Waiting upon the Lord

In today’s responsorial psalm, Psalm 27: 1, 4, 13-14, the psalmist reminds us that we “shall see the bounty of the Lord in the land of the living.”  He then encourages us to “[w]ait for the Lord with courage; be stouthearted and wait for the Lord.”    Waiting can be very challenging for those of us who have a difficult time when things do not happen in our timing, when answers are not forthcoming at the moment that we want them to be or in the manner that we think the answers should be revealed to us.  “Come on, Lord,” we may say. “Where are you? I can’t wait any longer!” So, what do some of us do? Take charge! Do our own thing or jump in and try to fix what seems very wrong, not that “fixing the wrong” is not the right thing to do but sometimes we jump ahead of God.  When we do that, either in  “fixing a wrong” or making a choice prematurely, we are likely to cause more problems.  Readiness is important. Timing is important. God’s time, many times, is not our timing.

Think of parents  with young children. One of the children lies down on the floor and proceeds to have a temper tantrum in the middle of a store.  If the child is not hurting anyone, wise parents wait until the child is finished screaming, kicking; those parents let the child vent. When the child is finished, a parent picks up the child, comforts him or her and moves on.  Another parent may interfere, demand that the toddler’s temper tantrum cease, yell at the child to stop the screaming and kicking, even hit the child or call the child names, labeling him/her a bad child. Consequently, the temper tantrum escalates and the calming down takes longer, not to mention the long term effects of the name-calling: a memory that can stay with the child long into adulthood.  God is like the wise parent. When we “lose it,” He simply looks on and watches us with patience, waiting for us to calm down before intervening. He knows that we are not capable of hearing Him while we are ranting and raving.  He also knows that getting one’s anger out without hurting another person or ourselves is an important step in being open to counsel and to experiencing “the bounty of the Lord”.

That Lord’s   “bounty” opens up to the person who, when calm,  humbly and courageously reflects upon the “temper tantrum” experience, seeks God’s counsel or counsel from another, and is willing to learn whatever lesson is hidden within the event. Furthermore, the person who bares his/her soul to the Lord, sharing the incident and feelings about the incident that led to the meltdown, prepares the soil of his/her heart to receive the “rain” of grace. By humbly and courageously waiting upon the Lord, the soft, gentle “rain” of grace soaks  the heart’s soil and, yes, God’s bounty burst through the formerly hardened soul.