This is one of my favorite psalms ... perhaps my all-time favorite. For the purposes of this post, I'll focus on only verses 15-16:
"The eyes of all wait upon Thee;
and Thou givest them their meat in due season.
Thou openest Thine hand,
and satisfiest the desire of every living thing." (KJV)
Taking a bit more of a personal approach rather than devotional, I want to share with you how these two verses have been something of an anthem of testimony for my family. The first connection is that while my mother was in college studying music, she encountered a choral arrangement based on this passage. 20+ years after studying this piece in her choral methods class, the strains of the music were still running through her mind. I was able to locate the arrangement at my university's music library, and my mom excitedly ordered a few personal copies of the octavo.
By the way, due to the ubiquitous YouTube, tonight I was even able to locate a decent recording of it (I must send my mom this link!!). Its close harmonies are hauntingly beautiful -- have a listen here:
While I was in college, the Lord began to direct my father's heart toward resigning from the ministry position he was holding, yet the next step of the path was not yet clear for my parents. My mother recalls receiving a new calendar for the approaching year. When she flipped through it, looking at the nature pictures and Scripture verses for each month, she landed on April with its picture of tiny little hummingbirds and the verses listed above. This she claimed as a special promise from God and began to pray that the Lord would show them His plan by April. By God's providence, my father received the call of acceptance to another ministry in that very April.
Fast-forward to the following spring. I was in my senior year of college. I had at the last minute decided to audition at one conservatory for graduate work, a very competitive school where there were 40-50 of us auditioning for 2 or 3 openings in a well-known teacher's studio. I actually made the waiting list, but I seriously doubted that I'd make it far enough up the list to be accepted. What to do next? Should I start sending out my résumé to places of employment? As I sat at the desk where I held an evening work-study job, thumbing through my pocket-size Bible, I honed in on Psalm 145 and prayed through each verse. The whole psalm speaks of God's steadfast love and faithfulness to His people, and I was greatly encouraged that evening to find renewed hope in the Lord's guiding hand. I remember sitting at that desk with tears streaming down my face as I read the now-familiar words (and heard the music silently playing) -- "in due season..." Within a few weeks, I received a telephone call from the admissions office of the conservatory, notifying me of my acceptance. The Lord opened doors for me to receive a teaching assistantship to provide for my financial needs and to find a wonderful church there that reached out to me in a love that I never knew could exist in the body of Christ.
Several years later, I was established in a university job, and a few of my colleagues were encouraging me to consider doctoral work. Recognizing that it would help my job security and benefit my students, I hesitantly starting researching doctoral programs. I applied to a handful of schools, and received invitations to audition at all of them. None that I traveled to "felt right," until the very last one, the furthest one from where I was currently living. The Lord confirmed my decision when that last school ended up being the one with the best financial deal of all my acceptance offers. (Yes, I realize that money isn't everything, but for a self-supporting single girl who wants to remain debt-free, an attractive assistantship package can be most welcome...)
So I found myself packing up everything I owned and putting it in storage, loading my little car as full as I could, and driving to a state that felt foreign enough to be a different country. Yes, plenty of tears were shed on that long, lonely drive. Here I am now, a few months from graduation, and my heart still echoes those words that have comforted my family in meaningful ways for the past 10 years. My dear one, in due season our Lord will open His hand toward us in a special way to bring us together. Until then, keep your eyes fixed on Him!
Waiting,
Me
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