Hello, welcome to Bible Wisdom Today; systematic Bible teaching for those willing to think deeply. My name is Stan Watkins. 

Why does God seem to move so slowly? You pray. You trust. You wait. You continue waiting, yet the answer does not come. Perhaps you should just take matters into your own hands. 

Waiting on God is hard not because we doubt His power. Waiting on God is hard because we doubt His sense of timing. In those long days of silence, we begin to ask the same questions Abram asked nearly four thousand years ago: Has God forgotten me? Will He really do what He promised? How long must I wait? 

In Genesis 15 and 16 we find two very different responses to God's delay. First, Abram brings his questions honestly before God and finds his faith strengthened. His wife, Sarai, however, provides a negative example. She is unable to bear the weight of waiting for God any longer. She devises her own solution—and the consequences echo through history. Their stories are more than ancient history; they mirror the struggles every believer faces when God's promises seem delayed. 

Our main point, today, is simple: When God keeps you waiting, your best response is to keep waiting. God will accomplish his good plan for you in His time. 

Simple does not mean easy, however. Waiting is not simply a matter of deciding to wait. Make sure that you stay with me until the end of this episode when I will share some personal, practical tips on what to do while you wait.

How to Wait for God

As we begin Genesis 15, it has been approximately 10 years since God first called Abram to leave Haran. God promised to give him a land to possess and give him a family which would become a great nation. In the years since God’s promise Abram had migrated to Canaan, moved briefly to Egypt then back to Canaan. God had blessed him materially with wealth and livestock, but he was still moving about in tents. He still had no little children running around underfoot.  

Abram had questions! God had made a promise, but there was no evidence that he would keep it. Let’s pick up the Bible story beginning in Genesis 15:1 

After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: 
 “Do not be afraid, Abram.
 I am your shield, 
 your very great reward. ” 
 
 But Abram said, “Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.” 
 
 Then the word of the LORD came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars —if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”
 
 Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
 Genesis 15:1-6 

This passage begins with the phrase, “After this,” which refers back to Abram’s victory over the kings from the East in chapter 14 and indicates that some time has elapsed. Now, the word of the LORD came to Abram. This expression usually introduces a revelation of God communicated to a prophet. This is the only place where that phrase is used in Genesis, and shows that the author considered Abram to be a prophet. This also prepares the way for the prophecy regarding Abram’s descendants which we will see in verse 13. Abraham is specifically called a prophet later in chapter 20. 

God said to Abram, “I am your shield.” This confirms God’s role in Abram’s military victory in the previous chapter. The priest, Melchizedek, had also credited God when he said,  

“Blessed be Abram by God Most High, 
 Creator of heaven and earth. 
 And praise be to God Most High, 
 who delivered your enemies into your hand.”
 Genesis 14:19-20 

God announced that He was Abram’s reward. This is a broad term which can mean “wage” or “fee,” but in this context probably refers to a soldier’s war booty. Everyone in chapter 14 assumed that the booty belonged to Abram, yet he refused it. Now, God says that He will be Abram’s booty, his reward. 

Now Abram asks God his question. He does so respectfully, by addressing God as “sovereign LORD.” Abram remained childless. His situation contradicted the general idea in Genesis that God’s blessing is seen in fruitfulness and also contradicted the specific promise that God had made to Abram.  

Childlessness was viewed as a disaster in the ancient world. Without children, who will carry on my family line, who will preserve my family inheritance, who will take care of me when I am old, and who will carry out the customary funeral rites so that my soul can rest in the life to come? God’s repeated promises only made Abram question more. 

Abram had thought of one possible answer to this difficult situation, and he suggests that to God. “The one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus.” This reflects an ancient near eastern custom where a slave could be adopted. They would then be expected to care for the adopter in his old age, bury him, and receive an inheritance. If the one who adopted them subsequently had children, the one adopted would not be totally disinherited but would share the inheritance.  

Reading between the lines, it seems that Abram is exasperated at God that he is still childless, even after God’s repeated promises. The commentator Gordon Wenham gets at this frustration with his translation, “Look, you have not given me descendants, so that one of my household will inherit from me.” It appears that Abram has not yet carried out his plan to adopt his servant, but if God did not fulfill his promise soon, Abram would be forced to do so. 

At this suggestion God is emphatic that Abram will have a real son, not just a legal heir. “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” The term “flesh and blood” might be translated more directly as “your loins,” a reference to Abram’s lower belly, the focal point of reproduction. 

