Life on earth is fully of layers…one upon the other. On one level, life is not a complex matter, and we can understand it very well. Yet, at the same time, on many other levels, it is complex, and we don’t understand it at all. There will be times of chaos, confusion and without any clarity. There will be times, where we understand everything clearly, and are sure about it.
There are some issues in life, where we may have more questions about it, than we have any good answers. There are times we simply cannot make the head nor the tail of certain matters. There are times, where we get paralysed not just in our thoughts, but also in our actions. We simply cannot even move. Welcome to the reality of life!
What do we do about life? I don’t know about others, but I run to the written Word of God – the Bible – at such times, and seek the LORD in prayer, for clarity, wisdom and guidance. The One who created us knows it better than anyone else…least of all, myself. This is precisely what makes the Psalmist to write these words in Psalm 33:20-22…
– “20 Our soul waits for the LORD; He is our help and our shield. 21 For our heart shall rejoice in Him, Because we have trusted in His holy name. 22 Let Your mercy, O LORD, be upon us, Just as we hope in You.”
I simply love these words! These words have been, a source of comfort and strength to me, on many a stormy day, and starless nights. Albert Barnes (1798-1870) commenting on Psalm 33:20-22 says…
– “True piety leads people to wait on the Lord; to depend on Him; to look to His interposition in danger, sickness, poverty, want; to rely upon Him for all that is hoped for in this life, and for salvation in the life to come.”
We should learn to “WAIT upon God” – WAIT for, and upon Him, to speak to us, to enlighten us and to empower us. Only those of us, who learn to WAIT for, and upon God, will see the light that will guide us, through every and any situation. For YAHWEH is our HELP and our SHIELD. What soothing and comforting words, for someone, who is famished, fainting, and in darkness, in need of HOPE, and urgent HELP!!! The LORD surely helps…let us have no doubts about this. The LORD is no man to promise, and not keep it. Let us WAIT upon our LORD!
"To wait is a great lesson. To be quiet in expectation, patient in hope, single in confidence, is one of the bright attainments of a Christian. Our soul, our life, must hang upon God; we are not to trust him with a few gewgaws, but with all we have and are. "He is our help and our shield." Our help in labour, our shield in danger. The Lord answereth all things to his people. He is their all in all."