Rope Burns
Indeed, none of those who wait for You will be ashamed; those who deal treacherously without cause will be ashamed. Psalm 25:3
Wait For – It’s just a little change in the grammar, just the difference between a present tense verb and a participle. But the implications are important. This Hebrew verse might also be translated more literally as “all waiting on You will not be ashamed.” Maybe the difference doesn’t strike you as important, but it bothers me. I think of “wait for” as a passive state; a fixed, present condition. But waiting is an active state. It describes movement. Yes, it is present tense, but it is going somewhere. All those who are continuously in expectant hope of God’s justice will not be ashamed. That sounds different to me than, “None of those who wait (standing around passively) will be ashamed.”
The root word is qawah. It means “to wait for, to hope for, to look for.” In Hebrew, it is active expectation, not sitting around until God shows up. What is fascinating about this verb is that the root literally means twisting together the strands of a rope. No one is quite sure how this root meaning became associated with expectant hope, but it is a mental picture you will not easily forget. Perhaps it can be connected to the idea in Ecclesiastes 4:12 (the three-strand cord). Perhaps it is related to something in the life of ancient Semitic tribes. Whatever the relationship, it is very clear that waiting and hope are intimately connected. When my confidence is placed in the character of God, not in the timing of His acts on my behalf, I will never be humiliated by the lack of result. Though the righteous be struck down seven times (the number of completion, and therefore, an idiom for death), yet they will rise again (Proverbs 24:16). Even if I am slain, God is still vindicated. His justice will prevail. My active expectation does not end at the grave, for I have a hope that transcends death of the body. That’s why Paul can say, “and hope does not disappoint us” (Romans 5:5), “if we have only hoped in Christ in this life, we are of all men most to be pitied” (1 Corinthians 15:19), “because of the hope laid up for you in heaven” (Colossians 1:5), and the author of Hebrews can conclude, “now faith is the evidence of things hoped for – of things for which we actively wait with yearning expectation” (Hebrews 11:1).
The New Testament is to be understood in light of qawah, for it is in some measure the fulfillment of a long awaited hope. But even the revelation of the Messiah is not the end of this waiting. Another day is coming – a Jubilee Day of returning glory. That is our hope – and for that we wait with hushed breath, knowing that in His triumphant return all shame will be ended.
Do you long to see Jesus descending from the clouds? Are you yearning for the day of His kingdom on earth? The cords of this rope are strong enough to reach to eternity, pulling us closer and closer to the day of victory. Hang on tight. That day is coming. You can count on it!
