WAITING as a MISSIONAL POSTURE: A 5-Day Journey Exploring the Role of Waiting in Missional Livingনমুনা

Waiting as the Posture of Hope

Waiting on the Lord is the antidote to weariness, the path to truth, and the place of refuge in times of adversity. As we’ve already seen, in Old Testament language, “waiting” and “hoping” are two sides of the same coin. This kind of hopeful waiting and sustained hoping are rooted firmly in the character of God. In Psalm 130, one of the songs pilgrims sang as they made their way to Jerusalem for the festivals includes this pairing of “wait” and “hope” on full display.

This psalm begins not with a picture of external adversities but with the condition of the writer’s own soul. Verses 1 and 2 describe the psalmist’s state as being in “the depths.” Perhaps he is experiencing what seems to him like a prolonged silence of God: “Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplication!” (NRSV). There is a palpable sense of desperation in his cry to be heard by God. Verse 3 indicates the psalmist’s awareness that his experience of being in “the depths” is a time for self-evaluation and frank acknowledgment of the sin that may be lurking in his heart: “If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand?” Then, he casts himself on the mercy of God, “But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be revered” (v. 4). It is noteworthy that this posture of introspection, honesty, and repentance was a necessary preparation for the joyful celebration that would happen once the pilgrims reached the city.

The rest of Psalm 130 is all about waiting and hoping. In faith, the psalmist has acknowledged that the Lord will indeed hear and forgive him. He embraces those realities—even from the depths, even in the silence, even though he may not yet feel the forgiveness. He stakes his claim on the reality of God’s favor on his life and chooses to wait and to hope, “I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope” (v. 5). He chooses a vivid metaphor to describe the character of his waiting and hoping, “more than those who watch for the morning” (v. 6). Those watchers are still in darkness, but their eyes are on the eastern horizon, eagerly alert for the first glimpse of dawn. Amid his own “dark night of the soul,” the psalmist chooses sustained hope and attentiveness for the signs of the Lord’s response to his cries. In addition, he calls the rest of the people to join him in hopeful waiting, rooted and grounded in the character of God himself, “O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem. It is he who will redeem Israel from all its iniquities” (vv. 7–8).

With the psalmist, let us hope in the Lord, even in “the depths”!

My friend, wait on the Lord!