Psalm 62 is about waiting. What are you waiting for? Do you find it hard to wait? Do you sometimes feel like God doesn't hear your prayers? Do you struggle with the distance between when you pray and when God answers? Psalm 62 is in the Bible to convince you that God is worth the wait.
For God alone my soul waits in silence;
from him comes my salvation.
He alone is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.
How long will all of you attack a man
to batter him,
like a leaning wall, a tottering fence?
They only plan to thrust him down from his high position.
They take pleasure in falsehood.
They bless with their mouths,
but inwardly they curse.
For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence,
for my hope is from him.
He only is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
On God rests my salvation and my glory;
my mighty rock, my refuge is God.
Trust in him at all times, O people;
pour out your heart before him;
God is a refuge for us.
Those of low estate are but a breath;
those of high estate are a delusion;
in the balances they go up;
they are together lighter than a breath.
Put no trust in extortion;
set no vain hopes on robbery;
if riches increase, set not your heart on them.
Once God has spoken;
twice have I heard this:
that power belongs to God,
and that to you, O Lord, belongs steadfast love.
For you will render to a man
according to his work.
Psalm 62 is arguing for the importance of waiting for God. Now, here's what you need to understand. Waiting on God is not like the purposeless waiting that you do in a doctor's office. You know, say you're a man, you're waiting in the doctor's office, and you've waited so long, you've read all the men's magazines that are there, and you are now reading Ladies Home Journal. And you're reading the chicken recipe and you're thinking, "I didn't know that went in chicken." You know you've waited too long! That's not what waiting for God is like.
I want you to hear this principle; it's really argued in this Psalm. Waiting on God is not about what you get at the end of the wait; waiting on God is what you become as you've waited. Let me say that again. Waiting on God is not just about what you get at the end of the wait, but about what you become as you wait.
You see, waiting changes you. You begin to learn that there is no salvation apart from God, that there's no rock to stand on in life apart from him, that there is no fortress to be found outside of the Lord. You learn that hope in him will never disappoint you. You learn that you can pour out whatever is in your heart to him, and he won't reject you, and he won't turn his back on you. You learn that power is fading, and riches are fading, and you put the rich man and the poor man in a balance, and there's not much difference, that real power and real steadfast love belong to the Lord.
You see, you need both of those. If God just were awesome in power, he would be terrifying. If he was just all love but had no power, he couldn't help you. You need the power and the love of the Lord, and as you wait on the Lord, you become more deeply convinced that he's worth the wait.
He's a rock; he's a fortress; he is hope. He can handle anything in your heart. He's that beautiful combination between power, infinite power, and inexhaustible steadfast love. Waiting on God is not purposeless. It's not just about what you get at the end of the wait; it's about what you become as you wait!
Questions for Personal Reflection or Group Discussion
1. Why do you think waiting on God can feel so difficult? So purposeless? So frustrating? Do you struggle with the distance between when you pray and when God answers? If so, why do you think that waiting time is so hard for you? Can you remember a time when you waited on God? What was that experience like for you?
2. If waiting on God is not like waiting in a doctor's office, what makes the two so different? Why is waiting on God not just about what you get at the end of the wait, but about what you become as you wait? How can you intentionally make choices to shift your perspective about waiting on God and allow it to change you?
3. As you process the fact that God is all powerful and simultaneously all loving, how can that change your perspective on waiting for him? Do you truly believe that he can handle anything that's going on in your heart? If so, pour out your heart to him right now and confess that you struggle with waiting on him and his timing. Admit to him that you've felt as if your waiting was purposeless. Now admit that you are in need of him to help you change and become a different person as you wait on his perfect timing.
Conversation Prompts to Use with Children
For Younger Children:
• What does waiting feel like to you when you have to do it? Why do you think it's so hard to wait for something like your birthday or Christmas when it gets closer and closer in the calendar? Do you think waiting is always a bad thing? Why? Is the end of waiting always a good thing? Why?
• What do you think it means to wait for the Lord? Why might waiting for the Lord be different than something like waiting to be seen in a doctor's office?
• If we know that God is good and in control of all things, do you think we can trust him while we wait on him? How do you think God wants to use waiting on him to help change us to be more like Jesus? How does that even work?
• Let's pray together right now and ask God to help us as we wait on him, and let's ask him to help us trust him when the waiting seems like a long time.
For Older Children:
• Why do you think it's so hard for us as human beings to wait? Is waiting something that always seems like it's a bad thing to you? Why? Is the end of waiting always going to be a good thing? Why?
• The Bible tells us to wait patiently for the Lord. Why is patience so important when how patience is formed can seem so purposeless? How might waiting on the Lord be valuable and even beneficial to us?
• What can we learn about God by waiting that we wouldn't be able to learn if everything happened quickly in our lives without waiting? If I told you that waiting on God wasn't just about what you got at the end of the wait, but about what you'd become as you waited, would you see more value in waiting on him? Why?
• How have I been a good and/or poor example of patiently waiting on the Lord? How can we help each other to become more patient as we wait for God to work in our lives?
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