The Second Declaration of Emotional Theology
Wait for the LORD; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the LORD. Psalm 27:14
Wait – Three hundred and sixty five days ago, we began this year with Psalm 23:1. “I shall not want.” That is the first declaration of emotional theology. It is the proclamation that God is my King and my Shepherd and I am content with His care. Three hundred and sixty five days later, after a year of growing, we come to the second declaration. I must wait.
But the Hebrew isn’t quite what this translation suggests. Waiting is not passive, resigned inactivity until God finally decides to act. The kairos God is always acting. He acts even before I ask. Therefore, the Hebrew verse uses the word qawah, a word that means much more than “waiting.” It means to hope and, as a result, to depend on and act in accordance with a future expectation. There is a lot to do when we wait. We do all those things that prepare us for accepting and executing the answer. We live in the full confidence of hope fulfilled.
The author of Hebrews paints the same picture when he says, “Now faith is the underlying reality of things hoped for.” James could have added a second qualifier to his famous phrase about the connection between faith and works. He might have said, “Faith without hope is dead.” The man who lives by faith is the man who hopes, and acts accordingly. Why? Because God will prevail. When I place my hope in the purposes of God, I have the confidence that my efforts are never in vain. Therefore, I can go on, acting under the umbrella of hope, in spite of the circumstances, because I know that no plan of His can be thwarted. That is faith.
At the end of this year, you and I have an enormous opportunity. We can place our hope in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, knowing that even if it takes 400 years, God’s promises will come to pass. But this means I have to know what I hope for and I am willing to act on it no matter what. On this last day of the year, do you know what you hope for? Could you write down, in one paragraph, what you will fix your hope on in the next year? Is your hope perfectly in line with the will of the Father? If it is, then go forward, acting in accordance with the hope God has placed in your heart, knowing without a doubt that the kairos God will fulfill your hope because it is a part of His plan.
The second declaration of emotional theology is quite simple: Hope in the Lord, and act accordingly.
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