Waiting in Hope!

“I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope.
Mu soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning,
more than watch\men wait for the morning.”

Lord as I ponder this passage I am impressed that this is part of the poetic literature. Additionally, this is one of the psalms of ascent written by David. I can picture the pilgrims as they made their way up the twisting paths which led to Jerusalem, stopping periodically to catch their breath and to rest allowing themselves and those older devout godly people, to regain some of the energy needed to continue. They waited. But as they slowly mounted the intervening hills, they sang - songs of hope, songs of deliverance, songs of faithfulness, songs of miracles and this song of agonizing tinged with hope.

Here was the soul marching to Zion, fulfilling the requirements of the law, but all the while wrestling with the issues of life and the future:
“Lord, I call to you from the depths; hear my cry, O lord!
Let your ears pay attention to the sound of my pleading.”

The soul, the heart keeps its secrets which only song can express - words seem inadequate to open the heart to the pain and the longing which resides there. The pleading admits to the presence of hope and that, not in the self, but lodged within the divine presence which seems so distant, yet the sole focus of any change. The words of the focus verses resound with the pathos of longing, of sorrow, of having been here before, not only physically on this trek to the Temple, but more importantly at this place where we have no reason, no place, no energy, no means but to place ourselves once again, in HIs presence.

Stern translates these verses in the following manner:
“I wait longingly for Adonai.
I put my hope in his word.
Everything in me waits for Adonai
more than guards on watch wait for the morning,
more than guards on watch wait for the morning.”

In keeping with the Jewish understanding of the holistic nature of man, he avoids the duplicity of the NIV and says, I wait for the Lord. Here there is no separation of ‘me’ and ‘soul’, but rather one single creation which is longingly waiting. Oh, the depth of passion evoked by the timelessness emanating from the longing soul, the waiting heart, the patient individual whose steps retraced what had become the annual pilgrimage with the hope of some answer, some deliverance.

But for the Godly, there is not place for desperation because there is always the Lord! David, clearly understands that there are two aspects to waiting longingly. First there is the recognition that the circumstances of life, often endured for long periods of time, have a tendency to wear us down, to grind us into powder with the millstones of time. It is this seemingly endless process of divine pruning, of eternal sifting, of sanctified purification which entails the waiting coupled with the unfulfilled longing for seeing the resolution and the sight which is encapsulated in the divine presence in Zion, in HIs Temple. But secondly, there is the human recognition that nothing we can do to hasten, alleviate or eliminate the process in which we are called to live – except Adonai! It is this recognition, that we are beyond ourselves in alleviating our situation and realizing our hope that the pilgrim clings to the Lord.

This is reinforced in David’s conclusion to the psalm:

“Israel, put your hope in Adonai!
For grace is found in Adonai,
and with him is unlimited redemption
He will redeem Israel from all their wrong doings.”

It is in Adonai alone that any hope resides – hope which can deal with the truly significant issues of life – redemption, forgiveness. Yes, they are found within the grace of Adonai and the limitlessness of His redemption. There is no end to what He can redeem, no sin too awful that HIs grace cannot atone, not demands fro redeeming, that HIs provision cannot meet. In a significant intimation of actual redemption through Jesus Christ many centuries later, we have here the same concepts imbedded that Paul so articulately phrased, “Where sin abounded, grace abounded more.” Rom. 5:20 “The law came along to multiply the trespass. But where sin multiplied, grace multiplied even more, 21 so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will reign through righteousness, resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Thank you David, for the insight into the walk of life, but more importantly into the life of hope, victory even though you looked forward and we look back to the person of Jesus Christ. Yes, you saw in God and the annual pilgrimages to the Temple that the divine presence of God was sufficient to do whatever was demanded – grace sufficient for all our sin – unlimited redemption! Hallelu Yah!