SERMON

Waiting For the Lord

Psalm 40: 1-8

Verse 1:   I waited patiently for the Lord.

        When we are living a life with complete dependence on the Lord,

         we are taking a big step of faith.

Many people are not that strong in their faith.

They want to try and meet their own needs in their own way.

There are three situations in which we can have faith.

                In favourable circumstances – easy.

                In unfavourable circumstances – not so easy but do-able.

        But what happens when there are no circumstances at all?

A lot of people fail in their faith when there is nothing happening.    

Actually, this is the condition of most of us most of the time.

We have a daily schedules – work, eat, sleep.

And so it is easy to slip into a mode of meeting our own

Needs according to what we are used and with the  resources that we have.

This is why God engineers circumstances in which we are thrust into situations that are above our ability to immediately solve.

        We find that our resources are not enough to deal with the problem.

                We then experience insecurity and stress.

                        A lot of people experience depression at these times.

The key in dealing with life’s problems is not the nature or the difficulty of the problem that confronts us,

                but our ability to cope with it.      

        Some people go through extreme situations, yet they cope.

        Others fall down in a screaming heap over the smallest

        difficulties.

What this Psalm is telling is that with faith and patience we will inherit the promises of God.

Therefore there are times when we can do nothing.

This is when we need to do nothing.

   We need to wait patiently for the Lord.

What is the result of waiting patiently for the Lord?

And He inclined to me, and heard my cry.

God will often stand back while people are trying to meet their own needs.  He will wait until they have run out of ideas.

    That might take quite a while for some people.

But when a person stops stressing, sweating and straining, and comes to the place where they are prepared to just wait for the Lord, then He starts to pay attention to their needs.

It is not just a matter of waiting in itself.

The important thing is that we need to wait on the Lord.

Waiting on the Lord is not being passive.

Waiting on the Lord is fellowshipping with him:

        Talking with Him

        Reading His Word

        Fellowshipping with other Christians

A boat has to move forward for the rudder to be effective in giving the vessel direction.

        We don’t move forward to meet our need –

        We move forward to build ourselves up in the Lord.

We therefore take a position of faith – what is this?

He must believe that God is really there, and is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Although we can’t see God, we believe that He is within earshot of our voice.

It takes faith to pray, because when we do, we are believing that God is out there hearing our prayer.

But you see that there are two principles of God’s response to our prayer:

        God hearing our prayer

        God inclining to us.

                God may hear all the prayers that are prayed,

                        But He does not incline Himself to all of them.

This is because many pray and run, and don’t spend the time waiting before Him.  They pray a quick prayer whilst all the time intending to meet their own need anyway.

God will always recognize real faith and a true heart toward Him.

Sooner or later, He will take action on their behalf.

Here is the action that God takes:

Verse 2 – He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay.

But God doesn’t just listen when we pray.

He has a plan of action.

It is impossible for nothing to happen when we pray.

There is a progression:

1.      He gets us out of immediate danger.

If we are trapped in something, He provides a way of escape.

The Scripture says that He will not allow us to be tested more than we are able to bear, but with the testing will give us a way of escape.

          And He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm.

2.      He doesn’t just rescue us, but moves us into a place of stability and security.

Mental stability:   free from anxiety and depression.

“Why are you cast down O my soul?  Hope in God, for I will yet praise Him. (Psalm 42)

Having mental stability involves having an optimistic hope for our future.

Sometimes we get ourselves into difficulties when we have been given wrong information.

        People can get into financial difficulties through shonky advice.

        Others can get lost in their travels through misreading the map.

        A person can be unhealthy through wrong diet beliefs.

It is on the basis of our personal sense of security that we can make further progress in dealing with our situation.

This is why the gospel of Christ is set the way it is.

The first thing we do is to accept Christ as Saviour.

This gives us eternal security through the assurance of salvation.

Once we are secure in our standing with God in Christ, we can deal with any of life’s situations.

