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Alright, Psalm 2521 says, Let
integrity and uprightness preserve me. We've already looked at that.
And now David gives a reason why he wants God to preserve
him through his integrity and uprightness. For, or because,
I wait on thee. I wait on thee. So what's that tell us? His hope
or his trust was in the Lord. Notice, he doesn't say I'm waiting
on people or I'm waiting on circumstances or situations to change. I'm
waiting on God himself. And so he was doing the right
thing, waiting. He's waiting for the right person,
for God. So we're going to talk about
waiting on God today. And waiting on God is one of
the most difficult, and yet always rewarding, of spiritual exercises. Waiting on God is something that
always brings blessing and benefit. God never fails us when we wait
on Him. And we already saw earlier in this psalm that waiting upon
God was David's constant state of soul, verse 5. lead me in
thy truth, and teach me, for thou art the God of my salvation.
On thee do I wait all the day." He said he waited on God all
the day. Now what does it mean to wait
upon the Lord? Well, the word wait means to
hope strongly, to trust, to expect anything or to wait for anything.
It means he was looking to God. He was expecting from God. He
was biding God's time. He was anticipating God to work
for him. Now what are some of the things
we wait upon God for? Well, we might wait on Him for
provision of a need for comfort and strength, for guidance, for
an answer to prayer, for healing of our bodies or minds, for deliverance
from trouble, for victory over sin or temptation, for answers to questions we may
have, or even, ultimately, for God to call us home to himself,
to bring us to heaven. These are all things we might
be waiting upon God for. Now, why should we wait upon
God? Well, we're going to look at
some things about waiting upon God. First reason is because
God commands it. In Zephaniah, one of the minor
prophets, in chapter 3, Verse 8, it says, Therefore wait
ye upon me, saith the Lord. There it is, it's commanded.
Wait ye upon me, saith the Lord, until the day that I rise up
to the prey. For my determination is to gather
the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them
my indignation, even all my fierce anger, for all the earth shall
be devoured with the fire of my jealousy. But there you have
it. God clearly demands it. Wait
ye upon me, saith the Lord. All right, that's his command. So how do we fulfill it? Well,
first of all, we need to make sure that we are indeed waiting
upon the Lord. We're to wait only upon God,
not on someone or something else. Psalm 62 and verse 5. Psalm 62, verse 5, David says,
My soul. So here he is exhorting himself. This is a self-admonition. He's stirring himself up to his
duty. My soul, wait thou only upon God. Why? For my expectation
is from Him. Right? What I'm looking for,
what I need, I expect to come from Him. And so I'm waiting
only upon Him. Only He can help me, and only
He is worthy to be waited upon. And so my whole hope or trust
is in the Lord alone. And we should wait upon Him.
Why? Because He's our Creator. He's able to do for us what we
need. Jeremiah 14. You know, God is
unique. he alone is God there's none
like him and so our duties to God are to be rendered only to
him and not to anyone else Jeremiah 14 verse 22 are there any among the vanities
of the Gentiles that means the false gods or the idols that
can cause rain Or can the heavens give showers? Art not thou he, O Lord our God? Therefore we will wait upon thee. Why? For thou hast made all these
things. Only God, who made the world,
controls all the events of this world, whether it be natural
forces like rain or whatever. So we have to wait upon him as
our creator, the maker and sustainer of all things, and he who rules
the world by his providence. We wait on God's name, Psalm
59 verse 2. When we talk about God's name,
what are we talking about? Well, it speaks of God himself, Psalm 52, verse 9. God himself, his character, his
attributes, in other words, all that God is, causes us to wait
upon him because he's worthy and able. I will praise thee
forever because thou hast done it. In other words, he's already
had experience of God working for him. And I will wait on thy
name for his good before thy saints. Oh, how good God's name
is. It's like sweet ointment poured
forth. Therefore, the virgins love it. We love his name. We wait on
his name, for his name declares God's nature and his works. And we wait on him for that.
We see God's works in the world, but where else is God's character
and his works revealed? In his word. Psalm 130. And verse 5, Psalm 130 verse 5, we wait on
God in his word. I wait for the Lord, my soul
does wait. And how do we wait? And in his
word do I hope. In other words, God's word tells
us about himself and what he will do for us and we wait on
him based on what he says. In other words, it's a scriptural
hope. A hope formed by the inspired
word of God. I wait in his word. In other words, God's word tells
me what it is I can expect from the Lord and it molds and fashions
my waiting, and directs my waiting. It's His Word that causes us
to hope. Faith comes by hearing by the
Word of God. I wait for Him and His Word.
