Wait for it

I can’t wait for all this nonsense to be over. I can’t wait for lies to be exposed, truth revealed, and inane policies and positions summarily neutralized and discarded in the purifying light of reason. I can’t wait.

But I have to wait. I have no control over all the falsity and inanity. Truth will triumph and reason and righteousness will rule, but they, and we, wait for God to secure the victory.

I hate to wait, don’t you? Yet delay is essential for building trust and a willingness to wait is a mark of maturity. Babies cry because they haven’t learned to wait and trust that mom and dad will meet their needs. And adults worry and whine if we haven’t learned to wait and trust that God will bring about his perfect plan . . . that he, and we, will most certainly be victorious.

Waiting is hard but if we never had to wait we would not know how to trust. Imagine if every need or desire of ours was immediately filled and gratified. Until it wasn’t. How well would we cope with the fear and distress? Not much better than crying babies, I think.

Hope, which I talked about last time, and trust are closely linked and both are unnecessary apart from the sometimes annoying, existential reality of delay. “Who hopes for what he sees?”

So hang in there, fellow lovers of God and defenders of Truth. He is not stymied by the misguided machinations of men (and women). He is not hindered by the wrongful wiles of the wicked. In fact, he laughs at them. Truth will reign, and genuine goodness and faithfulness will be recognized and honored. Do not fret; the day is coming.

We just have to wait.

Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil. For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the LORD shall inherit the land. In just a little while, the wicked will be no more; though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there. But the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace. 

The wicked plots against the righteous and gnashes his teeth at him, but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he sees that his day is coming.

Psalm 37:8-13