God now encourages Abram by taking him outside and saying, “Look up at the sky and count the stars.” The word “look” implies a long look, which is further reinforced by the suggestion to “count the stars.” Abram did not ask any more questions. His silence showed his faith. The narrator also offers this interpretation as an editorial comment, “Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness. When the author says that Abram believed the LORD it implies a continued, repeated faith. His faith is highlighted here as an example for his descendants, who would show their faith by following the sacrificial practices laid out in the law. 

Abram also had questions for God regarding the land that God had promised to him. God must have known Abram’s concerns when he said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.” This is one of only four places in Genesis where God refers to himself as Yahweh, “I am the LORD.” There are several parallels throughout this chapter and the next between the story of Abram and Sarai and the later story of their descendants. God uses His covenant name, here, to enhance the parallel between God’s call of Abram and his later redemption of Israel from Egypt. He would later speak to the Israelite nation from Mount Sinai in very similar words, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.”  

Now, that God has brought up His promise of land, Abram has an opening to ask God his question. “Sovereign LORD,” he said with respect, as before. “How can I know that I will gain possession of it? 

So the LORD said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon. ”
 Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away. 
 Genesis 15:9-11 
 

Twice in this chapter, Abram asks for a sign, and each time God does what he asks. God does not take it as an implication of unbelief. When Abram had asked about God’s promise of descendants, God showed him the stars of the sky as a picture of his promise. Now, God strengthens Abram’s faith with a sign that involves three animals cut into halves and two small birds. This strikes us as quite strange, but Abram understood the symbolism immediately. God was making a solemn covenant with him. 

This is the way covenants in the ancient near east were ratified. The author makes God’s intention clear when he summarizes in verse 18, “on that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram.” Literally, the text reads “the LORD cut a covenant with Abram.” This is rooted in ancient legal practices and acted out here. The two parties making a covenant would confirm it by cutting several animals in half and walking between the pieces. This action was a symbolic self-curse. “May the same thing happen to me as has been done to these animals if I fail to keep this covenant.” Some have objected to this suggested cultural background by saying that surely God would not be party to such a self-curse. Perhaps so, but a historic symbol need not find a parallel in every single aspect in order to be valid. Abram understood God’s intent. 

There were two main categories of ancient covenants that would be enacted in this way. The first were covenants between two equal parties, where each had an obligation to the other and both parties symbolized their obligations by walking between the pieces. The second type were covenants between two unequal parties. Generally, the obligations fell on the lesser party, such as a vassal king, and only he would walk between the pieces. On other occasions, a greater party might wish to bestow an unconditional grant of property upon a loyal subject. In that case the obligations fell only on the superior party and only he walked between the pieces.  

The animals that God asked Abram to procure are the exact species of animals that were required in the sacrificial system of the later Israelite nation. This is another connection between the later readers and their earlier patriarch. Abram prepared the animals God had specified in the typical manner, cutting each of the larger animals in half and arranging them in two rows. The two birds he left whole and placed one on each side. As could be expected, birds of prey came down to feast on the dead carcasses, but Abram drove them away. Many interpreters see the birds of prey as symbolic of foreign nations oppressing the nation of Israel. This certainly would fit the context and provide a good introduction to the prophecy of Israelite oppression in Egypt which is to follow. 

Continuing to read from verse 12: 

As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. Then the LORD said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.” 
 
 When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates — the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”
 Genesis 15:12-21

This ceremony began as the sun was setting. Since the earlier scene of Abram invited to count the stars must have taken place during darkness, this solemn ceremony must have happened on a different evening, perhaps the next evening. Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. This is another point of connection with the later Israelites, who heard God speak from Mount Sinai, covered with smoke, accompanied by a trumpet blast and earthquake.  

This also makes an good introduction to God’s prophetic word regarding Abraham’s descendants’ sojourn in Egypt, their slavery there and their ultimate deliverance. God foretold that Abram’s descendants would be strangers in another country for four hundred years. Later he says that they would return to Canaan in the fourth generation. Since these two expressions describe the same period of time, 400 years appears to be an approximate reference. The book of Exodus gives greater detail when it says that the Israelites lived in Egypt for 430 years.  

It seems that God told Abram about his descendants’ coming Egyptian enslavement and following deliverance specifically for their benefit. He wanted them to see their story foreshadowed in the story of their ancient patriarch. In order to make sure those future readers would understand the parallel, he also foretold that they would come out of foreign oppression with great possessions, a detail that they could not miss. 

When God said “your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure,” he used “Amorites” to stand for all the inhabitants of Canaan. God’s judgment of the Canaanites, in the form of Israel’s conquest, would have to wait. 

