We spend so much of lives waiting. Waiting in line, waiting in traffic, waiting for a pandemic to end, or even waiting for a child to be born. My husband and I are expecting our first baby in a few short weeks (or long, in my opinion). As you may know, babies are typically born between 37 and 41 weeks. That is a very large window of time, which is not something that really occurred to me until recently. As I write this, I am two days away from that 37-week benchmark. So, I could meet my son any day now, OR it could be another month before I get to hold him in my arms. I pray by the time this article hits your hands he is finally here.

It’s not often that we wait for something with no concrete finish line. Since March, we have done a lot of uncertain waiting: for restaurants to open, to come back to worship in person, to hear the plan of action for back to school, etc. When will we be able to go to the grocery store without a mask or hug a friend without hesitation? When can we go to a Steeler game or go to the beach?

When Moses led the people of Egypt through the desert to the Promised Land in the Book of Numbers, they endured a whole lot more waiting than they had anticipated. Forty years is indeed quite a long time. The people wept, they rebelled, they lost faith that God would fulfill his promise.

Have you ever heard of TikTok? It’s the newest social media app teens use to upload short videos of puppies, dancing, or really anything! I downloaded it last year when all the Veritas kids started talking about it. (I am 26 years old, but they tell me I still need to worry about being “relevant.”) One of our students recently sent me a TikTok video that talked about the disciples out at sea with Jesus in Mark 34. The video goes on to say the disciples were so afraid of the storm. They had never expected to come across any difficulty with Jesus in their boat, but Jesus never promised us we would never encounter a storm. He only promised he would be with us and bring peace. The ending message of the video shows that expecting to live a life without storm is dangerous to our faith. We lose trust in God’s promise when we are struggling, but the promise was never a perfect life. It was a promise of life with him.

Let’s remember, as Caleb and Joshua reminded the Egyptians in the desert, the Lord is with us! He is guiding us through the desert. He is standing in our boat. He is with us as we wait (impatiently) for whatever is coming next. Just because we are struggling does not mean God has abandoned us or his promise. He is right next to you, prepared to bring you peace in the storm.

– Laura Ecklin