Wait for the Lord

we all hate to wait, and we get easily discouraged when we have to wait

we don’t even like waiting on microwave ovens

anything more than two people in front of us in a store line is annoying, smack our lips

we don’t like waiting for our computers or phones to download something

I’m sorry, but you have to wait for the Lord

Psalm 27:14 NASB95

14 Wait for the Lord; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord.

Before we dive into this verse, let me review the whole passage so we can get a good overall understanding of this Psalm

Intro

in summary:

seems to be a Psalm of David encouraging himself by remembering how God has come through in the past, and how God will come through in the situation he is facing right now

In verse 1 begins with David talking about how awesome God is : God is his light, salvation, whom shall I fear, the Lord is the strength of his life

in verses 2-3 David talks about how his enemies stumbled and fell. And when new enemies rise against him, he will remain confident.

in verses 4-6 David talks about his desire to remain close to the Lord, and the benefits of a close relationship with God include that God will hide him, set him upon a rock, and lifted him up above his enemies (his position is safe and secure)

in verses 7-12 David prays to the Lord for mercy and help, and begs God not to leave him or forsake him. And he ask God to teach him, lead him, and protect him

in verse 13 David expresses his faith that he will see the goodness of the Lord, he will see all of the things he has been talking about come to pass

and that connects us to verse 14 . . . God will do all of these wonderful things, but we must first remember. . .

Wait on the Lord

first, let’s deal with the definition of waiting

waiting is simply allowing time to pass before getting something you need or want. If you are waiting, you allow time to pass and you don’t quit or give up on what you are waiting for

You go to an eating establishment and wait for your food to come. You allow time to pass and just sit at the table. As long as you don’t walk out, you are waiting . . . waiting on the food

This verse says, “Wait on the Lord” - allow time to pass, and don’t quit or give up, as you look to God to provide what you need, what you are expecting, or what he promised

So right off the top, this scripture teaches that we must give God time, and the problem is that we don’t give God much time.

“I’ve been praying all month, and nothing has changed in my life” and we are already tempted to quit, give up, move on, or lose hope . . . . sometimes do something immoral or illegal, take the low road, take a short cut

We give money to church on Sunday

if no surprise financial blessing comes that week, we’re done with giving

we don’t give God much time

we decided to treat our enemy with love, and they respond with hate

then we’re done with being the “nice guy”

we don’t give God much time

we follow the vision God has given us for about half a year, and that’s it, we’re done

we don’t give God much time

Wait on the Lord, means to give the Lord more than a minute

demonstrate your trust in him, by waiting on him

Another problem is that is that many of us are waiting, but not on the Lord

Instead, we are waiting on the first thing I see, the first thing that happens, the first change, the first offer, the first possibility

If you don’t wait on the Lord, it’s just like being at an airport, and someone offers you a bike ride .

and you’re like “yeah, ok . .I guess I can pedal to California”, but you’re supposed to be waiting on a plane!

you can jump on that bike, but it won’t get you to where you need to go

wait on the Lord, don’t accept substitutes

single people - the first person that jumps into your DM’s might not be from the Lord

they may be just a bike

that friend that says “meet me at the back entrance of my job, and I can hook you up”

that doesn’t sound like a blessing, that sounds like a bike

that offer that comes through the mail, get $1,000 loan today with astronomical interest rate

looks like a bike

The Bible says, wait . . . and make sure it’s the Lord you are waiting on

How do I wait on the Lord?

what do you mean by wait on the Lord? Give the Lord some time?

it’s not easy, but the process is real simple: Wait on God to speak and/or move.

allow time to pass until God speaks or moves

You find yourself in a tough situation

Don’t know what to do

There is nothing you can do

so You wait until the Lord speaks or moves

do the best you can, until he speaks or moves

hold on until the Lord speaks or moves

you don’t give up, you don’t give in

you don’t do something crazy

you just wait until the Lord speaks or moves

listening to hear him speak

watching to see if he is moving

The Lord does speak

speaks through his word: personal Bible reading time, a sermon like this

speaks through your thoughts:

some thoughts so strong that it seems audible.

a thought that you never had before, yet makes all of the sense in the world. Makes you wonder how come you haven’t thought of it sooner

a thought that causes a passion to just ignite in your soul

speaks through people: people have been telling me I was going to be a preacher since youth, even when visiting churches

often verified by more than one person

speaks through dreams: speaking of preaching - I dreamed I was good ole’ country preacher (still remember the good ole’)

speaks through visions: you see something, but you are not sleep

speaks through circumstances:

open door: Start of church, WMBC needs a musician

And God will move

I love the action movies when one of the heroes is about to go into a building or fortress and they say something like, “When you see the signal come charging in!”

his friends say, “How will I know the signal?”

“You’ll know it when you see it”

then five minutes later some giant explosion occurs and the friends say, “I’m pretty sure that’s the signal”

if you are looking for God to move, waiting on God to move . . . when he moves, you will know

just out of college, no money, praying for finances . . . started substitute teaching, I just so happened to accept an assignment where the VP knew me, just so happened to have a long term vacancy at that school, long term vacancies paid a lot more, so when he asked me if I would take that position . . . yeah! . . . the Lord moved

we were having church in my dad’s house (holding on, not giving up, doing the best we could)

then people all of their own came to my dad and asked if he would allow them to build us a church

yeah . . . the Lord moved

you will know it

So you should look for God to speak and/or move

when he does - follow his lead

and if he doesn’t speak or move yet - keep on keeping on, keep on holding on, stay faithful

