZA
Simply translated: hope. This is the belief that something good will happen to us in the future. It’s that expectation as we longing wait with patience and trust. Oh if only it were that easy!
We waited so long for summer and now we are in the throes of fall. For over 2,000 years, believers have been waiting for the return of Christ. Pregnant women anticipate the arrival of their newborn. Students sit in class waiting for the bell to end class. Other times, we check the mail each day for that card to arrive. We patiently wait and nothing seems to happen. I’m sure that is how the Israelites felt as they wandered in the desert for years. Maybe that’s how Joseph hoped as he sat in Potiphar’s jail wondering if the baker or cupbearer would remember him. Waiting was the delay between a prayer and an answer when Joseph was finally delivered from the prison.
Romans 8:25 says But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
Waiting is that space between, where God refines our soul, exposes our impatience when we want to move forward without His guidance, but He teaches us to hear his voice more clearly - if we’re listening.
Waiting wears on us in our impatience; makes us second-guess all our decisions and has us longing for an escape from the stillness. Our problem is often that if waiting is only about getting what we want, it’s an escape. But what if we flipped that and said that waiting is about drawing closer to God?
Thankfully, we serve a God who will never lead us into a situation that is wrong for us. He loves us too much to leave us where we are; but asks us to trust Him in the process. He is the compass for the direction He wants to take us. Waiting is never wasted time. He protects, prunes and provides. We need to draw near to Him and trust. That might be in prayer, reading and meditating on His Word or simply letting go to let God do what He has always done.
I remain confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the Lord. Psalm 27:13-14