When God promised Abram that he would go to his ancestors in peace, it was the first instance of the important Hebrew word “shalom,” which is usually translated “peace.” The peace that Abram would experience, living a complete, fulfilled, secure life until his last breath, is a sharp contrast to the future experienced by his descendants. Why did God pause in his prophetic message to give Abram this deeply personal, comforting promise? God is not just the cold architect of history. He also is a kind, personal shepherd. Even while he asked Abram to share the weight of this multi-generational covenant, he also showed personal care. Abram himself would experience peace, and his future descendants will eventually possess the promised land and experience peace as well. Their upcoming years of slavery were not the ultimate destination, nor a detour along the way, but the means by which God created a nation and demonstrated his redemptive nature in their deliverance. 

On the evening of this solemn covenant, Abram, as the weaker party, surely expected to bear the obligations of the covenant, but God made a radical switch. He surprised Abram by taking all the obligations upon Himself. He alone passed between the pieces of the animals, symbolized by a smoking firepot and a blazing torch. God made a royal land-grant treaty with Abram, binding himself in covenant with Abram and his descendants. The power of the symbolism became a sign of God’s promise that Abram would never forget. 

God’s land promise to Abram was expansive, from Egypt to the Euphrates. Even at its largest under Solomon, the nation Israel never possessed all this land. How should we understand this promise of God? In the second millennium BC, when Abram lived, it was common to cite major geographic landmarks as a standard legal description of a geopolitical region, rather than as specific property lines. Under King Solomon, Israel’s empire exercised influence by exacting tribute over precisely this land area, even if the actual borders did not extend so far. 

Listen to 1 Kings 4:21 

And Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates River to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. These countries brought tribute and were Solomon’s subjects all his life.
 1 Kings 4:21 

In addition to a geographic description of Israel’s future influence, God also lists the people groups which would come under their control. We frequently see lists of 6-7 people groups that occupied Canaan before Israel, but this is the longest list, including 10 peoples. 

So far in our story, today, Abram has provided a positive example of how to respond when God kept him waiting. He responded by continuing to wait. He did have questions, he did ask for signs, but God was willing to strengthen his faith by giving them. The next chapter of Genesis gives us a negative example, how not to wait for God.

How NOT to Wait for God

As we turn the page from Geneses 15 to Genesis 16 we enter a new world. Abram has just received an incredible promise of descendants and a homeland. God has pointed him to the vast array of stars and appeared as a smoking fire pot to symbolically enact a real estate covenant in blood. Abram had God’s grand theological blueprint, but Sarai, his wife, still had a silent womb. God had specifically promised that Abram would have a son born from his own body, but he did not specifically promise that Sarai would be a mother. Sarai searched frantically for a solution. 

Listen to how Genesis tells this part of the story, beginning with chapter 16 verse 1. 

Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; so she said to Abram, “The LORD has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.” 
 Abram agreed to what Sarai said. So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.
 When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the LORD judge between you and me.” 
 “Your slave is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.
 Genesis 16:1-6 

Here, the grand theological perspective that God has shown to Abram runs into the reality of daily life. Every morning, Sarai’s womb is still empty; every morning the biological realities of her aging body are more obvious; every morning hope is still dead. She doesn’t necessarily doubt God’s promise to Abram; she only doubts her involvement in it. She explicitly says in verse 2, “The LORD has kept me from having children.” Given this situation, Sarai did what many God-followers since have done when confronted with the friction between theology and reality. She devised a human strategy to solve the problem. She suggests surrogate motherhood. 

In the ancient near east, remaining barren was calamitous for a woman. She had not upheld her role as a woman. She had not fulfilled her responsibility. In order to increase their chances of a legal heir, some men turned to polygamy, but rich women often preferred surrogate motherhood. This allowed them to exert some control over the surrogate and the child which they would not have if their husband simply took another wife. These arrangements were practiced throughout the ancient world from Babylon to Egypt. 

The relationship between Sarai and Hagar is stated clearly. Hagar was Sarai’s slave. Although she is described as Egyptian, Hagar’s name appears to be semitic. “Go, sleep with my slave,” Sarai said, using a Hebrew expression “go in to,” which was a literal description of sexual intercourse. 

Abram agreed. The Hebrew says literally, “Abram listened to the voice [of his wife].” This phrasing occurs only here in order to create an allusion to Genesis 3, where Eve offered the forbidden fruit to Adam and Adam listened to his wife. Through this allusion to the story of Adam and Eve, the narrator shows that he disapproves of Sarai’s actions. In both Genesis 3 and Genesis 16, the woman took the initiative, and the man passively accepted what was offered. 

