“The LORD said to Moses, ‘Go up into this mountain of Abarim and see the land that I have given to the people of Israel.” — Numbers 27:12

Waiting on God

It had been 12 seasons of heartbreak for Alexander Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals. So many years began with high hopes of winning the franchise’s first Stanley Cup, only to end the season, time and time again, in crushing playoff defeats.

But the 2017-18 NHL season – Ovechkin’s 13th – would be different. On Thursday, Ovi and his Capitals teammates finally broke through and delivered a Stanley Cup championship with a 4-3 victory in Game 5 over the Las Vegas Golden Knights.

After 12 long seasons of frustration, Ovechkin reached the pinnacle of the NHL in year 13 and gained that championship validation he has waited for his whole career.

The Bible deals frequently with the topic of waiting. One of the more famous examples is the story of God leading the Israelites to the Promised Land. In Exodus, God made a promise to Moses that the Israelites would occupy a land He set aside for them. Yet, before the Israelites entered the Promised Land, they wandered for 40 years in the desert. Moses wandered right alongside his people through those 40 exhausting and frustrating years with nothing to show for it.

But near the end of Moses’ life, God said to him: “See the land that I have given to the people of Israel.” At long last, Moses finally saw the Promised Land after more than 40 years of laboring and striving for it in vain.

We can learn a lot from Moses. We learn that God is always working for our good, even in dark times when we don’t see Him clearly. I’m sure the Israelites must have felt like that many times in the desert. We also learn from this story that God never forgets or fails to deliver on a promise. Moses must have called out to God on numerous occasions, pleading with Him to reveal Himself and do what He said He was going to do.

God doesn’t give us everything we want and He doesn’t always do things exactly when we want. But His promises are certain. He promised that if we trust in Him, one day we will be with Him in paradise. In that hope, let’s cling to Him today.

— Kevin Mercer

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