I know that's a big thing to do to let somebody else behind this pulpit that God's entrusted you with. So thank you for allowing me to come here and preach tonight. Psalm chapter 40, verse number one. The Bible says, I waited patiently for the Lord, and he inclined unto me and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God. Many shall see it and fear and shall trust in the Lord. Let's pray tonight. Our heavenly Father, as we bow before you tonight, Lord, we want to thank you for the service this morning. Lord, we're thankful that, Father, no matter where you take us, you will be with us. Father, we're thankful that the safest place to be is in the middle of your will. Father, we do pray and ask tonight, would you please be with this service? Father, I pray that you would be magnified and glorified. Father, I do pray, would you please take me out of the way? And Father, I pray that the only preacher they would hear tonight is the Holy Ghost. My Father, I do pray and ask all of these things in the precious name of Jesus. Amen and amen. Tonight, I want to take a look at what happens when we wait. Now, in today's world, we have become an instant society. I think that's fair to say. We want our food now. We want our entertainment now. When something breaks, when a tire blows out, we want it fixed now. And may I say, all of that stuff, being able to get all that stuff done right away, that is a good thing. I'm not against any of that. But may I say this, we have started to take what society, we're starting to put our now mentality into God. What I mean by that is this, when we pray to God, we say, God, I want you to answer my prayers now. God, I want you to deliver me from this thing now. God, I want to understand your word now. Lord, I want to know the next step now. But can I tell you, in our passage in Psalm chapter 40, we find that God is saying here, through David, that many a times the Lord will just say, wait. The Lord will just tell us to wait a little bit. And may I tell you this tonight, that goes against every bit of our natural self. At least it does for me. It goes against every bit. Because like I said, I want my things now. I want to eat now. I want to do this now. But can I tell you tonight, the Lord's thoughts are not our thoughts. His ways are not our ways. Isaiah 55 verse 8 tells us, For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. So from this passage tonight, I want to preach a message on the blessings of waiting. Look at verse number one. The Bible says, I waited patiently for the Lord. First of all tonight, in the blessings of waiting, we first off need to know how to wait. When I say first of all, we are to wait in faith. Look at verse number one. It said, I waited patiently. Now we know that the Bible, it is God-inspired. Every word in here is given by God through the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. So why in the world did the Lord see fit to just say, I waited patiently instead of I waited for the Lord? Wouldn't that get the same meaning across? May I tell you tonight, God put that word patiently in there because of what it means. That word patiently, it means to endure. So what David is saying at the beginning of verse number one is this, he's saying no matter how many hardships that I went through, and David was somebody that went through a lot of hardships, David's king Saul, who he respected and loved, was going to try and kill him, not because of anything that David did, but just because Saul got jealous of him. He couldn't help it. He was chased by his king who was wanting to kill him. He was made a fugitive from the very nation that he was promised he'd one day rule as a king. He was forced to hide in the wilderness, in caves, and he was even called a madman by his own enemies. David went through a lot of hardships. David went through more hardships later in life where his own son Absalom would try and overthrow him. Where he would even lose his own son Absalom. David would go through hardships. Yet, through all of this, David begins this psalm by testifying of verse number one, by saying, through all of this, the only reason that I was able to get through it, the only reason that I'm still here today, isn't because of my own strength, it isn't because of anything I've done, but he said, it's all because I willingly endured. I waited on the Lord to show up. Can I tell you, David didn't just say, I hope the Lord will show up, but he said, I know the Lord will show up. Look over in 1 Samuel 22, verse number 3. The Bible says, And David went thence to Mishpah of Moab. And he said unto the king of Moab, Let my father and my mother, I pray thee, come forth and be with you. Notice this last line. And the Bible says, till I know what God will do for me. David's running from Saul. He's dropping off his parents to keep him safe, to keep Saul from getting to him through them. And what he's telling them, the man here, what he's telling Mishpah here to do is say this, keep him safe because I know the Lord, keep him here until the Lord shows me what he's gonna do through this. David knew the Lord was going to work through his situation. And David knew that no matter how bad it looked, God was going to have His will and His way. And may I say this, child of God, if you are saved tonight, I don't know what you're going through. I don't know what it is that only you and God know about. But can I tell you, can I encourage you to hold on as David did? Because God is working. David had that promise all the way back when Samuel gave it to him and saying, you will be the next king of Israel. David was holding on to that. He's saying, Lord, I know you said this is going to come to pass. Lord, I know somehow, someway I'm going to become the king of Israel because you said so. And because