How Much Longer?
Let me tell you something. If there’s one thing that freaks me out more than anything, it’s the feeling of free falling. The way your stomach gets left behind whenever you jump might be the worst feeling I’ve ever felt!
I remember being at a friend’s lake house, and they had this really high dock that was used for jumping into the lake. I’m talking like 20 feet up. Everyone knew I was not about to make that jump, however I was enjoying the view of the gorgeous water while being with my friends. Suddenly, out of no where, I am grabbed from behind, picked up by my four limbs and hurled into the water with my stomach left on the dock. I was experiencing my fear and suddenly it got worse. I hit the water and went down to what felt like a mile deep. I tried to hit the bottom and push my way back up, but I just kept sinking. Eventually I floated back up to the surface, but for a few moments there I was terrified. I finally understood the first verse of the 130th Psalm.
Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord!
2 O Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
to the voice of my pleas for mercy!
3 If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,
O Lord, who could stand?
4 But with you there is forgiveness,
that you may be feared.
5 I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
and in his word I hope;
6 my soul waits for the Lord
more than watchmen for the morning,
more than watchmen for the morning.
7 O Israel, hope in the Lord!
For with the Lord there is steadfast love,
and with him is plentiful redemption.
8 And he will redeem Israel
from all his iniquities.
Now, I doubt David was literally in deep water when he wrote this, but we shared the same feelings, full of fear, and helpless. And I think that might be where our world is also at right now. Whether you are ill, your job situation is unknown, or you’re scared to go to the store, we are all experiencing moments of anxiety, fear, depression, and worry. You’re not alone. Anyone who was anyone in the Bible had worry. David, Elijah, Moses, Paul, even Jesus felt it.
This season is filled with a lot of unknowns. We feel that free falling feeling, and we feel caught in the depths with nothing keeping us from drowning. That’s where David brings us some hope. In this psalm David begins to instill hope into himself and to his nation by encouraging to wait on the Lord, and to trust his steadfast love. In fact, David is SO sure that redemption and newness is coming that he compares it to the most sure thing in all of God’s creation, the thing that has been constant every day in all of history. David compares the Lord’s presence with the morning by saying, “My soul waits for the Lord more than the watchman for the morning”.
We are in the middle of this season and if we aren’t careful it can be easy to lose hope. Let us remember that the hope we have in Jesus is sure. That he hears us, he loves us, and he isn’t caught off guard by any of this. The morning is coming.
Questions:
1. What is something specific that you are hoping and waiting on The Lord for in this season?
2. This season, we are all experiencing some of our biggest fears, and the worst part is that we all feel alone. Who is someone is your life that you can talk with about the unknowns in your life?
Action Step:
Soak in and declare these songs over yourself today.
- Egypt - Bethel
- Highlands - Hillsong United
- Give Me Your Peace - Gateway Worship
