Waiting with the turtle

Waiting with the turtle

Bible:Psalm 40:1-5,14-17

I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry (V.1).

Reading

Every autumn, when the painted turtle senses winter coming, she dives to the bottom of her pond, burying herself in the muck and mud. She pulls into her shell and goes still: her heart rate slows, almost stopping. Her body temperature drops, staying just above freezing. She stops breathing, and she waits. For six months she stays buried, and her body releases calcium from her bones into her bloodstream, so that she slowly begins even to lose her shape. But when the pond thaws, she will float up and breathe again. Her bones will reform, and she will feel the warmth of the sun on her shell. I think of the painted turtle when I read the description of waiting for God in Psalm 40. The psalm-writer is in a “slimy pit” of “mud and mire,” but God hears him (PSALM 40:2). God lifts him out, and gives him a firm place to stand. God is “my help and my deliverer,” he sings (V.17). Perhaps it feels like you’ve been waiting forever for something to change— for things to get easier with your parents, for the end of the school year, for the
end of your exams, for an end to the bullying or for the strength to break a bad habit. The painted turtle and Psalm 40 are here to remind us to trust in God: He hears and He will rescue us.

WAIT FOR THE LORD; BE STRONG AND LET YOUR HEART
TAKE COURAGE WAIT FOR THE LORD. PSALM 27:14

YouTh Edition – Our Daily Bread Ministries