of that, I'm going to endure all of these hardships. Can I tell you God has given us some promises tonight that we can hold on to? That when troubles and circumstances happen to us, we can claim those promises and say, I know God will show up. Let me just read off a few of them to you. First off, we see the promise, the promise in the present. Romans 8, 28, the Bible says, And we know that all things work together for good. to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose. Child of God, hold on, because God promised in His Word that everything will work out for your good. Not only that, but notice the promise of His presence. Hebrews chapter 13, if you want to turn, you can. Hebrews chapter 13, verse number 5. The Bible says, let your conversation be without covetousness, and be content with such things as ye have. For he has said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. Child of God, hold on, because God said, I will always be with you. But notice not only that, the promise in the present, the promise of His presence, but notice thirdly, the promise of our future. John chapter 14. Beginning in verse one, the Bible says, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, notice this next line, I will come to you. Again and receive you into myself that where I am there you may be also What's the what's that promise? That's the promise that the Lord's coming back one day Somebody said the other day that there would be Somebody quoted some part of the Bible in Revelation where he said there will be wars and rumors of wars I would tell you there are wars and rumors of wars. I'm telling you now we are closer to the end we are closer to the beginning of eternity than we've ever been before and But we see that David could hold on. David waited in faith because he had a promise from God that God was going to make him king of Israel because he knew God would show up. He knew God will work it all out for his good. And I tell you, God has given us those same promises that it will all work out for our good. Not that you will be the king of Israel, that was specifically to David. But notice secondly in our text, not only are we to wait in faith, but secondly, we are to wait and continue. We are to wait and continue. Now that sounds contradictory, but let me ask you this question. David in the Bible, he is known as a man after God's own heart. Can I ask you this question tonight? Do you think David quit going after God's heart while he was running for his life? Turn back over to 1 Samuel chapter 23. The Bible says in verse number 2, Therefore David inquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I go and smite these Philistines? And the Lord said unto David, Go and smite the Philistines, and save Keilah. Verse number four, Then David inquired of the Lord yet again. And the Lord answered him, and said, Arise, go down to Keilah, for I will deliver the Philistines into thine hand. Verse number 10, the Bible says, Then said David, O Lord God of Israel, thy servant has certainly heard that Saul seeketh to come to Keilah, to destroy this city for my sake. Will the men of Keilah deliver me up into his hand? Will Saul come down, as thy servant hath heard? O Lord God of Israel, I beseech thee, tell thy servant. And the Lord said, he will come down. Where are those verses saying? We're seeing what David is doing while he's on the run. What is David doing in this passage? He's talking to God. David, in the midst of all of his troubles, in the midst of literally running for his life, said, I can't do anything else except keep on doing what God has showed me to do. David, the only thing he knew to do was this, run and talk to God. And can I tell you tonight, although God might have put you in a waiting period, although God might not have showed you the very next step, can I tell you, do not wait and say, God isn't going to show me this. Don't wait and say, God, I'm not going to take another step until you tell me otherwise. Why? Because God has already given us some things to keep on doing. He's given us the great commission in Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Acts. God has told us to love others as we love ourselves. God has told us to spread the gospel. I'm just saying tonight, when you're waiting upon God, continue in the things that God has showed you. Paul tells Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter 4 verse number 14, And that passage, Paul is writing one of his final letter to Timothy, and he's telling Timothy, Timothy, you might not hear from me. the rest of your life. This may be my final letter, but he's saying, Timothy, don't feel sad, but continue in the things that you know. Continue in the things that God has showed you that you know to be true. May I say this tonight? If you're not, the old preacher said it this way, if you're not going forward with God, you're going backwards from God. Many of Christians, when they say we're waiting on God, they'll completely stop serving, they'll completely stop reading, they'll stop praying, and they'll say I'm not moving until God says move. And what ends up happening is they do move and they start going away from God. Don't go away from God, go forward with Him. But notice, not only that David waited in faith, that David waited and continued. But thirdly, we see what God can do when we wait for Him. We see the blessings for waiting on God. Look at verse number one of our text here of Psalm 40. The Bible says, I waited patiently for the Lord, and notice the rest of the verse, and He inclined unto me and heard my cry. Wouldn't it have just been good enough if David said, and he heard my cry? That doesn't get the same meaning across. That word inclined, that word, it means here, bowed. It's a type of picture as in when you bow your, when