Rejoice; Psalm 39, Proverbs 10

May the mumbling commence!

Sometimes, it is hard to wait.  It is hard to wait when you know something good is coming.  It is hard to wait when things do not seem to be working out as you had hoped and planned and anticipated.  But wait we shall do because we wait on the Lord.  Read from Psalm thirty-nine:

"And now, Lord, what do I wait for?

My hope is in You. 

Deliver me from all my transgressions;

Do not make me the reproach of the foolish. 

I was mute, I did not open my mouth,

Because it was You who did it. 

Remove Your plague from me;

I am consumed by the blow of Your hand. 

When with rebukes You correct man for iniquity,

You make his beauty melt away like a moth;

Surely every man is vapor. Selah” (Verses 7-11)

Yeah, the psalmist is singing the blues in the depths of his heart.  He does not open his mouth.  It is closed in pain and agony at the situations that he finds himself in.  The psalmist is without words to express what he feels.

It is known to the writer that the Lord has brought this plague upon him because of his transgressions and sins.  He knows the plague as a corrective.  That is why his only hope rests and waits for the Lord.  Indeed, all else will pass away but the Lord will not pass away.  The Lord is the firm Rock that can never be moved.

When waiting reaches its hardest point, let us sink our patience and care into the Lord.  Our only hope is in You, O Lord.  This hope is another dimension to the fear of the Lord that the author of Proverbs speaks about in chapter ten:

The fear of the Lord prolongs days,

But the years of the wicked will be shortened. 

The hope of the righteous will be gladness,

But the expectation of the wicked will perish. (Verses 27-28)

Gladness bursts forth into long days.  What a thought for this time of the year!  We are quickly approaching the longest night of the year – the Winter Solstice.  It is a time for many people to sing the blues and sink into depression like the psalmist of Psalm thirty-nine.

Know that along with the promise of the Christ child entering our lives in a new way this Advent season that the birth of the Christ child also marks the lengthening of the days.  For those of us who put our hope in Jesus, our hope and joy increases just as the days lengthen.  We are slowly preparing for a spring of new life that has minute evidences throughout the winter to the spring. 

Rejoice!

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out