Wait With Great Expectation
“Restore our fortunes, Lord, like streams in the Negev.” – Psalm 126:4
There is so much we can learn from this short verse in the middle of Psalm 126. In verse four, the psalmist is asking God to bring greater deliverance than anything the Israelites have already experienced, just like He fills the streams in Negev – the dry, parched desert in the south of the land – with massive amounts of water.
The psalmist knows that in order for the streams to be filled, the inhabitants of the desert have to wait for the rain to come, just like those of us who read this verse must cultivate the capacity to wait for our own deliverance. Even the most faithful of all believers trust God to deliver them as He has done in the past. The problem comes in waiting for that deliverance to happen.
What’s more, sometimes life brings us to a place where all we can do is wait. We can pray. We can fast. We can worship and praise, but when we finish doing all of that, we have to wait for God to do what He said he would do. Thankfully, we don’t wait as those without hope. Instead, we wait with great expectation.
It’s like when you make cookies from scratch. Cookies are absolutely delicious, but they take time to prepare. If you rush the baking process by not following the recipe correctly or not allowing the cookies to stay in the oven long enough, the cookies may be sweet, but they won’t be complete. You must allow them time to become golden brown. We must think about the blessings from God in the same way. We must wait expectantly, knowing that if we are waiting on the Lord, our waiting is not in vain.
There is so much we can learn from this short verse in the middle of Psalm 126. In verse four, the psalmist is asking God to bring greater deliverance than anything the Israelites have already experienced, just like He fills the streams in Negev – the dry, parched desert in the south of the land – with massive amounts of water.
The psalmist knows that in order for the streams to be filled, the inhabitants of the desert have to wait for the rain to come, just like those of us who read this verse must cultivate the capacity to wait for our own deliverance. Even the most faithful of all believers trust God to deliver them as He has done in the past. The problem comes in waiting for that deliverance to happen.
What’s more, sometimes life brings us to a place where all we can do is wait. We can pray. We can fast. We can worship and praise, but when we finish doing all of that, we have to wait for God to do what He said he would do. Thankfully, we don’t wait as those without hope. Instead, we wait with great expectation.
It’s like when you make cookies from scratch. Cookies are absolutely delicious, but they take time to prepare. If you rush the baking process by not following the recipe correctly or not allowing the cookies to stay in the oven long enough, the cookies may be sweet, but they won’t be complete. You must allow them time to become golden brown. We must think about the blessings from God in the same way. We must wait expectantly, knowing that if we are waiting on the Lord, our waiting is not in vain.
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