Verse 3 – And He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God.

3.      We start talking in a new way.

We stop grizzling and complaining about our ‘lot’

We stop playing the game “ain’t it awful”.

We begin to speak optimistically about what is happening to us.

                 We start to be thankful to God in our situation.

                        There is power in praise.

                                We don’t praise God FOR our situation

                                We praise God IN our situation.

                                             There is a big difference.

        Many will see and fear, and will trust in the Lord.

        We need to realize that what we do and say has an effect on those

        around us, positively or negatively.

        People will read us before they read the Bible.

        Paul’s instruction is that we walk worthily of the calling that God has

        called us to.

                                We were called and chosen to be Christian people –

                                Identified with Christ.

        The most effective way to show others that Christ is worth living for,

        is to be role models for how Christians deal with life’s problems.

If the observers see that we deal with life’s problems just as they do, then how are we distinguished from them, and how can we show them a better way of living?

Witnessing for Christ is not just going out and Bible banging people.  It is living our lives before them and inspiring them to start asking the questions that give us the opportunity to tell them about what Jesus has done for us.

        We know that we are being effective for Christ before others when they

        start wanting what we have got in our lives.

They will open up to us and start asking the important questions.

They will trust our answers, because they will have seen our

example.

Verse 4 – How blessed is the man who has made the Lord his trust, and has not turned to the proud, not to those who lapse into falsehood.

One of the great quests of people in the world is the pursuit of happiness.

But, as we know, the happiness that the world in general has to offer is temporary.

It is based on material things, relationships, environment, and other things that can fail us when we least expect it or want it.

        A finance company going into receivership can wipe out your life savings.

        A marriage can fail.

        A flood or tornado can wipe out the environment.

        A fire can burn down your home.

        A division can destroy a church.

        A redundancy can lose you your job.

People in the world trust people in position and power to preserve their happiness.

Others go to fortune tellers, read horoscopes, and try to gain happiness through pop psychology and self help literature.

But the person who puts their trust in the Lord, is putting trust in a Person who is the same yesterday, today and forever.

                Putting our trust in the God who created the universe.

We have the sentence of death in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead.

This is the path to true blessing – permanent happiness and joy.

Verse 5 -  Many,  O Lord my God, are the wonders which you have done.

Most of us, who have journeyed with the Lord through life, can testify to the wonders that the Lord has done for us – things that could not have happened if we had not trusted in and depended on the Lord.

And your thoughts toward us;

God really does think about us.

His thoughts are of love and support.

He has a plan for our lives, and He is working with us to bring it to pass.

There is none to compare with You.

God is a unique person.  There is no one else like Him.

“This is life eternal, to know the true God and His son Jesus Christ.”

There is no other person who can bring eternal life to us just by getting to know Him.

And we can know Him.  We can have a personal relationship with Him.

There is no other god in the world who can do this for us and in us.

For those who may not sense that they have this personal relationship with God where they can fellowship with Him as a close friend and confidant, there is a way that you can enter in.

You may have attended church for many years, and know all about Him, but you might not have actually met Him on a personal level.

        This is not a physical meeting.

        It comes by revelation through the Holy Spirit.

                But the effects are the same:

There is the sense that you really have met Him, and know Him.

Jesus said that His sheep know His voice;  they know Him and follow Him.

We can know Him and recognize His voice when He speaks to us.

        This is the pathway:

1.    Acknowledge that you are a hopeless sinner deserving of eternal punishment.

2.    Acknowledge that Jesus died on the cross to take away your sin,

and that God raised Him from the dead.

3.    Accept Jesus into your life as your Lord and Saviour.

4.    Make an agreement with Him that you are going to start to live a life that is worthy of being called and chosen by God as a Christian believer.

Here is the promise:

They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength;  they shall rise up with wings as eagles.  They shall run and not be weary.  They shall walk and not faint.

Amen