How Long will we sing this song?
Sarah and I are waiting a lot recently. We’re waiting to welcome our first child into the world, which we’re so excited about and know will change our lives forever. We’re also waiting for a job for me, which is becoming more and more of a pressing need.
Despite her discomfort, we agree the job search has been the harder of the two. The question really is: How long? How long will we sing this song? We know God will provide. But when?
Lately, we have learned so many good things, for which we are grateful. We’ve revisited stories that we can relate to, like the Israelites in Exodus stuck between the Red Sea and the Egyptian army. Their story teaches us that God means for us to be where we are; that the same God who led us in will lead us out; that we are to be more concerned with God’s glory than our relief; and that he’ll provide in his own unique way.[1] Sure, we are not actually fugitive slaves encountering an angry army, but we do feel like we’ve been led into a desert and are looking for our own exit strategy.
But how long… how long will we sing this song?
Losing my dad was the most tragic event of my life and far outweighs the pain of unemployment. However, death is something we accept. We all know life ends, we just don’t know when; it can be a surprise.
But waiting? Waiting is almost harder to accept. Waiting is hard to understand. Waiting is not cut and dry. Waiting is long. Ambiguous. Unknown. We don’t know how long it can take. Sometimes, it’s quick and we move on. Other times our song is put on repeat.
In case you don’t know it, U2 sings a song called “40”, which we can relate to at this time. “40” comes from Psalm 40, a prayer for help when trouble abounds. It says, “I waited patiently for the Lord, he turned to me and heard my cry.” Bono and The Edge, who wrote and recorded this song in about ten minutes as they ran out of time in a studio in 1983, captured this feeling of waiting.
Here is a live performance from Chicago.
Despite the pain of waiting and asking how long, we hold fast to the truth we see throughout God’s word, throughout our whole lives, and throughout the history of our families. These are our stories that we can revisit and draw strength from. But it’s not our story write…
(“40″ could also be about the 40 weeks of pregnancy. Just ask my wife.)
I saw your blog on facebook and snuck over to have a look. I guess England has already come and gone! It looks like you had a good experience there. And now you are expecting a baby! So fun.
I really appreciate this post. I, too, am between jobs and struggle with the waiting. We sing this song at church, and I like how you connected it to your current time of waiting. Thank you for sharing, and I pray you find a job soon and that you are able to rest in God’s love and grace and faithfulness in the meantime.