you get a little closer to somebody, when you put your ear closer to somebody's mouth so you can hear them. And what David is saying here, Man, this is getting me excited. What David is saying here is that the Lord didn't just hear my cry, but he's saying after crying to the Lord, after not feeling like he was here, after not feeling like my prayers were kept past the ceiling, what he's saying is in all reality God heard me, and not only did God hear me, but he got a little closer to me. He bent his ear to me. Now, think of this. The Bible says in the book of Genesis, and he spoke and he said, let there be light. And there was light. You know, in Genesis, all God did to speak all creation except man in existence was just speak it. But yet, when it came to man, He formed us out of the dust of the ground. And here, what David is saying is, my Creator, the One who just spoke and the world came into existence, got a little closer to me. He bent His ear toward me. He got closer to where I could know that He heard my cry. And bless God, we have a God that He doesn't just say, I heard you, I'm staying up here. But bless God, we have a God that says, let me get closer to you. Amen. But not only do we see that He inclines unto us, that God bends His ear, He gets closer to us. and he hears our cry. But let's continue on verse number two. The Bible says, the end of verse number one, the Bible said, and he inclined unto me and heard my cry, and he brought me up also out of an horrible pit. That horrible pit. What that word means is it's a pit of noise. That's what it's describing here. That's what that horrible pit is. And David is writing here in the scriptures that in all the situations, all the troubles that were going on around him, God was able to bring him out of it. And can I say this tonight? Well, let me ask this tonight. Have you ever been in a place where it seems you can't hear nothing else except all the troubles of life? You hear your circumstances, you hear all of your failures, you hear your own sin, your own stinking rotten flesh that you have. You hear it all and it could be saying, you're nothing, you won't ever amount to nothing, you failed, you let God down, you might as well just quit and die. But can I tell you, when David was running from Saul, running for his life, having to take care of all the men that he was captain of, I'm sure he heard a lot of things. But can I tell you, God brought him out of that horrible pit. God said, I'm going to bring you out of all the noises of life. I'm going to bring you out of where your flesh, where your circumstances are trapping you, where you can't hear my voice, and I'm going to bring you out to where you can hear me. where David felt like there was no escape, where there was no way to survive, where it felt like giving up, God was able to grab him and bring him up out of that horrible pit. But not only that, but the Bible said, he brought me up out of a horrible pit and out of the miry clay. That Maori clay, if I can say it this way, it's pretty much just a picture of quicksand. quicksand you can't really touch the bottom of you just keep sinking and sinking and Sinking and what David is trying to get across here with this picture is this David felt like he was sinking in the storm He felt like his troubles were gonna swallow him up But yet he said God didn't just bring me out of the pit of noise But he brought me up where I was no longer sinking where I was no longer drowning in that miry clay. I But notice, not only does God bring us out of miry clay, not only out of the horrible pit, but the Bible continues on, he says, and he set my feet upon a rock. Now the rock many times in scripture is used as a picture of safety, of security, where you can't sink in the miry clay, where you have a solid foundation. And may I make some application tonight. The rock that David was set upon was not the rock of man. It wasn't the rock of his confidence. But turn over to Psalm chapter 18 verse number 2. Psalm 18 2. David tells us exactly what rock the Lord had set him on. Psalm 18. Well, we'll read verse number 1 because it's good too. The Bible says verse number 1. I will love thee, O Lord, my strength. Notice verse 2, the Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my strength, in whom I will trust, my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. The rock that David was standing upon was the rock of God. And can I tell you, if you are a child of God tonight, you don't have to stand upon the rock of, well, I think this is what happened. You don't have to stand upon the rock of just, of any religion, but you can stand upon the rock of Jesus Christ because that rock will never crumble, that rock you can never fall off of unless you choose to go off it. And what David is saying here is that when I felt like I was drowning in my sin, when I felt like I was drowning in my troubles, he's saying God showed up and he set me upon his rock. Bless God, we can be on that very same rock, on the rock of Jesus Christ. But notice, not only did the Lord bring him out of the rock, not only did the Lord bring him out of the horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and not only did he set him upon a rock, but notice this, the Bible says, and set my feet upon a rock, and notice this, and established my goings. That word established, it means to settle permanently, or in a sense, He fixed my steps. And can I tell you this tonight, when God brings you out of sin, when God brings you out of troubles, out of horrible circumstances, He doesn't leave you alone, but instead, He gives us direction for life, and He begins to walk with us. Turn over to Matthew chapter 14. This is the best illustration I can think of of where we see this. You all, I hope you all know the story, but if you