If I had to pick a phrase to summarize this past year for me, it would have to be “learning to wait.” Apparently the Lord does, indeed, know us each well and know exactly where we need to be stretched and developed. And apparently, I needed (and still need) an extra long season of learning to wait and trust and rest in the midst of unknowns. 

Waiting to sell a house, waiting to leave Greenville, waiting to arrive in San Diego, waiting on a house again. I think the Lord is finally getting the point across (stubborn means for stubborn people, right?). I think I am learning that God’s people have always been and should always be considered first and foremost a waiting people.

Psalm 130 and Psalm 131 have always been near to my  heart, but in this prolonged season of waiting, I am growing to understand the connection between the two. In the former, the writer is crying out for the Lord, for His promised presence. He longs for Him much more than for His answers, guidance, or gifts. He knows the Lord will indeed show up, just as surely as the sun rises daily, relieving the night watchmen of his duty.  Oh, Israel, hope in the LORD, for with Him is abundant salvation. Enough, plenty, surplus, overflow, excessive amounts, teeming over. 

When I am not practicing Psalm 130, when I am more fixated on hearing from a real estate agent or on a departure date than I am on Him, I do not experience the sweet rest of Psalm 131. When I check my email obsessively to see if we have a contract, when I put off doing things “until we get settled in San Diego,” I have a frantic and restless soul. A soul far from the composed and quieted soul that the Psalmist boasts gladly of in his song of praise. 

When I wait on Him more than His provision, when His presence rising in my soul is the dawn I eagerly await, then I have a quieted soul, resting on His divine chest like a weaned child. Not wanting my Heavenly father for what He gives me or what comes from Him, but free to simply enjoy Him. 

Finishing up my study of Luke yesterday, I was blown away at the disciples. After Jesus had risen and spent 6 sweet weeks with them, informing them of the story and task He was sending them into, He left them. They were probably so pumped up, so ready to go and be part of the sharing of this contagious truth. So the disciples immediately jumped into the task at hand, right?

Nope. Jesus’ parting words were a reminder to wait on His equipping, His timing, His promised Spirit. 

So how did the disciples spend that time waiting? Did they anxiously plan and strategize? Did they whine and complain that they had to wait while the work was waiting for them? Did they worry about exactly when and where the promised Spirit would visit them? 

All that Luke tells is that they were continually in the Temple worshipping God. So simple. I wish the Lord had written this on my heart sooner. 

While they waited, they worshipped. 

So, while we wait to get the rest of the way out to San Diego, while we wait on an address, while we wait for the rest of our team to arrive and campus ministry to start, we want to simply worship. Here are some pics of how we have been waiting and worshipping in the meanwhile.