MUSE Acoustic: In the Waiting by Kina Grannis
BY BROOKE LINDSEY
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7NzNXTABMs]
In the Waiting by Kina Grannis
[Verse 1]
I’ve been waiting for answers
Many people have spent their entire lives searching for the answers to big, existential questions: Is there a God? Is there a purpose to suffering? Is there a greater meaning to life?
I’ve been waiting a long, long time
Christians find themselves in a period of cosmic waiting for the return of Jesus Christ, just as the Israelites of the Old Testament waited for 400 years. They had to maintain hope based on predictions of the coming of Jesus: "Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey."1
If I open the door won’t you come inside?
The coming of Jesus was, indeed, worth the wait. In the book of Revelation, Jesus says to a church, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me."2
My heart’s begging for mercy
Like the Israelites, we also find it difficult to maintain faith during seasons of difficulty. We often find ourselves asking God for mercy in terms of taking away our pain and trouble.
How much longer can I sit still and beHopeful and doubting and torn inside?
[Chorus]
And all this time
I’ve been staring at the minute hand
This imagery reveals a fundamental truth about waiting impatiently: we are focused on the wrong thing. If we only ever wait for the minutes to tick by, we miss what is happening within those precious minutes.
Oh what a crime
That I can’t seem to understand that life is in the waiting
The very mundane moments we wish would pass us by, when stitched together, constitute an entire lifetime.
[Verse 2]
I’ve been working on patience
Trying to trust in the timing of my tiny existence
Rather than asking ourselves, "Why must I endure this constant, unfulfilled waiting?" we can shift our perspective to ask, "How can I steward the time I’ve been given wisely?"
I come aliveI sat still in the twilightI found peace in the quiet thingsHow could I wish away all the in between?
Chorus[Bridge]
And I find there’s no knowing of a right time
No it could keep you waiting all night for it
In Lamentations, the author writes of hope in the midst of endless tribulations. He writes, "The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord."3
So hold tight
Don’t lose sleep over the half-life
Know that everything is alright
Just like it is
Although it is incredibly difficult, often the only solution to our constant fears and doubts about our purpose and God’s plan is to have faith. Having faith cannot remove the suffering of a moment, but it reminds us that it will pass. As God tells the prophet Habakkuk when he questions God’s seeming absence, “Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told.”4 Rather than waiting on God to give us answers, sometimes, we must simply open our eyes to realize we are in the midst of His good works, not merely in the waiting.
Chorus
1 Zechariah 9:9 (ESV)2 Revelation 3:20 (ESV)3 Lamentations 3:25-26 (ESV)4 Habakkuk 1:5 (ESV)
About In the Waiting
Southern California-based singer-songwriter Kina Grannis knows a thing or two about waiting. During her 2015 world tour, she and her bandmates were stuck in Jakarta, Indonesia for 100 days due to problems with their work visas. Reflecting upon the experience, she says, “I write in my journal that if we don’t go home soon I’m not sure I’ll ever feel happy again. That I’m scared I might have a mental breakdown if it goes on much longer… We came to play one show and now we are facing possible jail time, unable to work, unable to leave. How is this possible? ‘How?’ is a question we eventually learn to stop asking."1The question of how awful things could possibly happen is a constant refrain in the human mind. Grannis’ album offers no easy answers, but accompanies us in our own questions and doubts. The anxiety of uncertainty, frustration of waiting, and fleetingness of life are all themes featured in her 2018 album In the Waiting. Listening through the album feels like a journey of catharsis, as one must learn to reckon with becoming so attached to a world that is so temporary and often feels lonely. Our most trying experiences are a constant reminder that “You have to choose happiness. Every day. Over and over again. Don’t wait for it to find you.”2 So, too, must Christian believers learn that God does not offer easy answers to His mysteries, but in living day-to-day “there is nothing better for them to be joyful and do good as long as they live."3“In the Waiting” is the third track on Kina Grannis’ album of the same name.
1 Grannis, K. (2016, June 10). 100 Days In Jakarta [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://kinagrannis.tumblr.com/post/145697228252/100-days-in-jakarta2 Grannis3 Ecclesiastes 3:12 (ESV)
Discover similar acoustic songs in the Christian realm with the Claritas MUSE Acoustic playlist!
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