How Long?

I love the Old Testament, the stories of men and women of God who mess up time and time again, but God never gives up on them, or us.
God waits for us.

And we wait for Him too.
The Presence chapter entitled I Wait is based on Psalm 130:
Israel, put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love and with him is full redemption. He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins.
In the piece I wrote for it, I wanted the trace the idea of both us and God waiting through the old testament stories. And echo the fact that irrespective of how many times we mess up, there is always an opportunity to start over again.

How long? How long?
The cry echoes through the centuries.

Looking up at the countless stars,
waiting for the promised child,
a father waits for the birth of a nation.
He listens, misunderstands, makes mistakes, starts over again.

Impatience maps a trail
of wrong turns and redemptions
Deception repeatedly dividing brothers
as jealousy and fear sells family into slavery
Summoned to sit with kings
and growing as memories fade
Until the nation wins its freedom from oppression
only to wander the endless desert
and enter a promised land
where so rarely there is peace.

Looking up at a distant star,
waiting for the promised child,
whose death and resurrection whisper rebirth.
We listen, misunderstand, make mistakes, can start over again.