Thursday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Trusting God While We Wait

One of the hardest things in life is waiting. We do not mind waiting if we know the answer is coming in five minutes. But when we have been praying for weeks, months, or even years, waiting becomes much more difficult. We pray for someone’s health. We pray for a child or grandchild to return to the faith. We pray for peace in our family. We pray for freedom from a temptation we have struggled with for years. Sometimes it can seem as though nothing is happening.

It is into that kind of waiting that Jesus speaks these words: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” Notice what He does not say. He does not promise that all of our burdens will disappear. In fact, His very next words are, “Take my yoke upon you.” A yoke is still something we carry. The difference is that now we are carrying it with Christ. The burden may not have changed, but we have.

The first reading from Isaiah gives us a beautiful picture of what faith looks like while we are waiting. The people have been crying out to God in the midst of hardship and suffering. Yet Isaiah says, “My soul yearns for you in the night; yes, my spirit within me keeps vigil for you.” Even in the darkness, even when the answer has not come, even when God seems silent, Isaiah continues to seek the Lord. That is genuine faith. Faith is not trusting God only after everything works out. Faith is continuing to trust Him while we are still waiting.

Think of a farmer. After planting a field, he does not go out the next morning expecting a harvest. He knows that something is happening beneath the soil, even though he cannot see it. The seed is taking root. Growth is taking place in silence. The same is true in our spiritual lives. Sometimes God is doing His greatest work beneath the surface. We do not always see it immediately. We may not recognize it for months or even years. But God is still at work.

Jesus invites us to bring our burdens to Him—not because He promises instant solutions, but because He promises His presence. There is a tremendous difference between carrying a burden by ourselves and carrying it with Christ. One leads to discouragement. The other leads to peace.

Isaiah concludes with a remarkable promise: “Your dead shall live… their corpses shall rise.” The prophet reminds God’s people that the Lord’s plan reaches far beyond today’s struggles. Even death itself is not the end. If God has the power to bring life out of death, then we can trust Him with the burdens we carry today.

Perhaps that is the Lord’s invitation to us today: Do not stop praying because you are tired of waiting. Do not stop trusting because you have not yet seen the answer. Bring your burdens to Christ each day. Walk beside Him. Let Him help carry the weight. That is the rest He promises—not a life without burdens, but a heart at peace because it knows it never walks alone.