Yet I am confident that I will see the Lord’s goodness while I am here in the land of the living. Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord. Psalm 27:13-14
David wrote these words in Psalm 27. The first word jumps out at me – “yet”. In spite of all the evidence to the contrary. In spite of everything my eyes currently see, I am confident in the goodness of God. It’s not just head knowledge, but life experience that allows David to retain his confidence in God’s goodness. It is God’s nature, His character. He cannot be anything but good. He has a good heart, good intentions, good desires for you.
Does this mean that everything that happens to you will be good? Obviously not – this passage starts with “yet”. David had just described pleading with God while his enemies were threatening him. Our enemy always wants to harm us. But God desires to bless and bless and bless again. What He intends for you is not brokenness or pain. He intends good, healing, wholeness, restoration for you. This is His eternal plan from the beginning.
Our hurts happen because God gave humans free will, with which we accept or reject Him and His ways. He accepts our choices. Sometimes we’re hurt by our own choices. Sometimes we’re hurt as a result of others’ choices. Sometimes we’re hurt because we live in a world that’s under the curse of sin. While God accepts our choices that hurt ourselves and others, He does not desire for bad things to happen to us. In the midst of this cursed condition, God is actively, tirelessly, constantly working to restore all things, to make things right, to make something good out of what Satan intended would destroy us (John 5:17; Romans 8:28; Genesis 50:20; Jeremiah 29:11).
And so we have no choice but to wait. Wait for God to finish His work, accomplish His purposes. Wait for the evidence that proves our trust was not misplaced. What is this condition except one of hope?
Hope is a seed. A possibility. A desire not yet realized. In order for anything to come from hope, it must be planted. It disappears into the darkness. Mysterious things happen there, beneath what we can see. But all along, the seed is doing its miraculous dying, transforming into something bigger than its original form.
We plant our hope in the soil of God’s marvelous love. We believe earnestly, desperately, against all the odds that by placing our hopes here, there is a chance, a possibility of attaining that which we long for.
What do we long for? Freedom from the curse of sin. Restoration to our position as God’s sons and daughters. Paul says, “Even we Christians, although we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, also groan to be released from pain and suffering. We, too, wait anxiously for that day when God will give us our full rights as his children… Now that we are saved, we eagerly look forward to this freedom. For if you already have something, you don’t need to hope for it. But if we look forward to something we don’t have yet, we must wait patiently and confidently.” Romans 8:23-24
Like Paul, like David, like countless saints before, we are looking forward. We are waiting for something more. We are biding our time in confident hope for our good God to finish His good work.
We are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world where everyone is right with God. And so, dear friends, while you are waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to live a pure and blameless life. And be at peace with God. And remember, the Lord is waiting so that people have time to be saved. 2 Peter 3:13-15