His Encouragement #6

Happy Thursday! I am blessed to be a part of a group of bloggers who feel led to share a bit of encouragement each week from the Bible. We recognize that the source of our peace, strength, and security in this life comes from Jesus, and we aim to share that with our readers. Plus, when Thursday comes around, we can all use a little encouragement right? I hope that this posting blesses you and that you find strength and rest in the Lord today. God Bless! ❤

This week I’m sharing:

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
and in his word I hope;
~Psalm 130:5 (ESV)

If I’m being honest this verse can feel as convicting as it is encouraging. However if we are going through tough times in life, we should be looking to the Word for our help. As with any other passage it’s important to look at the whole picture and not just one verse. Below is the entire chapter of Psalm 130:

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord!
²     O Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
    to the voice of my pleas for mercy!

³ If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,
    O Lord, who could stand?
⁴ But with you there is forgiveness,
    that you may be feared.

⁵ I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
    and in his word I hope;
⁶ my soul waits for the Lord
    more than watchmen for the morning,
    more than watchmen for the morning.

⁷ O Israel, hope in the Lord!
    For with the Lord there is steadfast love,
    and with him is plentiful redemption.
⁸ And he will redeem Israel
    from all his iniquities.

Have you ever been in a pit? Or been in a situation that you are so desperate for answers that you feel you are barely hanging on by a thread? How did you respond while there? (This is where my OUCH is). The first few verses of the chapter are a cry to the Lord in times of trouble. Not just any trouble, but “out of the depths”. The notes in my My CSB Study Bible for Women say:

“such ‘depths’ serve as a metaphor for the human experience of trouble, guilt, or destruction, from which there is no possibility of escape or survival without God’s intervention.” (pg 734-5)

When we are in times of trouble we need to cling to the Lord for His strength and help to lift us up. If we try to do it all in our own strength, we will surely fail. That’s not meant to make us feel weak and incapable, but strengthened and encouraged knowing that our help comes from the Lord!

This passage is not intended to make us feel guilty over how we don’t measure up or how we’ve failed when in low places, but instead it should bring us back to the Word and call us to meditate on it for our strength. Allow me to say this: If we feel defeated, we will act defeated. But God gives us hope, and that’s where our focus needs to be.

Take a look at verse 6 where it says “more than a watchman for the morning.” It happens to say it twice. Why? Well let me ask you this, have you ever had to stay awake for a really really long time? I bet you felt great when you were finally able to lie down and rest! This is basically the same concept. The watchmen have to be not only awake, but vigilant through the night to keep an eye out for danger. It isn’t until the morning when everyone wakes up, that the watchmen can then rest peacefully, knowing they all made it through the night. Waiting on the Lord can sometimes feel like the end of the shift for a watchman. You’re tired, cranky, mopey, just want to lie down and give up. (I was a night-shifter for a few years, I actually understand this a bit 😉 ) But what’s great is we can also know that the morning will come. We may be tired and weak, but that shows us how dependent we are on the Lord. When we lean on Him he will give us our strength we need to endure.

I will be the first to tell you that waiting is not easy. Especially in the age of instant gratification, we don’t have much we have to wait for. It can make the things we do have to wait on an even larger struggle. Meditating on scripture can be helpful because it can change the “inner talk” we have with ourselves. Instead of focusing on the frustration on waiting, we need to be repeating scripture like: “I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in His word I hope…” or “but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:31). Allow God’s Word to be an encouragement and strength for you!

I hope that you can feel encouraged by this today. I pray for the Lord’s strength and comfort to you in your time of waiting. We have a loving God who is personal and wants a relationship with you. Talk to Him, call out to him, as for His strength to be your strength, and His will to be your will. “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:7).

Now, it’s your turn!

What Biblical verse is encouraging you today?

And, check out more Thursday Encouragement from my fellow blogger friends:

Nicole @ Christian Fiction Girl

Trisha @ Joy of Reading

Jacquelyn @ A Heavenly Home

Jessica @ A Baker’s Perspective

If you would like to join us: please contact Trisha or Nicole