Dear Friends
Trouble, famine, hardship, wilderness, exile–these are biblical words that describe our present existence. It’s not a picnic. It was never intended to be a picnic. We are pilgrims, not picnickers. But we are pilgrims progressing somewhere, not merely hopeful travelers in search of a destination. The resurrection of Christ assures us that the promises of God are true and that we can count on them. Iain Duguid
Confession: sometimes I love the above quote. But most often I hate it. I want things to be better – now. I get so tired of all the stuff, nonsense, brokenness, and sin in my world and my life – occasionally that exasperation includes tiredness at myself and my own sin.
Patience is a fruit of the Spirit, but it’s probably the one fruit of the Spirit that’s the hardest to get excited about. Nobody likes to wait! I am a fixer. So, I struggle with patience. My mum used to say, “Patience is a virtue, possess it if you can. It’s seldom found in women, but never found in man.” That still makes me smile even though I know that such awful gender-discrimination should of course be condemned 😉.
Psalm 123 is about the frustration and pain of waiting. It’s a lament. Psalm 123 invites us to say, “Enough already!” to God.
Specifically, Psalm 123 is a lament about the contempt and scorn we feel waiting while others don’t have to (those who are at ease and proud). Often, when I read a lament like this, I expect to see a footnote that says, “The Psalmist had a bad day and a weak moment, this is not a positive example of worship.” But, the people of God are given, by God, this lament to use in worship – AS worship. God gives us words to bring to him, “we’ve had more than enough of contempt.” Then he actually repeats the phrase – so we say it twice to him!
So, this Sunday in worship, we bring our waiting, together, to God. We lift our eyes, voices, and souls to him. We say, “Enough already!” to our heavenly father.
Yours in Christ’s love
Pastor Ewan
Quotes and Meditations.
At its best our age is an age of searchers and discoverers, and at its worst, an age that has domesticated despair and learned to live with it happily. Flannery O’Connor
Our imagination, our desire cannot be set free when it is in the bondage of cynicism and dark despair. Hopelessness produces a refusal to see the potential of a new, bright, and good day: the agony of waiting is too severe when anticipation gives way to disappointment day after day.
Dan Allender, The Healing Path