Also in His judgments, Isaiah chapter 26, Isaiah 26 verse 8. Now God's judgments can mean
two things. That can be word for the word
of God his judgments means his mind his sentence his opinion
his determination regarding something as he reveals his his mind and
will in the scriptures his judgments his judgments can also mean his
works in the world you know he rewards the good and punishes
the evil his judgments are abroad in the earth Isaiah 26 verse
8 it says Ye in the way of thy judgments,
O Lord, have we waited for thee. The desire of our soul is to
thy name and to the remembrance of thee." They have a desire
for God. How do they express that desire?
How do they show that they remember him in all their ways? They walk
in his judgments. In the way of thy judgments,
O Lord, have we waited for thee. In other words, we can't go out
of God's way and expect to wait for Him and have Him come through
for us. We have to keep to His way. And as we keep to His way,
we're in His will, and we can look to Him to do what He says
He'll do, and we can wait for Him to do that. So, His Word
sets out our path, and it's in His judgments, as they are revealed
in His Word, that we wait on Him. We wait on Him keeping His
way. Psalm 37, 34. We can't say we're waiting on
God when we go about our own path and we do our own will and
we try to serve Him in our own strength or according to our
own counsels. That's not waiting on God. A lot of people, they don't know
what to do and they do it anyway. It's not waiting on God. We have
to be following his word. Psalm 37, 34. Wait on the Lord
and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land.
When the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it. See, waiting
on the Lord has to be attended with keeping his way. We have
to do both or else we're not really waiting on him. Well,
So we're not idle when we're waiting on the Lord. We're living
in obedience to his word. We're keeping his way. We're
following his judgments. We're also in prayer for what
we're waiting for. In Micah chapter 7. Does God answer our prayers immediately?
I don't think so. Sometimes. Sometimes he hears us before
we call on him. And he answers while we're yet
speaking. But why do I say I don't think so or not usually? Well,
what's the Bible say? We're to pray and wait. By faith and patience we inherit
the promises. In other words, there's a time
factor. We have to exercise patience.
in prayer and in waiting for our answers. Micah 7, therefore
I will look unto the Lord, I will wait for the God of my salvation,
my God will hear me. It's not a question of will God
answer our prayer, it's a question of when. My God will hear me,
but in the meanwhile I'll wait for him. He's the God of my salvation,
so I can trust him to answer. Yeah, he says, ask and it shall
be given to you. Seek and you shall find. Knock
and it shall be opened. That seems to be a series or
a progression, a time interval. You know, it says, whatsoever
you ask in prayer, believe that you shall receive it and you
shall have it. In other words, believe, ask, believe and then
receive there's a time of faith and patience what does psalm
40 verse 1 say about this psalm 40 verse 1 i waited patiently for the lord
ah how are we to wait patiently remember that old cartoon of
the guy pacing back and forth in a little closed room And there's
a fellow sitting there watching him pace, and the fellow finally
couldn't hold back anymore. He says, why are you pacing like
that? He says, because I'm in a hurry and God isn't. So he
felt like he was at least going somewhere or doing something.
No. I waited patiently for the Lord.
And what was the response from God? What was the result? And
he inclined unto me and heard my crying. He brought me up also
out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet
upon a rock, and established my goings." Notice, I was crying
to him. But I waited patiently as I cried.
He did incline to me, and he did hear me and answer my prayer. So, what is involved in waiting
patiently for the Lord? We have to wait. patiently and
in a state of soul rest. We are not to be anxious. We're
not to be worried. We're not to be fretful. We're
not to be in a hurry. He that hasteth with his feet
sinneth. The Bible says, he that believes
shall not make haste. In other words, we're not supposed
to be rushing headlong like a horse in the battle. We're to be waiting
patiently on the Lord until his time comes. Psalm 37 verse 7
and 9. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently
for him. Notice rest or be silent to the
Lord. He wants us to be quieted and
still before him. Be still and know that I am God.
Threat not thyself because of him who prospers in his way.
because of the man who brings wicked devices to pass. Verse
9, for evildoers shall be cut off, but those that wait upon
the Lord, they shall inherit the earth. In other words, the
evildoers seem to be prospering, and they're attacking us. They
seem to be winning, and we feel like we're going to lose. God
says, you wait patiently. Don't fret. Don't in any wise
do evil. Don't take things in your own
hand. Wait on me patiently. You'll inherit the earth. The
evildoers shall be cut off. Romans 8, 24 and 25 talking about
waiting for the Lord's return. Now what's the relationship between
faith and hope? Faith believes God's promise.
