Verse of the Day for July 15

David is not patient in this prayer, and he does not pretend to be. Hear me speedily, O LORD: my spirit faileth. He is at the end of himself, and he says so in the first line.

Then he asks for something very particular: Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning. It sounds like a man who has had a long night. He wants the first thing he hears when light comes to be God's kindness.

Waiting rooms are like nights. The clock on the wall seems slower than other clocks. Names are called that are not yours. Every door that opens might be news. In that kind of waiting, the soul does not need a lecture. It needs to hear love, early.

He gives his reasons plainly: for in thee do I trust, and for I lift up my soul unto thee. He is not trusting because he feels calm. He is trusting because he has nowhere better to put his soul. And at the end, I flee unto thee to hide me. Waiting can become a hiding place if it is waiting in him.

If you are sitting on a plastic chair in a hospital corridor tonight, you can pray this almost word for word. Ask to hear his lovingkindness when morning comes, whatever the doctor says.

It is not faithless to ask God to hurry.

Lift your soul to him while the clock is slow.