What To Do When You’re Waiting on God

What To Do When You’re Waiting on God

We are introduced to David years before when Samuel walked into his home in Bethlehem,

looked past seven older brothers, and poured oil over the head of a shepherd boy nobody thought

would amount to anything. The throne was promised to him, so why is David hiding in a cave

fearing for his life? Why is the anointed king of Israel crouched in the dark, dodging a spear,

running for his existence from the King God had already set aside?

God could have handed David the crown many times ago. Instead, David endured years of

waiting. Years of running. Years of tears. And that is not just David's question. It is our question

too. If God is sovereign, and has promised a kingdom where every tear is wiped away, then why

is the road there so long and so hard? If God has a calling on my life, Why am I not seeing it.

Why does it seem like evil men are prospering and good men are struggling? Today, we will

learn about how God counts time.

1 Samuel 24:1, “When Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, he was told, “David is

in the wilderness near En-gedi.” 2 So Saul took three thousand of Israel’s fit young men and

went to look for David and his men in front of the Rocks of the Wild Goats. 3 When Saul

came to the sheep pens along the road, a cave was there, and he went in to relieve himself.,

David and his men were staying in the recesses of the cave, 4 so they said to him, “Look, this

is the day the Lord told you about: ‘I will hand your enemy over to you so you can do to

him whatever you desire.’ ”

1. Timing is everything in the Kingdom of God

In 1 Samuel 23, David is instructed by God to attack the Philistines. His men are leary but follow

David’s lead. When Saul gets word that David is fighting their common enemy, he seizes the

opportunity to kill David. David and his 600 men narrowly escape Saul’s onslaught. They flee to

the cave near En-Gedi. While they are hiding in the Cave, something unimaginable happens.

Saul has to go to the Bathroom and decides to relieve himself in the EXACT Cave David and his

men are in. You can look at this as a coincidence, or you can see it through spiritual eyes. God is

testing David right now to see how he will respond: Will you take the Crown By Force or Trust

in My Timing? A crown taken by force is a crown you’ll spend your life protecting.

On the surface it looks like it’s his moment. Now his Friends are telling him what to do: “Take

this Joker out right now. Here’s your opportunity. Carpe Diem David.” There’s One problem:

God hasn’t told him to take Saul out. David’s life is a case study on Prayer. The reason David is

called “A Man after God’s own Heart” is because he sought the Lord so consistently. The times

when David messes up, He fails to seek God’s Guidance.

I want you to notice how many times David inquires of the Lord in 1 Samuel 23 Alone: Verse 2,

Should I attack Keilah, Verse 4, Are you Sure I should attack at Keilah, Verse 10, Is Saul goingto come to Keilah, and Verse 12, Will the citizens of Keilah will betray him? David asked God 4

times before he acted. Most of us make the biggest decisions of our lives without asking Once.

Before you take that promotion, before you date that person, before you grab that opportunity,

before you take that shortcut, before you follow your friends advice, ASK THE LORD.

God has not told him to Take Saul Out. So he has a Choice. Put yourself in David’s Shoes. It’s

been 12 to 15 years since Samuel Anointed him King in 1 Samuel 16. He knows that he will

ascend to the Throne one day, so Why is God dragging his feet? Why is it taking so long? And

why am I fleeing for my life from Saul?

David teaches us a Principle we must learn: God works the Best in our Waiting. God is never on

our time, but He’s always on time. Noah endured mocking and humiliation for 120 years while

he constructed the Ark. Abraham waited for 25 years before God came through on His

covenantal promise. Joseph endured isolation in a pit and incarceration in a prison before

realizing the promise God made to him 13 years before. Moses wandered in the wilderness for 4

decades waiting to enter the land that was promised. Jesus waited 30 years before He began His

earthly ministry. The disciples waited 10 days in Acts 1 for the Spirit to Fall upon them before

starting their Ministry. Paul went to Arabia in Obscurity for 3 Years before he planted a single

church.