. . .in other words, wait on the Lord

Be strong and let your heart take courage

be strong and let your heart take courage means to not just wait, but bravely wait

don’t fall apart, don’t spaz out, don’t become a whiner, don’t become a complainer, don’t start doubting, don’t be miserable and make everyone around you miserable

but have courage, bravely wait with peace, confidence, even joy . . . patiently wait

you wake up on day 100 of waiting, and God still has not spoken or moved

still put a smile on it, put a praise on it

encourage yourself, “it will happen when God is ready . . . when God says so

it will come to pass at the right time

I have not been forgotten

be strong and let your heart take courage

and the scripture says BE strong and LET your heart take courage . . . this indicates that it is up to you

your heart will pick something, make it pick courage:

so decide to be strong

decided to good courage

make up your mind to be patient while you are waiting on the Lord

commit to facing trouble courageously

commit to facing tribulations and trials bravely

since you know that he is an on time, act like he is an on time God

remain calm, in control, not worried, at peace

when my wife says that she needs to run in the store and will be out in 10 minutes

I know within my heart that she will not be out in 10 minutes (every now and then)

so If I don’t watch my attitude, I’m already mad as soon as she leaves the car . . . because I don’t like waiting

so 45 minute later she returns . . . .

and the whole time she’s in the store, I am breathing hard, eyes rolling, lips smacking, checking my watch and going “10 minutes, really” . . . most miserable time

I waited, but I was not strong, I did not wait with patience

the bottom line is that I know that she will indeed come back out, she will show up

and there have been times that I made up in my mind to be strong

not get frustrated, take courage and wait patiently

i get comfortable in the idea that I might be here a while

that’s a word for you

so I find stuff to do, phone calls to make, check emails, send out WMBC text messages, get on social media

I decided that I would not be miserable, but productive

I decided that I would not be miserable, but try to enjoy the moment

so when she returns 45 minutes later, and I’m still smiling, baby check out this video!

she got what we needed from the store

I was productive

marriage in a good place

because I decided to be strong, and take good courage

and through this word, God gives us a straight head’s up, “I’m going to be a while”

so you might as well decide to be be strong

get comfortable with the idea of waiting, and tell your heart, “we are going to pick courage” while we wait

I’m going to wait patiently . . . and while I wait, I am going to be productive where I am

So be strong and let your heart take courage,

and the final part of the final verse of Psalms 27 says . . .

yes, wait for the Lord

God will come, God will step in, God will speak, God will move, God will help, God will rescue . . . . so wait on him!!!

This psalm says, “The Lord is your light and and your salvation” . . . so wait on him

The Lord is the strength of your life . . . so wait on him

he will cause your enemies to stumble and fall

in the time of trouble he will hide you

The Lord will set you upon a rock

The Lord will lift your head above your enemies

The Lord will have mercy on you, deliver you, and answer you

He’ll help you, even if your mother and father forsake you

God has wonderful things, awesome things, encouraging things in store for you, but you can’t take advantage of them if you don’t wait on Him

you must follow through and actually wait on the Lord!

The first, “wait on the Lord” . . . those were instructions

This last, “yes, wait for the Lord”. . is encouragement

it’s a done deal if you wait

you’ll make it, if you wait

victory is yours, if you wait for the Lord

don’t give up on God or do anything crazy

don’t commit suicide, don’t break the law, don’t do anything immoral, don’t do anything stupid, don’t settle for less . . . . wait on the Lord

We must wait on God for various reasons:

things need to fit in his plans

sometimes he is making what we are waiting on ready

sometimes he is making us ready for what we are waiting on

but God keeps his own counsel and probably has a million other reasons

But I see in the Bible, that waiting is often a method God uses to separate the faithful from the unfaithful

Children of Israel, thought God was taking too long in talking to Moses, and they did not want to wait past 40 days, and decided to be done with God

if you heard their song of praise after the Red Sea, you would have thought that they trusted in the Lord . . . but a little waiting caused them to pick a new god

King Saul refused to wait on the prophet Samuel, he gave up in 7 days

he decided to not strong, nor take courage, and Saul took matters into his own hands and broke the commandment of the Lord . . . his reign went south for him after that

waiting is like a faith detector

waiting is like a “how real are you” monitor

waiting is like a truth serum, “do you really believe that God is faithful”

and so you see the faithful waiting

Noah waited over 120 years

Abraham waited 25 years for the promise of Isaac, and the one time they did not wait patiently, it cost them

Joseph went through his teens and young adult hood, waiting (part of it in slavery and jail)

David waited at about 15 years for the prophecy of Saul to come to pass, and become king (most of it in fear of his life)

Daniel waited 21 days to get an understanding of a vision (added fasting to it)

had a dream and waited that long to get an understanding?

even the disciples had to wait 50 days for the promise of Holy Spirit to come

Real Christianity involves real waiting

so we must learn to wait . . . like for real!

we must learn to be strong and take courage as we wait

one of the saddest things is that when you don’t wait on the Lord, you probably won’t recognize him when he shows up

some single people can’t recognize a good man or woman anymore, because they have not been waiting on the Lord, and have been taking anything that comes by

people can’t recognize a good church, didn’t get immediate results, looking for a false spiritual high

people can’t recognize an opportunity from God

Jewish people did not recognize Jesus when he came, though he fulfilled all of these scriptures.

announcement review

We have Bible Study this Wednesday on Zoom at 7pm. Our Pastor will teach part 1, of a 3 part series called “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas”

Christmas Brunch: We will eat, share, and have a fun family activities! First Lady Caver will contact you on what to bring.

Showing the love and power of God: We have a history of being a church that reaches out and serves. There have been different seasons: food baskets, after school tutoring, car ministry, elementary school, nursing home, and everything in between.

God has shown me that this is the season for partnering. Assisting established ministries that outreach the community. For example:

if another church has a food basket giveaway, and they need volunteers.