The way Sarai took her own initiative to solve the childlessness problem rather than relying on God’s promise was much like Abram’s suggestion that his servant might become his heir. The difference, of course, was that Abram did not go through with his idea. Sarai did, however, and it did not work out well for her. Many other God-followers have tried to work out their own solutions to God’s delay with similar unhappy results. Perhaps you have experienced this for yourself. 

Once Hagar knew she was pregnant, the Bible says, she began to despise her mistress. In turn, Sarai blamed Abram. “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering…. May the LORD judge between you and me.” This is virtually a curse! 

Abram tried to keep the peace by reaffirming that Sarai had control over her own maid. Then Sarai began to mistreat Hagar. It is interesting that the Bible uses the same word to describe the suffering of the Israelites in Egypt. As a result, Hagar ran away, another term which is used to describe the Israelites fleeing from Egypt (Ex. 14:5). 

Oh Sarai! What a mess you have made. If only you could have waited for God to work out his promise in His own time, you could have saved yourself from all this trouble! 

Let’s pick up the story from Genesis 16:7, after Hagar has fled. 

The angel of the LORD found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?” 
 “I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered.
 Then the angel of the LORD told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.” 
 Genesis 16:7-10 

As the angel of the LORD finds Hagar, she has already made quite a journey toward Egypt. He finds her at a spring beside the road to Shur, which is the desert in the Northwest Sinai Peninsula, right next to the border of Egypt. 

“The angel of the LORD” is mentioned 58 times in the Old Testament and the similarly named “angel of God” eleven times. He appears frequently in Genesis and Judges, but rarely afterwards. His presence does not seem to frighten Hagar, so he is generally understood as appearing in human form. The relationship between the angel and God himself has been the subject of much discussion without conclusion, but the church fathers identified him as the pre-incarnate Christ. At first sight, he is generally taken to be a man but eventually he is recognized as God. That is the movement that we see in this encounter. 

He addressed Hagar as, “Hagar, slave of Sarai.” This may have surprised her and given a clue that this was not an ordinary man. The next question, “Where have you come from?” would have sounded natural to Hagar. This is the first time since the story of Cain and Abel that the LORD has asked someone their where abouts. This continues the parallelism with the story of the garden. Both Adam and Cain had stumbled to answer that question, Hagar, however, answers honestly. “I’m running away from my mistress Sarai.” 

“Go back to your mistress and submit to her,” says the angel. At first this seems callous, especially when we understand that Hagar is told to submit to Sarai who was mistreating her. Slavery was part of the ancient social structure, including both its harsh and protective aspects. Returning to the household of Abram and Sarai assured the survival of Hagar and her child; remaining in the wilderness likely would have led to death or isolation. God was looking out for her best interests. In addition to the legal frameworks of checks on the mistreatment of slaves, God also adds his own divine protection and blessing. 

It is important to understand that this is not a universal instruction for someone in an abusive relationship today. God is not saying to remain or return to that violent relationship. The general principle, instead, is that God desires to uphold the cause of the oppressed. In Psalm 82, the Psalmist prays, “Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked…Rise up, O God, judge the earth” (vv. 3-4, 8). 

In our story, God upheld the cause of the oppressed by telling Hagar to return to Abram and Sarai’s household. This was the best place for her safety, and God would also directly protect her. Today, the best place of safety for the abused is usually outside that abusive relationship but God’s intent is still the same. He will be their defense, their rescuer, and their deliverer. He will still judge their oppressor. 

The fact that the angel of the LORD gave commands is a further clue to who he is. He also follows with specific promises, stated in the first person, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.” God had promised a great nation to Abram. Hagar’s son would not be that nation, but she and her son would also participate in God’s blessing to Abram. 

Continuing to read from verse 11, 

The angel of the LORD also said to her:
 “You are now pregnant
 and you will give birth to a son. 
 You shall name him Ishmael, 
 for the LORD has heard of your misery. 
 He will be a wild donkey of a man;
 his hand will be against everyone
 and everyone’s hand against him,
 and he will live in hostility
 toward all his brothers. ”
 She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.” That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.
 Genesis 16:11-14 

Hagar becomes the first woman in scripture to receive an angelic birth announcement, just like her mistress Sarah would receive shortly; just like Samson’s parents would in the book of Judges, and just like Mary, the mother of Jesus would receive in Luke. This birth announcement to Hagar is unique, in that she is already pregnant, unlike the announcements to the other women. The angel tells Hagar that her son’s name will be Ishmael. The name of God is right in the end of Ishmael’s name, “El.” His name means God (or “El”) has heard.” Every time Hagar spoke his name, she would remember that God had heard her oppression. God also describes Ishmael’s destiny as a Bedouin. The freedom his mother had sought would one day be his. He would live in the desert like a “wild donkey,” a picture of an individualistic lifestyle, free from social convention. God also describes the hostile relationships he will have with the nations around him. 