Hope waits for its fulfillment. In other words, we believe it
before we see it, and hope expects it to be fulfilled until it actually
is. Well, we believe Jesus is coming
and we're hoping for his return, and we're waiting for him to
come back. Verse 24, for we are saved by
hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. But what a man sees,
why does he yet hope for? Hope is something that is still
future. It's not yet in our hand. We do not yet have it. We're
waiting for it. But if we hope for that we see
not, then do we with patience wait for it? Right? We're to patiently wait for that
which we see not, which has not yet come to us, that we're waiting
on God for. Well, does that mean we need
to be moping and discouraged and depressed like God's not
going to do it? Or what's the use? He hasn't
done anything yet. So it's not going to happen.
It's taking too long. I might as well give up, you
know, and we get discouraged and we fall into despair. No,
we're to wait expectantly and with great anticipation. Psalm
130 verse six. Hope is an eager anticipation, a great expectation. In other words, we strongly believe
that God is going to do what he said he'd do, and we look
forward to that. Psalm 130, verse 6. My soul waits for the Lord
more than they that watch for the morning. In other words,
it's an earnest yearning, a strong desire. Like a watchman waiting
for the end of his shift, when the sun rises at break of day,
I say more than they that watch for the morning. Let Israel hope
in the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy, and with him
is plenteous redemption. So, with eager expectation, great
anticipation, God is going to do this, I can't wait. I do wait,
and I patiently wait, but yet I wait with full confidence that
God's going to come through. And how much should we wait continually? Hosea chapter 12. Hosea is the
first of the minor prophets. Hosea chapter 12 verse 6. Here's some commands. Therefore
turn thou to thy God I turn to the Lord, repent, keep mercy
and judgment, in other words, have pity and compassion on those
who are needy and hurting, give everyone their proper due, treat
everyone fairly and justly, and wait on thy God continually. It makes me think of a servant
that has a master. They're always ready to be commanded,
always waiting for orders. Wait on thy God all the time. But wait, there's times when
it's very difficult. Sometimes God hides His face
from us. We can't see Him. We can't find
Him. He seems to be gone. It appears
He's not working, that He's abandoned us, that He's nowhere to be found.
Wait on Him even then with expectation. Isaiah chapter 8 and verse 17. This is the hardest time to wait
on God. when he seems to have departed
from us, withdrawn from us, when he seems to be absent, gone,
what do you do? Oh, the Lord is... No, he hasn't
forsaken you. He says, I'll never leave you
nor forsake you. Still wait. Still expect. Still hope. Isaiah 8, 17, And I will wait
upon the Lord that hides his face from the house of Jacob,
And I will look for him. In other words, he's hiding. I'm going to look for him until
I find him. He says, you'll seek me. And you shall find me when
you search for me with all your heart. What should we wait on God for?
First of all, for help. That's a general term. Psalm
33, verse 20. Psalm 33 verse 20. Our soul waited for the Lord.
Why? He is our help and our shield. God is the one who helps and
defends us. We wait on Him for that. What else? We wait on Him for
grace. Isaiah 33. For grace. for him to show favor to us,
to show his love and kindness and goodness to us. Isaiah 33 verse 2, O Lord be
gracious unto us, we have waited for thee. Now we need God's grace
for everything. We need to wait on him for that
grace. Be thou their arm every morning, our salvation also in
the time of trouble. Be gracious unto us, we have
waited for thee. What for? Well, what does God's
grace give us? Well, one thing it gives us is
strength. Isaiah 40, verse 31. We need strength to do God's
will and work. To labor and suffer for Him.
We need strength to wait on Him. He gives that. Isaiah 40 31 he says well even
in verse 30 even the youth shall faint and be weary the young
men shall utterly fall but they that wait upon the Lord shall
renew their strength they shall mount up with wings as eagles
they shall run and not be weary and they shall walk and not faint
All right, promise of strength, so as to be able to do God's
will and work without fainting. Oh, how we need His strength.
We also look to God for salvation, Isaiah 25. You know, God's grace
saves us, by grace we are saved. We have to wait on God for that
grace of salvation, Isaiah 25 and verse 9. You know, we say, wait only on
God, only God can save us. Salvation is what we need more
than anything else. And so, if we're going to be
saved, we have to receive it from God, and wait on Him for
it. Verse 9 of Isaiah 25, And it
shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God, we have waited
for Him, and He will save us. This is the Lord, we have waited
for Him. We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation. Notice, our waiting will not
be in vain. God will save us and we'll rejoice
in that. Proverbs 20, 22, it says there, say not thou I will recompense
evil, but wait on the Lord and he shall save thee. There it
is. Wait on the Lord and he shall save thee. Nothing could be clear as a promise. Or what Jacob said. Genesis 49,
18. Jacob knew this and he practiced
it himself. In Genesis 49, 18 he said, I
have waited for thy salvation, O Lord. And of course we know
that he was a saved man and went to heaven. Many will sit down with Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of God. I have waited for thy
salvation, O Lord. And if people understood their
true condition and their true need, and that salvation was
what they needed more than anything else, and if they were desperate
for it, they would seek God and wait on Him without ceasing till
they received it. Another thing we can wait for
God from Upon God for us for protection from our enemies.
