faint away

“my soul faints…” psalm 119

fainting souls appear everywhere in the psalms and prayers of israel. this morning i have yet to eat breakfast and i feel faint, but that is nothing in comparison to the fainting of my soul when i was lonely. i longed for years in lonliness, single, faint. better yet, when i watched the twin towers fall that september morning, my soul fainted. when my cousin killed himself and when our friend died last year. soul fainting happens everywhere.

“my soul faints with longing for your salvation but i have put my hope in your word.” v.81

lest i be cutsie with my new term soul fainting, the rest of the verse puts it into perspective. the same awe and horror that makes us stop in our tracks and fall away in our souls is the same level of awe with which we wait on God’s salvation. He is Holy, you his people. He is holy and perfect and the judge of all of us. let us put our hope in his word this morning, instead of our ability to schedule and check boxes on lists. let us put our hope in his word, not whether we feel spiritual today. stop and let your soul faint. stop and wait for the word of the Lord.

Jesus’ strange prophetic relative, John, spoke of waiting: “…I said, ‘I am not the Christ but am sent ahead of him.’ The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice.” This was at the moment when John stepped out of the way, and Christ began baptizing people. John went on to say, “…For the one whom God has sent [that’s Jesus] speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands.” Ah, our Lord is here, fully, even more, He is risen from the dead! We wait for the very holy perfect words of God this morning.

Again with Peter, “For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For ‘all men are like grass, and their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lords stands forever.’ And this is the word that was preached to you.” BE STRONG, you saints, you bride. Though we faint waiting, we live for more than perishable things.