But let's be honest. Waiting is tough. However, the kingdom advances while we sit in the waiting

room of Life. Waiting demonstrates Trust in God. David could have taken the Throne, but he

would have received it by Murder not God’s Appointment. What you take by Force, will be

taken from You. Trust God’s Timing.

Time in God’s economy is different from ours. The Christian life starts out quick. As a new

Convert, Changes are made right away. But then they slow down the longer you follow God.

Dr. A. H. Strong illustrates for us: “A student asked the President of his school whether he could

not take a shorter course than the one prescribed. ‘Oh yes,’ replied the President, ‘but then it

depends upon what you want to be. When God wants to make an oak, He takes a hundred years,

but when He wants to make a squash, He takes six months.’”

Some of you may feel like God isn’t doing anything extraordinary in your life, but he is.

Have you heard of these names before: D.L. Moody, George Mueller, Hudson Taylor, F. B.

Meyer, John Praying Hyde, and Amy Carmichael. What do they all have in Common? It took 15

years on average for them to be mightily used by God after they surrendered their lives to him.

I’m not trying to discourage you from serving the Lord. I want to help you set your sights on

Eternity. Training on Earth is for Reigning in Heaven. Everyone of us is in Process. And the

Process is not complete until God finishes the Work he started. Stop measuring your Chapter 3 in

life by someone else’s chapter 20.2. David Extends Grace to Saul By Cutting his Garment

Verse 4, “Then David got up and secretly cut off the corner of Saul’s robe. 5 Afterward,

David’s conscience bothered, him because he had cut off the corner of Saul’s robe. 6 He said

to his men, “As the Lord is my witness, I would never do such a thing to my lord, the

Lord’s anointed. I will never lift my hand against him, since he is the Lord’s anointed.” 7

With these words David persuaded his men, and he did not let them rise up against Saul.”

At First glance, this seems cowardly of David. He’s soft because he didn’t take out his Enemy.

Remember, Saul has already tried to assassinate David multiple times. 1 Samuel 19 and 22. But

David is doing something worse than killing Saul. Because to cut the Corner of Someone’s Robe

symbolized something way worse in that culture.

We first see this in 1 Samuel 15:27, “ When Samuel turned to go, Saul grabbed the corner of his

robe, and it tore. 28 Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingship of Israel away from you

today and has given it to your neighbor who is better than you.”

David is reminding Saul of that Prophecy. He’s laying claim to the Kingdom. And saul realizes

this. David knows that the Kingdom was given to Saul by God and it was up to God to take it

from Him in his own way and in his own time.

Here’s the Principle: Meekness is Not Weakness. Jesus said, “Blessed are the Meek, they will

Inherit the Earth.” The CSB translates the word as Humble, but that's too simplistic. Meekness is

Controlled Power. The opposite of Meekness is violence, anger, theft, brutality, wrath, and

condemnation. It’s a person who is boastful, brash, and prideful.

The greatest picture of meekness in the Bible is Jesus standing before Pilate. Pilate asks, "Are

you the King of the Jews?" and Jesus, beaten and bloody, answers, "My kingdom is not of this

world" (John 18:36). Picture the scene. On one side stands Pilate, the embodiment of Roman

power, raised with a silver spoon, a Roman knight appointed governor of Judea, backed by the

might of the entire empire. On the other side stands Jesus, bruised and bound, broke and alone.

He looks pitiful after the mob just chewed up and spit out. But things are not what they seem.

You can't judge a book by its cover. Jesus the Prisoner, bound in chains, was the only free man in

the room, in complete control of the entire ordeal, while Pilate the Prefect, free from any chains,

was bound by his own pride, arrogance, and thirst for power.