We see it in Psalm 59 verse 9 Psalm 59 verse 9 Because of his strength Will I wait upon thee? Now there's
a great reason to wait upon God. Because of His strength, He's
almighty. He can do for us whatever we need. There's no lack of power
or ability in Him. Or of willingness, because He's
good. For God is my defense. God is my defense, and because
of His strength, I wait on Him to protect me from my enemies
who are stronger than me. We also wait on God for provision.
A lot of times we're waiting on people or organizations to
give us some money. Well, we need to wait on God. Psalm 104, 27. Even the animals wait on God.
These wait all upon thee, that thou mayest give them their meat
in due season. All that we have in this world,
all that we enjoy, even our very food and drink, comes to us from
God. We have to wait on Him for it.
Give us this day our daily bread. Psalm 145 verse 15. God may use people and organizations,
but ultimately it comes from Him. It says the eyes of all wait
upon thee. And thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou
openest thy hand and satisfiest the desire of every living thing. Isn't that great? And we know
the desire of the righteous shall be granted. God will meet his
every need. They shall not be forsaken, nor
will their seed be found begging bread. Now give us then their
meat, so they wait on you for it." Both physical and spiritual. Psalm 123 verse 2. We need to wait on God for His mercy. No,
if it were not for the Lord's mercies, we would be consumed.
We're utterly dependent upon His mercy for all things. For
salvation and for every blessing. We desperately need His mercy.
We need to cast ourselves at His feet, throw ourselves upon
His mercy, and wait upon Him to show us mercy. Not to give
us what we deserve, but to withhold from us what we deserve. You
know, we deserve judgment, and to give us grace, mercy. Psalm 123, verse 2. Behold, as
the eyes of servants, look unto the hand of their masters, and
as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress, so
our eyes wait upon the Lord our God until that he have mercy
upon us. Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have
mercy upon us, for we are exceedingly filled with contempt. Will our eyes wait upon the Lord
our God? How long, even until What? What are we waiting for? Until
the day of mercy upon us. Oh, how we need His mercy. Because
it's not by words of righteousness, which we have done, that He saved
us, but according to His mercy. And we need to wait on Him however
long it takes. How long should we wait on Him?
However long it takes. We can't give up. We can't quit. We can't fall short of God's
time. Habakkuk. Habakkuk chapter 2
verse 3 I'll read 1 and 3 Habakkuk chapter
2 verse 1 and 3 I will stand upon my watch and set me upon
the tower and will watch to see what he will say unto me. That's
what we're doing. Lord, what's your word to us?
What do you say? What do you want us to do? And
what I shall answer when I am reproved. Verse three, for the
vision is yet for an appointed time. God has an appointed time
to speak to us, but at the end it shall speak. In other words,
it will come eventually in God's good time and not lie, because
it won't fail. God will always come through.
Though it tarry, even if it's a long time in between, wait
for it. Why? Because it will surely come. It will not tarry, or it will
not go one second beyond the appointed time. Even if it tarry,
wait for it, because it will come, definitely. Absolutely,
without doubt, it will come. But it won't tarry, because it's
going to come in the perfect time. So then, God is good to
those who wait on Him. Not only at the end of their
waiting, but even while they're waiting. He's good to them as
they wait. Lamentations 3. Lamentations
3. Verse 25 and 26. The Lord is good unto them that
wait for Him, to the soul that seeketh Him. The Lord, I'm waiting,
nothing's happening. He's good to you for waiting
and while you wait. That's a good enough reason to
wait in itself. And as you seek Him. So it says,
it is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for
the salvation of the Lord. It's good for us to do it because
God's good to us as we do it. And in the end, He'll reward
us for it by doing what we ask. Well, why shouldn't we wait on
God? After all, God waits for us, too. He's waiting on us.
Did you know that? Isaiah 30, verse 18. God's waiting
for us. How many times... The reason
things take so long is not because God's dragging His feet. It's
because we're dragging our feet. Because we are holding back.
