Psalm 62: 1-2 says “I wait quietly before God, for my
victory comes from Him. He alone is my
rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will never be shaken.”
Wait quietly. What
does that look like? What does that
mean? Quietly, perhaps, is the easier
word to define. To do something quietly
is to do it with little volume, maybe even none. But waiting?
Waiting, I believe, is the more difficult term to comprehend. Waiting implies stillness, a lack of motion
and, possibly, action. How could it be
that this is a prerequisite to victory and salvation in times of trouble?
In Lamentations 3:26, the author tells us “it is good to
wait quietly for salvation from the LORD”.
This idea is repeated in Luke’s gospel.
While Mary sits at the feet of Jesus, Martha complains that her sister
is ignoring all the work of hosting Jesus and his disciples. On the surface, this seems like a valid
complaint. Culturally, the women were
expected to be taking care of the preparations for such a visit. Mary and Martha’s contemporaries probably
would have agreed that Mary should have been helping Martha. Jesus, however, disagrees. He lovingly answers Martha’s complaint with
truth that benefits us all. “There is
only one thing worth being concerned about.
Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her” (Luke
10:42).
One thing. Only one
thing. Jesus says nothing about waiting
in his response to Martha, but we see it in Mary’s posture and what she chose
to occupy herself with. Despite all of
the tasks that she could have found to do, she realized that the only important
one was to sit at the feet of Jesus and wait to receive from Him. Jesus reiterates this over and over in the
gospels. He calls us to wait and receive. Peter struggled with the idea of waiting,
too. He initially refused to let Jesus
wash his feet before the Passover (John 13).
Only when Jesus told Peter that he could not belong to Him unless He
washed Peter’s feet did Peter acquiesce.
At the time, Peter did not understand that Jesus came to serve him, not
to be served.
I think we often share Peter’s struggle. Jesus came to serve us, and He exists
eternally to serve us. Yes, He is God
and deserves more praise and honor than we could ever imagine. He is also madly in love with us and came to
this earth to serve us. He conquered sin
and death so that we might receive blessings and favor during this life and
everlasting salvation when we walk this earth no more. He came for us to wait at His feet and receive
from Him.
Fixing our eyes on Him is the only thing that matters. When we do this, we find peace. When we do this, He is able to work everything out for our good (Romans 8:28).