"Waiting for the Lord"
And now, O Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in you. — Psalm 39:7
The disciples followed Jesus for three years, waiting for the day when Jesus would be publicly declared the Messiah. Some had high hopes. James and John, the sons of Zebedee, hoped they would become princes and sit together with Jesus on the throne. Judas thought he might become the treasurer of the kingdom and have more money than he ever dreamed of. Perhaps other disciples thought they would perform miracles and earn high acclaim. They surely hoped their fortunes would improve and their dreams fulfilled.
What ended up happening was not what they had expected. Their master was arrested, tried, beaten and crucified like a common criminal. How crushed they must have been to realize that all their dreams had been shattered to smithereens. They were shaken to the core. They had expected some type of a reward for their hard work as his followers. They had left behind their families and livelihoods, wandering from town to town with a radical preacher. They had placed their hope in things they could see and grasp.
But the psalmist tells us our hope is in God, not in things, and we need to be patient in waiting for this hope. Lent is a journey filled with things not yet seen. It tests our patience. Yet in the end, when we wait for God, we will find that hope. We will find healing. And at the end of the Lenten journey, beyond the cross and tomb, we will discover through the promise of the resurrection that we will never be shaken no matter what happens in the here and now.
Lord, you are our hope. You are our strength and salvation. Help us to make room in our hearts for you during this Lenten season. In Christ’s name, we pray. Amen.
Written by: Catherine Gordon & Susan Rheem