more than watchmen wait for the morning

I confess that I have not been practicing advent well. I have not given it the time it deserves. I wrote earlier this month about the discipline of waiting. I stil am not sure I know exactly what to wait for; however, that doesn't bother me as much as the fact that I do not know how to wait. I am taught from my culture that there is no sense in waiting. Either I should be able to readily grasp what it is that I desire, or for the things that take time, I should be able to use that time to do something productive. Thank goodness I have my cell phone with me so that everytime the world tempts me to wait I can call or text a friend because waiting is a terrible waste of time.

Now I don't know how God wants us to wait. These days I am waiting for my semester grades to come in, but I am not sitting around by the computer refreshing my portal every three minutes. Waiting is not normally something that consumes the moment.

Psalm 130 tells of a different manner of waiting:

5 I wait for the LORD, my soul waits,
and in his word I put my hope.
6 My soul waits for the Lord
more than watchmen wait for the morning,
more than watchmen wait for the morning.
7 O Israel, put your hope in the LORD,
for with the LORD is unfailing love
and with him is full redemption.
8 He himself will redeem Israel
from all their sins.

Apparently there is a need for redemption that I am not aware of. Its almost a funny thing to say considering I often am surrounded by those in circumstances that explicitly shows this need for redemption of the world. Paul in his letter to the Romans mentions as well that "creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed" and we too "groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies." Again, redemption! How is it that I forget my/our/the need for redemption? What am I settling for? If I have no need for redemption, I have no faith and without faith where is my hope?

No, I don't think that sitting around and waiting for God to restore is God's call on our lives. Suffering (with others), maybe, is how God wants us to wait. Because in suffering, we are aware of the need for redemption. We won't wait unless we suffer with others. In suffering though there is room for joy because we have hope for resoration.

Isaiah 30:
15 This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says:
"In repentance and rest is your salvation,
in quietness and trust is your strength,
but you would have none of it.
16 You said, 'No, we will flee on horses.'
Therefore you will flee!
You said, 'We will ride off on swift horses.'
Therefore your pursuers will be swift!
17 A thousand will flee
at the threat of one;
at the threat of five
you will all flee away,
till you are left
like a flagstaff on a mountaintop,
like a banner on a hill."
18 Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you;
he rises to show you compassion.
For the LORD is a God of justice.
Blessed are all who wait for him!