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(Rom. 8: 25). It is a comforting thought that a quiet uncomplaining waiting for God
may express in simple fashion the sublime grace of faith, hope, and love.
Waiting and waiting.
He who manifested the grace of waiting, and expressed by patience the truth of living
by faith, found strength for waiting in the exercise of watching: "I . . . . . will watch to
see what He will say to me . . . . . and the Lord answered . . . . . wait . . . . ." (Hab. 2: 1-4).
To wait unintelligently may be mere inertia; to wait because one knows the will of the
Lord may be the most active service: "When I . . . . . meditate on Thee in the night
watches. Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I
rejoice" (Psa. 63: 6, 7). "Watch therefore", said the Lord to His disciples, and
proceeded to tell of the servant who failing to watch failed to wait, and said, "My Lord
delayeth His coming" (Matt. 24: 42-51).
Watching and waiting merge in experience:--
"I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in His word do I hope. My soul waiteth
for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch
for the morning" (Psa. 130: 5, 6).
My soul waiteth, my soul watcheth, the two are constant companions. One of the
characteristics of the Thessalonian believers was that they waited for the Son of God
from heaven. This is found in the first chapter. In the last chapter, continuing the subject
of the coming of the Lord commenced in chapter 4:, we find waiting translated into
terms of watching: "Let us watch and be sober" (I Thess. 1: 10; 5: 6).
"Watchman, what of the night? . . . . . The watchman said, The morning cometh, and
also the night" (Isa. 21: 11, 12).
Let us watch and wait, for joy cometh in the morning.