Prayer In A Time of Lengthy Waiting

Well, if there is one thing we are learning to do during these months of the pandemic as one wave after another challenges us, it’s learning to wait.  Those few minutes we used to impatiently sit through in the doctor’s office and in the line at the checkout in the supermarket (before we had our phones to distract us and help us put in the time) –those waiting times don’t seem all that long in comparison to the waiting we are doing for a safe vaccine to come and all of these restrictions and uncertain changes in sickness to settle down and become something normal and manageable. 

Once again we turn to the Psalms to encourage us and help us pray today.  These were the songs and prayers of the ancient church and they are still so relevant and applicable to us in these days.  Today, Psalm 40  Let’s pray:

I waited and waited and waited some more, patiently, knowing God would come through for me. Then, at last, he bent down and listened to my cry. He stooped down to lift me out of danger from the desolate pit I was in, out of the muddy mess I had fallen into. Now he’s lifted me up into a firm, secure place and steadied me while I walk along his ascending path.  Psalm 40:1-2

Along with the writer of this Psalm, Lord, we feel like we’ve waited and waited and waited some more, though perhaps not always patiently.  In faith we trust that You will come through for us, bend down and listen to our cry, scooping us out of danger from this muddy desolate pit.  Lift us up today, we pray.  Set us in a firm and secure place and steady us while we walk.

A new song for a new day rises up in me every time I think about how he breaks through for me! Ecstatic praise pours out of my mouth until everyone hears how God has set me free. Many will see his miracles; they’ll stand in awe of God and fall in love with him!  Psalm 40:3

We have such a long history of how You’ve been there for us and brought us through all sorts of difficulties.  Help us again today to pause and reflect on Your goodness through the years and let that strengthen and encourage our hearts, and even put a song of in our mouths for Your generous goodness.

Blessing after blessing comes to those who love and trust the Lord. They will not fall away, for they refuse to listen to the lies of the proud.  O Lord, our God, no one can compare with you. Such wonderful works and miracles are all found with you! And you think of us all the time with your countless expressions of love—far exceeding our expectations!  Psalm 40:4-5

We get distracted by today’s difficulties and by the few situations that didn’t go as we wanted them to go.  Forgive us for missing and forgetting about the blessing after blessing that has come to us on the greatest majority of days.  No one can compare with You, our blessing God.  No one has done more for us than You have.  Here we are, in this day, with countless expressions of Your love – far exceeding our expectations. 

It’s not sacrifices that really move your heart. Burnt offerings, sin offerings—that’s not what brings you joy. But when you open my ears and speak deeply to me, I become your willing servant, your prisoner of love for life.  Psalm 40:6

And so today we come, not with a bunch of empty promises of what we’ll do for you – because it’s not our efforts that bring joy to your heart.  Instead, we come with a heart open to Your voice.  Speak deeply to our souls today.  Capture us with Your love so we only want to be with You and live for You today.

So I said, “Here I am! I’m coming to you as a sacrifice, for in the prophetic scrolls of your book you have written about me. I delight to fulfill your will, my God, for your living words are written upon the pages of my heart.”  Psalm 40:7-8

Lord we know that when we experience the great love You have for us, our own hearts will want to respond to that and we will delight in doing those things that express Your will in our lives and in our service of You and others. 

So, write Your living words once again on the pages of our hearts today, we pray. Amen