don't, this is the story of when Peter is walking on the waters, and he's walking toward Jesus, and he begins in verse number 30, the Bible said, But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And there's a whole different message in that, in that, in verse number one, and because, well, let me say this, just give me a few seconds, I promise I'll get back to the message. But in verse number 31, the Bible said, immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him. Here's the message from just that little part here tonight. Peter was so close to Jesus when he began to sink, that all Jesus had to do was reach forward and grab his hand. This is the application of it. No matter how close you are to God, You can begin to sink. Here's what we need to do. We need to be guarded. Peter was so close that all the Lord had to do, he didn't have to take another step. He just had to reach and grab Peter to bring him out of that. Be careful, be guarded because the devil is trying to get you to sink tonight. And can I tell you that, well, that's that part, that's a whole different message I'm wanting to preach, but the Lord ain't want me to. But here's where, here's where we come back to ours. Verse number 32, or verse number 31, and immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? Verse number 32, and when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased. Why didn't the Lord stop the wind right when he picked up Peter? Why didn't he stop the wind there and then go back to the ship? I believe it's this tonight. I believe this is a great picture of what David said when David said, and he established my goings, and he began to walk with me. This is a picture of it. Jesus began to walk with Peter through the storm. And I can imagine this. If I was sinking in the waters, I would be grabbing onto the one who saved me. I'd be holding his hand. This is good night. The Lord was literally holding Peter, just walking back through the storm with him. Can I tell you tonight, you might feel like you're going through the storms alone. Don't feel like that because it's not true because the Lord is holding on to your hand and he's walking along with you. Not only do we see that the Lord established David's going, But verse number three, the Bible says, and he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God. Many shall see it in fear and shall trust in the Lord. We see finally that the Lord, when you wait upon the Lord, he blesses you by putting a new song in you. You might be saying, well, what's the song? And the truth of it is, I don't know what the song was that David had in his heart. But I do know this, that after God had showed up for David and done something for David, he couldn't help but just start singing praises to God. He couldn't help but just start bragging on the Lord. And may I tell you this tonight? We deny as Christians, we need to be telling people, this is what the Lord did for me. Can you believe it? When God, and you might be saying, I don't think the Lord's done anything for me. Can I tell you, if you are a child of God, if you have believed in Jesus Christ as your personal Savior tonight, He has saved your soul. And can I tell you, you ought to be praising God. Why? Because He's done a miracle in your life. David couldn't help but sing. David couldn't help but have a new song in his mouth. He couldn't help but praise God when God had showed up. For David, when God established his goings, he couldn't help but praise God. Notice not only this, but let's read verse number five and I'll be done. As I said earlier, David is testifying here of what God has done for him. He's singing about it. Verse number five, David continues, and he says, Many, O Lord my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to usward. They cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee. If I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered." What's David saying in verse number five? What he's saying is this, Lord, I just want to thank you because I know you've been thanking on me. That's exciting, isn't it? Because David came to realize this truth, even when I couldn't feel God, even when I'm not thinking on God. Because I'll just be honest with you tonight, I don't always think about the Lord, to my shame. But I kind of tell you, David is saying here, although I don't think about the Lord all the time, He's always thinking about me. And he's saying he's not thinking thoughts of bad. He's not thinking thoughts of judgment. But what he's saying is he's thinking thoughts of good. Can I tell you the Lord isn't thinking hateful thoughts toward you tonight. But he's saying I want the best for my child. I want my child to be successful. I want my child to know me more. I want them to trust me more. I want them to have a deeper relationship with Him. And can I tell you tonight that's exciting because the God who created heaven, the God who created the world, the God who created everything, He's saying, I'm thinking about you. And He's thinking good thoughts. Tonight, I don't know what you're going through. Maybe you've been praying and asking God for specific directions. Maybe you've been asking, Lord, Lord, what next? Lord, what do you want me to do now? I don't know what to do. Maybe you've been asking the Lord to answer her prayer. Maybe you've been praying and saying, God, would you please save this family member? Can I tell you this? Wait in faith, and wait and continue to draw an eye to God, because God blesses those who wait. God takes care of those who wait tonight. I'll ask you this, and I'll challenge you to this. Would you have faith that God will work it all out for your good? He'll work it all out for your good. We'll pray. Brother Tom, you come, you do what the Lord has led you to do. Let's pray tonight.