Read Together: Psalm 130   

We wait for a lot of things in life. As children, we wait eagerly for Christmas morning. We wait for that special package to be delivered. We wait for that big day marked on our calendar. Waiting is part of life, even in our time where so much is instantaneous. More than that, as we considered on Sunday, waiting is an important posture of the Christian life.

In the psalms, we see David and other psalmists express their faith in the Lord through a posture of waiting. We see this in Psalm 130 where the psalmist repeats this idea of waiting for the Lord, closely connected to the idea of hoping in the Lord and his Word. In the context of this psalm, waiting for the Lord has to do with hoping in his forgiveness and salvation as we are confronted with our sin.

The Christian life requires patience and waiting. We are those who wait and rely on the Lord. With him there is forgiveness (v. 4), steadfast love, and full redemption (v. 7). In turning away from sin to God, we become those who wait for Jesus to come again and bring final deliverance, complete redemption (1 Thess 1:9–10). This is our blessed hope, the chief thing we wait for (Titus 2:13; cf. 1 Cor 1:7).

Discussion Questions

1. What (or who) is the psalmist waiting for?
2. Why is waiting an important posture of the Christian life?
3. What are some ways we can actively demonstrate that we are waiting on the Lord?

Ideas for Younger Kids

• Read Luke 2:22–38 with your children (consider summarizing parts of the story for young children if needed). Draw their attention to two characters who were waiting for something: Simeon and Anna. Both of them, get to meet the infant Jesus and see him as what they were waiting for. We too are waiting for something big. Jesus is going to come again and undo all the bad things in the world.

Memorization: “I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope.” (Psalm 130:5)

Song: Listen to “I Will Wait For You (Psalm 130)” (Shane & Shane).

Pray Together

• Praise God that he is the promise-keeping God! Our waiting is not in vain.
• Confess before God that we are impatient sinners. If God kept a record of sins, we could not stand.
• Give thanks to God that with him there is unfailing love and full redemption.
• Pray that God would help us and direct us as we wait for our blessed hope.

Go Together

• Waiting on God is not a passive posture. It is a waiting that arises out of confidence and faith in the Lord and his promises. It leads to a life lived in obedience to God, not a life of indecision. Discuss as a family one practical way you can express this posture of waiting this week. For example, those who are waiting for something often talk about what they are waiting for. As believers, we should talk often together and with unbelievers about what we are waiting for. So, one practical way we wait is spreading the message of the hope for which we wait.