Meekness does not mean being shy or introverted. It doesn’t mean that you’re nice all the time

or withdrawn. Meekness was used in the Ancient world to describe a Wild animal that was tame

or domesticated. The potential for attack is there, but the trainer has taught the animal to control

its strength. Anyone can Swing a Sword. It takes a bigger man or woman to sheath it.Jesus teaches us the principle of the upside down kingdom of God. We Gain by Losing. We are

Strong when we’re weak. We lead by serving. We rise by kneeling. We’re first when we’re last.

We Live by dying. We’re great, when we’re the least. By the world’s standards it makes no

sense, but that’s how you flourish in the Kingdom.

Write this down: Sometimes, God presents an open door to walk past not through. Every

opportunity should not be taken.

I want to end where we began. Let’s go back to the cave. David walked in as a fugitive and he

walked out as a fugitive. Nothing changed on the outside. Saul still claimed the crown. David

still slept in caves. The waiting didn’t end. But something happened in that dark that mattered

more than a crown. David proved he could be trusted with power before he ever held it.

This pattern points to another king who would come a thousand years later. Jesus faced a similar

choice from Satan when he took him to a high mountain and offered Him the kingdoms of the

world (Matthew 4). Take power by force, Jesus. Skip the cross. Seize the crown. And Jesus, with

all the power of heaven at His fingertips, said no. Instead, he trusted the timing of his Father. All

the way to the Garden, to the Trial, To the Beating and through the Cross.

David hid in a cave and came out still waiting. Jesus was laid in a tomb and came out

REIGNING.

I sometimes think about what the angels must have thought about me when I was strung out on

drugs and alcohol years ago. "God, you're going to use THIS guy? He's a thief. He's an addict.

He's living in the dark because he can't even pay his light bill." And I can hear the Lord saying,

"Don't look at the man he is now. See the seed within him that I'm going to bring to fruition."

He's doing the same with you. And it wasn't just the drugs He protected me from. It was my own

ambition.

When I was a brand new Christian, I had a calling. I knew God had put something in me to

preach. So I prayed. But I didn't just pray to preach. I prayed to preach BIG. Put me on the stage,

God. Give me a platform, with lights and a big crowd. I was ready. Or so I thought. And the

phone never rang. No invitations. No big stages. No crowds. Door after door stayed shut. And I

remember wondering if God even heard me.

He answered my prayer with a No because he loved me too much. Because if God had given me

those platforms back then, I wasn't ready for them. I would have gotten up in front of thousands

and said things I'd spend the rest of my life regretting. And in our generation, those messages

don't disappear. They go online. They go on YouTube. And you can't take them down. What you

say on the big stage lives FOREVER.

I was praying for a platform, but God was protecting me from a permanent record. I

thought He was withholding, but He was shielding. I thought the closed door was rejection. Itwas His Protection. God knew what was best for me better than I knew for myself. He wasn't

ignoring my prayer. He was answering a better one. So when you're waiting, and the door won't

open, and you're begging God for the stage He keeps refusing to give you, consider this: maybe

the no isn't punishment. Maybe it's protection. Maybe God loves you too much to hand you

something you're not ready to carry.

Long Hollow, that's what the cave is pointing to all along. A King who could have called down

legions of angels and refused. A King who could have come off the cross and stayed on it

instead. A King who walked into the darkness of the grave, waited three days, and walked out

with the keys of death and hell in His hand.

Maybe you’ve built your whole life seizing your own crown. Trying to make it work on your

own terms, in your own timing. I’m here to tell you there’s a King who already did the waiting

for you. He already walked out of the tomb. And all He asks is that you stop striving and trust

Him. Today could be the day you come out of your cave.

There are some in here today who feel stuck in the waiting room and you're about to do

something foolish. You're about to grab the crown by force. Force a relationship. Force a job.

Force a timeline. Force a Promotion. You want to take Saul out because your friends are cheering

you on. Don't do it. God works best in your waiting. What He's building in the dark, He will one

day bring to the light. He is never early. He is never late. But He is always on time.

The Crown always comes through a Cross we must bear. But don’t worry, Someone already

carried it for you.