Psalm 119:81 Resources for the Wait

I'm a part time rideshare driver. One afternoon, on one of the hottest days of the summer, I was driving through the city on the way to pick up a passenger. A block from my destination I saw a hitchhiker, standing by the side of the road, thumb out. He was hot and sweaty, waiting and hoping for some to rescue him. Since I was "on the clock" for Uber, I passed him by and drove on to where I saw my rideshare passenger standing by the side of the road, looking from his smart phone to my approaching car. He was hot and sweaty, waiting and hoping for me to rescue him.

The difference between these two hopeful passengers is the rideshare app. My assigned passenger was able to look at the app and see a real time GPS tracking of my car's progress along the app's designated route and a timer ticking down the minutes until arrival. He also, as I pulled up, had before him a picture of my car, its license plate number, and a picture of the authorized driver along with my name.

The hitchhiker had only his thumb and a less-than-hopeful expression on his face.

My soul faints with longing for your salvation,but I have put my hope in your word.

Psalm 119:81

One of the truest lines ever written in a song is found in the chorus of Andrew Peterson's Faith to Be Strong:

Give us faith to be strong, Give us strength to be faithful; This life is not long, but it's hard; Give us grace to go on, Make us willing and able; Lord, give us faith to be strong

This life is not long, but it's hard.

For young people, the idea of "this life is not long" is foreign to them. For the ladies in the prison chapel it can also seem an odd statement. For them, every day is long and all they can see stretching out before them is a repetitive string of long days.

They would agree, though, that life is hard.

From my perspective, in the early part of my seventh decade traveling the 1 road, I know very well this life is not long. And I know from experience life can be hard.

During life's hardest times the wait for rescue makes life even harder.

So what's a weary traveler on the 1 road of life to do?

You can choose the hitchhiker option or the rideshare option.

The spiritual hitchhiker has nothing to rely on but their own efforts. Try to summon up a positive outlook. Explore ways to distract yourself from your woes. Pour all your spiritual energies into pursuing an emotional high that will provide a brief but shallow respite. Flip through the pages of the Bible hoping to stumble on a verse to answer your questions or cheer you up. Or sit down in a pile of ashes and curse the day of your birth (Job 2:8, 3:1).

The spiritual rideshare traveler takes a different approach. Like the hitchhiker, you know there's likely to be a wait for rescue to arrive. But you also know you have a resource to provide you with real, substantive hope.

Like the rideshare app, God's Word (which these days might actually be on an app), provides you with everything you need to navigate the 1 road of life in a god-centered way (II Peter 1:3-11).

This doesn't mean looking for a quick fix in the Bible. Peter provides guidelines on how to make use of what God has provided.

• II Peter 1:3 - Study the scriptures with the goal of knowing the heart of God
• II Peter 1:4 - Study the scriptures with the goal of training your own heart to be like God's heart
• II Peter 1:5-9 - Study the scriptures to learn how spiritual disciplines can produce spiritual fruit that will sustain you and grow your faith
• II Peter 1:10-11 - Study the scriptures to learn what God has called you to do and how to remain steadfast in fulfilling His mission

While you wait through this life that is not long but often hard, keep the Word ever before you. Then when the rescue comes, you'll already know His face and He'll richly welcome you.