Waiting for Hope

      "I waited patiently for the Lord, and He turned to me and heard my cry for help."  (Psalm 40:1 CSB)

    Sometimes you even have to wait for hope. It's not a pretty place to be-- perhaps a little like the inside of an ordinary caterpillar's cocoon. It's tight, and it's messy, but somehow soft and comfortable, because it's home, and you don't have to move... just wait. And rest. Because the real work, the hard part is yet to come: that painful squeeze through the tiny opening that will make you into the glorious, sun-kissed, delight-giving beauty that you were meant to be all along.

      It's not very much fun, this waiting. Downright boring and frustrating at times. You might even forget there's a purpose for it and feel like giving up the wait. But remind your inert chrysalis every day, every hour if necessary, of the glory that is to come. With David, proclaim to your heart,

"Praise be to the Lord,

for He showed me the wonders of His love

when I was in a city under siege.

In my alarm I said,

"I am cut off from Your sight!"

Yet You heard my cry for mercy

when I called to You for help.

Love the Lord, all His faithful people!

The Lord preserves those who are true to Him,

but the proud He pays back in full.

Be strong and take heart,

all you who hope in the Lord."

-- Psalm 31:21-24 (NIV)

      And while you are waiting, never forget:

"We demolish arguments and every proud thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ."

-- 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 (CSB)

      Then pray this heartfelt prayer with the late great George Matheson, who went blind at the age of twenty:

 "Give me the power to wait for hope itself, to look out from the casement where there are no stars. Give me the power, when the very joy that was set before me is gone, to stand unconquered amid the night, and say, 'To the eye of my Father it is perhaps shining still.' I shall reach the climax of strength when I have learned to wait for hope."

 "He must increase, but I must decrease"  (John 3:30)

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