My favorite songs and what they mean to me: "To Those Who Wait" by Bethany Dillon

Another of my favorite songs is To Those Who Wait by Bethany Dillon. Here are the lyrics:

Verse 1

I am waiting on You

I am waiting on You

You say You're good to those who wait

My heart's discouraged

So I come to You expectant

You say You're good to those who wait

You say You're good to those who wait

Chorus

Lord, today You know what I need to do

But You can do more in my waiting than in my doing I could do

So I won't run anymore

I'm waiting on You

Verse 2

Oh, wretched man that I am!

Free me from my distractions

You say You're good to those who wait

Then confession and repentance

Find me in the quiet

You say You're good to those who wait

Now I know You're good to those who wait

(Chorus)

Refrain x3

Oh, my soul

Wait on the Lord

Keep your lamp

Filled with oil

Oh, my soul

Be not deceived!

Wait for Him

Don't be quick to leave

(Chorus x2)

Than in my doing I could do (x3)

My favorite part of this song is the chorus. When she says, "Lord today You know what I need to do," I take it to mean that God knows how busy our lives get and how easy it is to worry about things.

If you're like me, you pray about what you're worried about, whatever it may be, and then immediately start worrying again. But that's not what God wants for us. He wants us to be free of worry and anxiety because these feelings are based in fear, which is the opposite of faith.

In Isaiah 41:10 God says, "Fear not, for I am with you, be not dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand," (NKJV).

In simpler terms, God is telling us to let go of fear and worry because He will always be there, strengthening us, helping us, and holding us through it all.

In the song, she goes on to say, "But you can do more in my waiting than in my doing I could do." In other words, God can do more in the short time that we're waiting on an answer to prayer than we could by trying to fix the problem ourselves.

Jesus talked about this in Matthew 11:28-30, when He said, "'Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light,'" (NKJV)

In Jesus's time on Earth, it was common to ride on donkeys, and they would put a yoke in their mouth to control their movements (like reins for a horse). If the yoke was easy that meant that the donkey had more freedom to move, but if it wasn't, the donkey was unable to move unless its rider allowed it to.

They would also put all of their provisions for the journey (which could be several days long) in bags that were tied together and hung on either side of the donkey. This is what Jesus is referring to when He calls it His burden.

So if the burden is heavy, the donkey won't be able to move as fast and will tire easily. But if the burden is light, they will be free from the pain and exhaustion of carrying the burden and will be able to complete the journey much faster.

So what Jesus means in this verse (and what the second part of the chorus means) is that if we turn to Him and hand Him our troubles, He will take care of them for us. He will take our burden (our worries) and our yoke (things that are holding us back) and give us His burden (which speeds up our journey through hard times) and His yoke (which allows us freedom to make our own choices).

But if we do this and immediately start to worry, He is unable to help us because He can only operate in our lives when we give Him permission to do so. He's a gentleman in that way.

So in order to let go of our fears and see our prayers answered, we have to put our burdens at God's feet and leave them there, take on Jesus's burden and allow Him to guide us in our path. Now, because we're human and imperfect, sometimes we have to lay our burdens down pretty often (from every few hours to every few minutes).

But it's worth it because God promises us that if we put our trust in Him, wait on Him, give Him our worries, and leave the burden on Him, we will enjoy peace and see our prayers answered better and faster than we could ever have imagined.