(Patience) Grasping God's Guidance Psalm 40:1-2

Patience - endurance without murmuring or fretfulness, the act or quality of waiting long for justice or expected good without discontentment.

The Possessor of Patience (vs.1 “I”)

The child of God is called to be patient.

2 Timothy 2:24 “And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient,”

Strive = to fight (opposite of patience)

The Problem with Patience (vs.1 “waited”)

Waited - to look eagerly for

We live in such a fast paced world that we think we need what we think we need right now. (J. G. Wentworth)

Psalms 69:1-3 “Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. I am weary of my crying: my throat is dried: Mine eyes fail while I wait for my God.”

Sometimes, even as a child of God, it’s difficult to be patient and wait on the Lord. That’s why God made provision for patience.

The Provision of Patience (vs.1 “he inclined unto me and heard my cry”)

The word “inclined” means to stretch or extend out.

In the midst of the lowest valley, while we patiently wait for a reply from God, God stretches himself towards us.

Paul told the church at Rome that God is “the God of patience and consolation.”

A patient cry leads to God’s personal consolation.

The Point of Patience (vs. 1 “for the LORD”)

We may ask God to help us have patience in finding:

a new job

a new car

a new home

a spouse

a church

While these are things to be patient about, the psalmist waited patiently specifically and and for THE LORD. David waited patiently for what God wanted for him.

Sometimes our hustle and bustle hinders God’s help and blessings.

You don’t always have to walk through the first open door you see. Take time to pray, read scripture, and see if it’s what God wants for you!

The Promise of Provision (vs.2 “he established my goings”)

God promises that if we wait and be patient with Him, it will be for our benefit and for His glory!

Psalms 27:14 “Wait on the Lord: Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: Wait, I say, on the Lord.”

Psalms 145:14-20 “The Lord upholdeth all that fall, And raiseth up all those that be bowed down. The eyes of all wait upon thee; And thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest thine hand, And satisfiest the desire of every living thing. The Lord is righteous in all his ways, And holy in all his works. The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him, To all that call upon him in truth. He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him: He also will hear their cry, and will save them. The Lord preserveth all them that love him: But all the wicked will he destroy.”

Isaiah 40:28-31 “Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, That the everlasting God, the Lord, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; And to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And 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.”

Lamentations 3:22-26 “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.”

You will never wait upon the Lord in vain. If you’re not sure what to do, don’t do nothing. God will lead us if we are patient.