But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord.
At an acceptable time, O God,
in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness. Psalm 69:13
For a while there was a saying that became so popular it was cross stitched onto plaques and pillows, printed on T shirts and mugs and made into bumper stickers – Lord Give Me Patience and Give it to Me NOW! We all hear that God’ s timing is not or own. When we go through a rough spell in our lives, sympathetic people hug our shoulders or pat our backs and whisper, “All in God’s time, all in God’s time.”
David certainly understood this in this passage from Psalm 69. He prays at an acceptable time. Acceptable to whom? David or God? Part of this psalm is spent asking God to hurry up, answer his plight and come to his rescue. I’m that way at times, aren’t you? Patience takes practice. I don’t think it is an innate trait we are born with to be calm, patient and long suffering. We want what we want now.
But God is patient, long suffering and lovingly calm with us. He sees beyond the immediate, and once He does respond with more than a “wait for it”; once He does make His presence known to us, we can see that His timing really was perfect after all. So it’s okay to ask for patience right now. Patience fosters faith. Faith stems from hope and hope helps us to wait patiently and faithfully. It is all in God’s time because He is the creator of time. Trust He will answer in abundance of His steadfast love, even if the answer is not yet.
