Psalm 27:14 Wait for the Lord;
    be strong and take heart
    and wait for the Lord.

I can’t read this Psalm without music rising in my heart and mind, because of all the wonderful songs that have been created from it. The Japanese translation of this last verse is no exception, having been put to music by Makoto Iwabuchi, whom I am honored to call a friend. English translations didn’t fit his music very well, so I re-wrote the lyrics. “Be strong, and wait for God. Take heart, and wait for Him. Know that the Lord your God will answer, and be strong and wait for Him.” Living in the flow of time as we do, patience is not our strong suite. The Psalms are filled with expressions like, How long? That is very human! Probably our biggest problem is perspective. Geologists operate on a very different time scale than molecular biologists, for example. We are told of imminent potential geologic disasters, like earthquakes and tsunami, but they are generally in terms of “any decade now.” We tend to operate more on the basis of how many beats per minute our hearts are taking. This is where faith comes in. We are called to trust God’s timing, when our emotions are screaming that things aren’t happening on our desired schedule. I keep coming back to the awareness that we are generally limited to no more than 100 years in the flesh, but God is outside of time and sees everything at once. As Peter rightly pointed out, “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.” (2 Peter 3:8) When our hearts are fixed on Him, we can both enjoy the moment and look forward to eternity.

I have friends and relatives right now who are very much in the middle of this. For the most part, all I can do is pray for them, but that is no small thing, because I can pray to the Creator who is outside of time! There are things in my own life right now that seem to progress either too fast or too slowly, in my perception. I need to remember that’s no big deal. As David encourages me, I need to be strong in faith and trust my God. I need to do that not only for myself, but also as an example to others, because many are watching me. Recently we have been contacted by numbers of people who were here in the past, sometimes decades ago, and they are grateful for the impact the Lord had on them through us. God’s plans and His schedule are perfect. I need to trust that, both for myself and for those I love, for our blessing and His glory.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for the news we got on Saturday, and getting to see my new great-granddaughter “in the flesh,” so to speak. Thank You that You are in charge of what is happening with my brother, and that I can look forward to contact with him. Thank You for the message You’ve given me for this morning. May I express it in Your words by the power of Your Spirit, so that all who hear it may be transformed according to Your plan, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!