Tuesday, June 28, 2005

The Connected, Expectant Heart

I wait for the LORD, my soul waits,
And in His Word I do hope.
(Psalm 130:5)
Faith and patience. That is what the psalm writer is talking about here. It is what keeps him connected with the LORD. For the Hebrew word for “wait,” qavah, literally means to bind together, to connect with. Think of a cord stretched from your heart to the heart of God. The distance in between is the distance between “Amen” and “There it is!” It is patient expectation, waiting in anticipation for the Lord to show up on your behalf. It is waiting in faith.

The psalm writer has faith because the Lord has spoken His Word. Without the Word, there is no faith, for faith comes by hearing the Word (Romans 10:17). If the Lord had not spoken, if there had been no promise, then there would be no reason to wait, no right to expect. But the Lord has spoken, and so the psalm writer confidently declares, “In His Word I do hope.”

The word “hope” is not a word of doubt (“I hope so, but I don’t know”). Rather, it too is a word expressing expectation. God has spoken, so I have expectation. Why? Because the Word of the Lord will never return empty-handed. It will always accomplish what He has said (Isaiah 55:11).

The Hebrew word for “word” is dabar. It is not a passive thing, but active. That is, it accomplishes things. When God speaks His dabar, things happen. God said, “Light, be!” and light immediately came into existence.

The psalm writer might have chosen to let the circumstances of his life establish what his expectations were going to be. But instead, he turned to the Lord, and to the Lord only. And so there was calmness in his soul.

Is your heart connected to the heart of God? Are you trusting in Him? Does His Word set up an expectation in your heart? Rest on His promises. He has spoken His promises and already set things in motion. It is only a matter of time until they appear. So do not give up, but stay ready and watch in eager anticipation.

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