And yet, even then, God has a gracious purpose. He has good in store
for us. Isaiah 30 verse 18, Therefore
will the Lord wait that He may be gracious unto you, and therefore
will He be exalted that He may have mercy upon you. Why is He
waiting? To be gracious and merciful,
and to exalt and glorify Himself. For the Lord is a God of judgment. Blessed are all they that wait
for Him. There is a benediction pronounced
upon those who wait for God. They're blessed. as they wait. We often think
the waiting time is not a blessed time. Come on, what's taking
so long? Why isn't anything happening?
What good is waiting? God's not doing anything. It's
a waste of time. God says, blessed are they that
wait for Him. What are we waiting for? Well,
if God works for those who wait for Him, and we don't even know what we're
waiting for because we're looking for unexpected things god does
wonders without number great things that we know now in other
words god is so great and he has things in store for us that
are so wonderful we can't even know what's coming it's too good
psalm 39 verse 7 psalm 39 verse 7 David says, and now, Lord, what
wait I for? Lord, I'm waiting. I don't even
know what you're going to do. I can't even figure this situation
out. I can't imagine what you have
in store for me. What am I waiting for? Well,
whatever it is, my hope's in thee, so I know my hope's in
the right place, and so I'll have something good from you,
something wonderful. Isaiah 64, Verse 3 and 4, he's praying for God to come
down. He says, When thou didst terrible
things, which we looked not for, thou camest down, and the mountains
swoll down at thy presence. For since the beginning of the
world men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, neither
hath the eyes seen O God beside thee what he hath prepared for
him that waiteth for him." You can't even imagine what God has
in store for us. It's so good. And so we wait on Him, put our
hope in Him, and look forward to what He does. If we do, we'll
never be ashamed. Psalm 25, remember earlier on,
David said in verse 3, we'll never be disappointed.
God will never fail our hope. It's a hope that makes not ashamed.
Psalm 25 verse 3, yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed. Let them be ashamed which transgress
without cause. If you wait on God, you'll never
be sorry. You'll never be disappointed.
He will not fail you. That's a promise. Isaiah 49, 23. God says there,
King shall be thy nursing fathers, and thy queens thy nursing mothers.
He'll have kings and queens serving his people. They shall bow down
to thee with their face toward the earth, and lift up the dust
of thy feet, and thou shalt know that I am the Lord. How will
we know it? For they shall not be ashamed that wait for me. God works for those who wait
for him, and he never disappoints them. What are we mainly waiting
for? For Jesus. We're waiting for
Christ to come back. What did Jesus say? I will come
again. and receive you unto myself so
we're expecting his return based on his promise his sure word
of promise 2 Thessalonians 3 verse 5 it says and the Lord
direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patient waiting
for Christ we're patiently waiting for Christ to come back from
heaven in great power and glory to take us unto himself, that
where he is we may be also. And that's a hope that makes
not ashamed. And in the meanwhile, the love of God is shed abroad
in our hearts by the Holy Ghost who is given unto us. Romans
8.23 says, And not only they, but ourselves
also which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, Even we ourselves
groan within ourselves waiting for the adoption. What's this
adoption? It's the manifestation or the
public revelation and unveiling of the sons of God. To wit, the
redemption of our bodies. When Jesus comes back at the
last day to raise us from the dead with bodies like unto his
glorious body and to be like him, when we see him as he is,
That's our great hope. Our glorious hope. Blessed hope. The glorious appearing
of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. That's what we're
waiting for. And in the meanwhile, we wait
for God to work on His will in our lives until Jesus comes. And for our conclusion, we'll
read Psalm 27 and verse 14. This is our conclusion. Here's
what God says. If all these things are true,
If this is what he tells us, and this is what we can expect
from him, then this should be our determination. Alright, I'll
read 13 and 14. I had fainted unless I had believed
to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Alright,
what kept David going through all his trials and adversities?
He believed God's promise, and he expected God to fulfill it.
and it carried him through. He would see ultimately God's goodness
even in the land of the living. So wait on the Lord. Be of good
courage. He shall strengthen my heart.
Then he repeats it. Wait, I say. Who? On who? On the Lord. That's God's
command and exhortation. That's David's advice. He proved
it over and over in his experience. We see it in the records of his
life, and we'll find it to be true in our own life because
God is the same today. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday
and today and forever. He's the same God he was for
David, and if we wait on him as David did, he will do for
us what he did for David, who was also a believing child of
God as we are, as believers in Jesus Christ. And so, again,
He says, let integrity and uprightness preserve me. Why? For I wait
on Thee. If we wait on Thee, on God, integrity
and uprightness will preserve us as well. So we thank God for
that.
Waiting On God
| Sermon ID | 4817953307 |
| Duration | 47:22 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | Psalm 25:21 |
| Language | English |
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