Psalm 39:7 And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee.
What are you waiting for today? Are you waiting for your ship to come in? Maybe you are waiting for the stars to align, or maybe you are waiting to make your fortune. Maybe you are waiting on someone, the perfect someone or someone to give you a green light. What are you waiting for? Maybe that was what you were asked when you were standing on the edge of a bungee jumping platform. You had been corralled into jumping because a friend got a group discount if you would go, and the last thing he said before he pushed you off the edge was, “What are you waiting for?”
What are you waiting for? That is an easy question to ask. It is not so easy to answer sometimes. In Psalms 39:7 the Psalmist says, “And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee.” You are never without hope when you are waiting on God. A lot of times we think, “I have this goal, and once I reach that, then I will be at peace, be quiet in my soul, and be fine the rest of my life.” Unless you are very young, you know that there is never an end to the things you are going to be looking for tomorrow. A sign of life is you are looking forward to tomorrow. You want to do something new, bigger, or better. So, this idea that once you get this amount of money, marry that perfect person, or get to that perfect place, then you’ll be quiet in your soul, is not valid. No! There is always something for us to reach out to for tomorrow. The problem is, so much that we hang our hats on in the future is empty.
Psalm 39:4 says, “LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is: that I may know how frail I am.” Verse 5 says, “Every man at his best state is altogether vanity.” Verse 6 says, “Surely every man walketh in a vain shew.” Verse 11 says, “Surely every man is vanity.” In other words, the strongest, richest person you can think of is finite and in that sense is empty.
I heard a story recently about Elon Musk losing five billion dollars. I’m not here to comment on that other than to say that money has wings and I’m sure Mr. Musk will be fine. My point is that we think, “Once I reach this financial goalpost, or once I retire, or once I marry, or once I go to college, or once I get that accomplishment, then I’ll be quiet.” Friend, having plans for tomorrow is just a sign of life. Once you stop looking to tomorrow you’ve stopped; you’re finished. But, you are never without hope when you are waiting on God. I can wait on money, people, or possessions and be disappointed time and again, but when I am waiting on God, I am not without hope.
“And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee.” When you stop waiting, you stop looking ahead, but when you know you are looking ahead and waiting on God, it makes everything else upon which you are waiting a lot easier. That is because you are never without hope when you are waiting on God.