We wait in hope for the LORD (Psalm 33:20).
I’m glad you’ve joined us for 30 Days of Hopeful. I am always on the lookout for secrets when it comes to learning to persevere with hope. My greatest lessons have not come through discipline or fervor—but rather through weakness. I’ve often shared how I learned to hold onto hope when my husband and I battled through years of infertility before our children were born.
Waiting for the deepest longings of our heart is not what I’d call fun. Many of you know what I’m talking about. Perhaps you have prayed and prayed about something. You’ve heard God whisper to you to keep believing. And yet the answer still hasn’t come.
But a time of waiting can become a season when our “hope muscles” have a chance to grow. The Bible gives plenty of encouragement about how to wait with hope: “We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love be with us, Lord, even as we put our hope in you” (Psalm 33:20-22).
During my season of waiting, I learned to strengthen myself on the promises of God’s Word. I held tightly to verses about healing—too many to count—day after day, month after month, year after year. I learned to hear God’s whispers of encouragement and trust His character, even when my circumstances seemed hopeless. In short, I gained strength through the secret of what the apostle John called “abiding in Christ” (John 15:7).
If you’re in your own waiting room right now, be encouraged by the words of 19th century preacher, Charles Spurgeon: “The longer the blessing is in coming, the richer it will be when it arrives. That which is gained speedily by a single prayer is sometimes only a second-rate blessing; but that which is gained after many a desperate tug and many an awful struggle is a full-weighted and precious blessing.”
So wait with hope, dear friend. Your blessing my be nearer than you can imagine.
marilynn chadwick 