How often have I heard that phrase in my lifetime?
What does it mean?
Hello, Thursday Morning readers, and welcome. I hope you’ll join me in a cup of coffee or hot tea, or whatever is your preferred morning beverage.
It’s chilly this week, but the sun is shining. I love this time of year, brief as it is.
We’re nearing the end of October, and that means we’re entering the final couple of months of 2019. Can you believe it?
Another year will end soon, like day’s end as dusk approaches. Then comes the night, filled with twinkling stars and the depth of darkness before the dawn of a new day.
Hope tends to wane in those darkest hours.
When will I see the salvation of the Lord? When will my prayers be answered? How long must I wait?
“In God’s time,” my soul whispers, echoing words from my ancestors over the years. They knew, didn’t they? Those souls who had endured great sorrow, and waited for the dawn when hope would rekindle.
I know life ebbs and flows like the tide. Seasons come and go. Through the good, we rejoice. In bad times, we mourn. In the waiting, we grow impatient.
I stood outside a tiger’s compound at our local zoo and watched as that great creature paced back and forth, watching and waiting. His feral eyes seemed to register the movements of the onlookers. What was he thinking? Did I really want to know?
Sometimes I feel like that tiger when I’m in a time of waiting. My patience wears thin and I’m tempted to give up.
Psalm 13 describes a similar journey as David asks, “How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day?”
He goes on for a few more stanzas, then he says, “Consider and answer me, O Lord my God, light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death, lest my enemy say, ‘I have prevailed over him,’…”
David’s plight was much more difficult than anything I’ve endured, but knowing that doesn’t lessen my pain and anxiety. However, his next words raise the shade and allow the light of dawn to penetrate.
“But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me.”
In those last couple of sentences, David lifts his eyes to the light of dawn and praises his way back into hope.
Awaiting God’s timing can be painful, but He provides light to guide us and renews our hope with a timely blessing.
In His time, may God crown your year with His bounty and overflow your path with abundance. [taken from Psalm 65:11]
Betty Thomason Owens 