The identity of the one who can make such harsh demands and make such great promises becomes clear to Hagar. She recognizes God’s presence and calls him, “the God who sees me.” In the Bible, when God sees, he cares. She commemorated the well as, “The well of the Living One who sees me.” 

The story of Hagar continues the parallelism between the story of Abram and the story of his later descendants. Hagar called the one who rescued her, “God,” or “El.” The narrator calls him “LORD,” or Yahweh, the name God revealed to Moses. The God who rescued Hagar in the wilderness is the same as the one who redeemed Israel from Egypt and led them out into the wilderness. As the LORD said later concerning the nation of Israel, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of the slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering (Exodus 3:7). What Sarai did to Hagar, the Egyptians did to the Israelites, and God listened to both. 

We now come to the final words of Genesis 16. 

So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.
 Genesis 16:15-16 

Hagar is back in Abram and Sarai’s household and bears Abram a son. Sarai is absent from the story. She had planned that the child would be hers through Hagar’s surrogacy, but the text says three times that Hagar gave birth to a son for Abram. This gives us a strong hint that Abram is now protecting Hagar. Sarai’s scheme had succeeded, somewhat, but she has been shut out from participating in its fruit.

Final Comments

The main point of this episode has been, when God keeps you waiting, your best response is to keep waiting. God will accomplish his good plan for you in His time.  

We have seen a positive example of waiting in the story of Abram, bringing his honest questions to God. Had God forgotten to fulfill His promises? Abram asked for two signs and God obligingly gave them. He left his encounter with God comforted. Next, we saw a negative example of waiting in the story of Sarai. Her despair at her barrenness and attempt to find a solution caused all sorts of pain for her, for Abram, and most of all for Hagar. 

Perhaps you are thinking, “Well, I understand that I should wait. But what should I do while I wait? Shall I just twiddle my thumbs? Shall I pace the floor? Waiting feels so weighty. Let me restate our main idea slightly: When God keeps you waiting, your best response is to keep waiting—and pray. 

Now that does sound simplistic, but I don’t mean for you simply to remind God of your problems one more time. Rather, look to the book of Psalms as your example. The Psalms contain prayers of God’s followers who have experienced the full range of human emotions. Many psalms ask the question, “How long, Lord.” Choose one and pray those words as your own. If the psalmist describes his difficulty, you can substitute your own experience, but mostly, just use the psalmist’s words to express the feelings that you find so hard to put into words. God desperately longs to have a relationship with you, and he will accept your prayers and feelings, even if they are raw and untamed. 

To help you with this undertaking, I have included two lists of Psalms at the end of the notes for this episode. The first list are psalms which ask God the question, “How long?” The second list are Psalms of general encouragement in your waiting. Both types of psalms can bring comfort, but I suggest that you might want to start with the first list. I find that when my emotions are particularly fresh, reading psalms encouraging me to wait can seem like a well-meaning friend who tells me what to do without really listening to me.  

Quite a few years ago, I was going through a difficult time when a church I was serving ended my ministry abruptly. I came upon the opening of Psalm 40 which says, “I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry.” “Really,” I thought to myself. This author knows nothing about what I am going through. “I waited patiently for the LORD?” As I continued to read, however, the emotional tenor of the Psalm changed, until in the final verse he says, “You are my help and my deliverer; you are my God, do not delay.” Well, that is more like it! Do not delay! That is really what I want to say to God right now.” 

In our relationship with God, we need both types of expressions of trust, and those who have walked before us have provided their wisdom in both ways. When you read these Psalms, I would encourage you to read the entire Psalm, not just the individual verse that seems to speak to your situation. This will allow you to see the entire arc of emotion as the Psalmist’s feelings change throughout the Psalm, just like in my personal example. 

I pray for you, that you may find these Psalm readings helpful in your season of waiting. Keep reading until you find a Psalm that speaks to your feelings. Don’t be afraid to pray to God in ways that seem untrusting or unholy. This is only part of the process. You will not necessarily stay in this emotional place forever. Praying your emotions to God through borrowing words from the Psalms is an excellent use of your time while you wait. It also will deepen your relationship with God, which may have been His purpose for this time. 

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