Wait Right Here!

"Wait for the Lord; Be strong, and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord!" (Psalm 27:14, NASB).

I was ADD before those initials were invented. The reason they call it ADD is because none of us who have it can focus long enough to hear, "Attention Deficit Disorder." Just hurry up and give me the initials!

"Wait" is a dirty, four-letter word to someone with ADD. The sound of that word makes us wrinkle our nose, fidget, groan, moan, roll our eyes, and huff.

It's almost as if the Psalmist was writing specifically to people like me. He not only says, "Wait!" He then follows it up with a parental tone that says, "YES, wait!" How did he know I was saying, "Noooooooooo" to the first "wait"?

The New King James Version is definitely parental: "Wait, I say, on the Lord!" That redounds with echoes of my mom saying, "Perry Wallace Crisp -- I said, 'WAIT'!" Why do they encumber us with such embarrassing middle names?

That memory just made me slouch, sigh, and slump. I think you get the point. I do not enjoy waiting. I don't know that anyone does. But some are better at it than others.

The good thing about waiting on the Lord is, it always brings good things. According to the Psalmist, waiting brings courage and strength. Our faith is rewarded with muscle every time we endure another season of waiting.

The word, "wait" in this passage is translated "trust" in other translations. To wait on the Lord is to trust Him. It is to believe that God is at work while we wait.

God always has a reason for telling us to wait. When I waited in the Sarajevo International Airport waiting to return home, I heard an announcement over the intercom in the Bosanski, German, French, and Korean languages. None of those are in my repertoire (okay, so I know ONE French word).

Passengers started shuffling toward the gate. I followed. The security guard/airline employee looked at my passport and ticket, pointed to a wall, and said something in a foreign tongue.

This was Bosnia. The smoke from their war was still rising from the ruins of their buildings. I didn't argue. I went and stood by the wall afraid that I was about to miss my flight and face a possible firing squad.

Ten minutes later, a fellow Bosnian guard/airline employee came to me and explained in English that I was about to board a flight to Korea. My flight would be called next. We may not always understand why we have to wait. But the guarantee of Scripture is that waiting on the Lord will always bring good things.

What are you waiting for?
Perry Crisp