Read Psalm 27.
As I sit down to write these words, it is Cyber Monday—the day that supposedly has the best deals on the Internet.
Imagine you do all of your Christmas shopping online through Amazon. Imagine you receive multiple messages of your products being delayed. Imagine that days before Christmas, the President of Amazon shows up at your door and tells you that instead of all of the gifts that you ordered, he will take you to a very nice restaurant for a meal so that you can spend several hours getting to know him.
Most of us would be very disappointed. We don’t want to get to know the President of Amazon, we want the products we ordered. We prefer the products to the person. And sadly, we are often that way with God. We prefer the products resulting from our life with God to the Person of God. We desperately want circumstances to go our way on a daily basis.
Psalm 27 corrects this wrong thinking. The antidote is the command to “wait for the LORD” (Psalm 27:14). When LORD is written in all capitals, this is an indication that the personal Hebrew Name of God is in use. This is a call to wait for the presence of a very specific Person, rather than waiting for our circumstances to change. Because this is very difficult for us to do, we are reminded of Who we are waiting for and are encouraged to be strong and take courage.
Lord, remind us daily that You are the true Light, the thing that we should be the most drawn to. Give us strength to wait for You and not accept any substitute. Amen.
-from a missionary to Central and Southeast Asia