Waiting

By Elizabeth Prata

A friend and I met for Bible discussion. She was in Psalm 130 and asked, what was the Psalmist waiting for? What does ‘wait’ mean here, and how is waiting tied in with trust?

I hope for Yahweh, my soul does hope,
And for His word do I wait.
My soul waits for the Lord
More than the watchmen for the morning,
The watchmen for the morning. Psalm 130:5-6

We talked about who in the Bible waited. And we talked about who waited well or poorly. The first person that came to mind was Sarah. The LORD had told them that they would have a child. Decades went by. No baby. Sarah pushed Hagar onto Abraham. Oops.

Simeon waited for the consolation of Israel. He was so faithful in his long aged wait and so eager, he was even given the promise of not passing away until he saw it with his own eyes.

Hannah waited and waited for a baby. She waited well, and we discussed her prayer that shows us women these many thousands of years later, how well she waited.

So, those were a few who waited for a promise to be fulfilled, or an answer to prayer. But, what does the Psalmist mean exactly about waiting? What was the psalmist waiting for? Is what he meant a promise or an answer to prayer? I turned to Matthew Henry’s Whole Commentary on the Bible for this one-

The psalmist engages himself to trust in God and to wait for him, v. 5, 6. Observe, 1. His dependence upon God, expressed in a climax, it being a song of degrees, or ascents: “I wait for the Lord; from him I expect relief and comfort, believing it will come, longing till it does come, but patiently bearing the delay of it, and resolving to look for it from no other hand. My soul doth wait; I wait for him in sincerity, and not in profession only. I am an expectant, and it is for the Lord that my soul waits, for the gifts of his grace and the operations of his power.”

After we finished our coffee over Bibles and laughed and talked a good while, I headed home with the thoughts of waiting still on my mind. I pondered the question, ‘Which person in the Bible waited best?’

It came to me. I know who displayed infinite patience in the wait and perfect trust while doing so.

Jesus.

Before time began, the Father said He’d gift His Son with a bride. An intra-Trinitarian council was held and the three members of the Trinity discussed redeeming humanity. This occurred before the world was made and prior to any humans having been created or born. (Ephesians 1:4-6; Psalm 2:7).

How long ago was that? We do not know. Long, long ago.

And then history began, the garden, the Fall, the long era of promise of redemption. Redemption came to earth, and He is still building His bride soul by soul. Thousands of years. Jesus was promised a redeemed humanity for His very own, and He is still waiting.

He incarnated and did the work the Father gave Him to do. He performed it perfectly and patiently. He died, rose again, and ascended. Jesus is still waiting for the bridal party to be complete, and is waiting for His Father to say “SON, GO GET YOUR BRIDE!”

John MacArthur said:

Why would God do that?  Because he loves the Son and the 17th chapter of John, as we’ll see later, the Son celebrates the mutual love that he has with the Father, and love gives, and the Father determines in his eternal love within the Trinity that he will express his love for the Son by giving the Son a gift, and that gift, essentially, is going to be a redeemed humanity.  If you will, he gives his Son a bride.

In the ancient world, fathers chose the brides for their sons.  That’s the way it was done.  Nobody chose for themselves.  That was the father’s responsibility.  And here you have the divine pattern as God determines that he will choose a bride for his Son.  It’s a way that the Father could express his love to his Son.  It’s a way he determined to do it, that he would give to his Son a redeemed humanity. 

Follow that thought to the 6th chapter of John, a section of scripture that we refer to often in our studies in the Word of God because it’s so foundational.  In John 6:37.  This is critical.  “All that the Father gives me shall come to me.”  This is where it has to be understood.  Every saved person is a gift from the Father to the Son.  The Father determined in eternity past that he would give to the Son a bride, that he would give to the Son a redeemed humanity.  The Bible tells us that he actually wrote their names down in the Lamb’s Book of Life knowing that even before the foundation of the world, the Lamb would have to be slain to pay the price for that redemption. —End MacArthur

Jesus is patient as He waits for the promise of a Bride for Him to be fulfilled, and He trusts His Father perfectly as he waits. He knows that all who are promised to Him will be given to him, as John 6 says.

What a day that will be when God sends His Son to scoop up His Bride and as one body, we ascend to heaven to celebrate with the Lamb at His supper. (Revelation 19:9).

Jesus is always our best model for anything and everything. Who waited longest and best? Jesus. Who trusted most faithfully in the waiting? Jesus.

He is the Alpha and the Omega.

Further Resources

Charles Spurgeon wrote an exposition of every Psalm. It’s called The Treasury of David, and it’s online in several places, like here, and here

Phil Johnson preaches on Psalms, and very well, too.

Scott Aniol of G3 Ministries recently wrote a book on the music of God (Psalms). It’s called Musing on God’s Music. Here is a discussion about the book: Honest Conversations in Black and White Episode 6