PSALM 40 WAIT ON THE LORD2016 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Psalm 40 Wait On The Lord

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2016. Well, as we look at Psalm chapter 40 this morning, we have before us an interesting psalm. I say that it's interesting because, well, what we read just now in verses 11 through 17, we see that David is crying out to the Lord for deliverance.

But in the verses leading up in the first half of this psalm, we'll actually see that David is praising God for deliverance that he has brought.

And so it seems that David has been rescued and he's reflecting on that, but that he also is in some danger. Maybe it's a new danger or a different danger that he wasn't aware of before. And so he's experienced rescue, but he also has this need for God to work in his life. And perhaps, you know, he jumped out of the frying pan into the fryer and so he's in danger. He's calling out to the Lord, but at the same time, he's able to consider, uh,

what God has already done. And as we look at this psalm here, Psalm chapter 40, I've titled the message, Wait on the Lord.

Wait on the Lord. And I chose this picture for the background on purpose because here you have this nice, peaceful scene, right? This nice, beautiful, looks like a fall afternoon. I'm not exactly sure, but there's a park bench there. And you could just sit there and just have a good time of rest and just have a time of peace there. This morning, as we go through Psalm chapter 40, I'd like to invite you to take a seat. And I don't mean sit down in the chairs that you're in, but

In regards to the things that you're facing in life,

Waiting is something that is very difficult for us many times. I don't know about you, but when I'm at the grocery store and it's time for the checkout, I'm scanning the different lanes, trying to figure out which line's the shortest, because I don't want to wait that long. And so I'm analyzing several things, the length of the line, the contents of people's baskets and what they have. I'm checking out the cashiers, thinking, OK, that

That's an old guy. He's probably going to be really slow. So I'm going to go with the younger guy. They're a little bit more energy. They might be a little bit faster. And so I'm trying to analyze and trying to pick. Ultimately, it probably saves me half a second. Or maybe it costs me, because usually the line I pick happens to be the one where there's a problem. And then they have to call in the manager. And so it really doesn't save me any time. But I do my best to not wait.

I remember when I had to work in Orange County and driving home every day on the 91 freeway was revelation that I wasn't good at waiting. I'd rather be on the side streets moving

Going slower than on the freeway, not moving, but getting there faster. You know what I mean? Like just that feeling of having some movement felt better to me than sitting on the freeway, even though that was ultimately faster. I just, I don't like to wait. And I know that's how we are many times as believers as well.

that there's things in our life that we're waiting for. Perhaps you're waiting for a promise to be fulfilled. Maybe God's shown you some things that he wants to do in your life, some things that he wants to accomplish in you or through you, and you're waiting for that promise to be fulfilled. But waiting for that can be the hardest thing.

Maybe you're like David and you're waiting for deliverance. There's issues, there's situations, there's stress and things that you need to be delivered from and you're waiting for God to deliver you.

Perhaps you're waiting for the salvation of someone that you love. Or perhaps you're waiting for a job or a change of job or an increase in your provision. Maybe you're waiting for some type of personal change or some work within your marriage or maybe just to get married at all. And you're waiting for that and you can't wait to be married.

Well, whatever you're waiting for, again, my exhortation to you this morning is take a seat. Have a seat. Just take a break from all the ideas and things that you have in regards to those things that you're waiting for and all the attempts that you would make at those things and take a seat. Take a break and stop trying to fix things. Take a break and stop trying to make things happen or stop trying to stop things from happening.

Here's the reality. God works for you when you wait on him. And so I want to encourage you to wait on the Lord this morning. There's that classic scripture in Isaiah chapter 40, verse 31. Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. A great reminder, a great encouragement for those who wait on the Lord is

And I look at this verse and it's like, this is refreshing, you know, to look at this and see, wow, yeah, I want renewed strength and to mount up with wings like eagles. Yeah, I want to run and not be weary and walk and not faint. But so many times as believers, we don't have strength.

And we're not mounted up on wings like eagles. And we might be running, but we're weary. And we might be walking, but we're faint because we're trying to do so much in our own strength and with our own resources, and we're not waiting on the Lord. And the psalmist here, David, gives us great encouragement, really paints a picture for us of what it looks like

to wait on the Lord. And so let's consider that, that we might learn from David's example and learn to wait on the Lord, that we might have our strength renewed, that we might mount up on wings like eagles and run and not be weary and walk and not faint. There's six points I'd like to highlight for you as we work our way through Psalm chapter 40. We're going to begin in verses one through three. Point number one,

As we wait on the Lord, we begin by remembering the Lord's previous work. Let's read those verses. Verses 1 through 3, it says, He has put a new song in my mouth.

praise to our God. Many will see it and fear and will trust in the Lord. David begins this psalm saying, I waited patiently for the Lord. And the things that are going to follow in these next few verses is the result of him waiting patiently for the Lord. Again, I would say God works for you when you wait on him. David says, I waited patiently for

Literally, it could also be translated, in waiting, I waited. There's a double wait there in the original. It's in waiting, I waited. So that even in your waiting, you're waiting to be able to wait. You know, you heard that expression, hurry up and wait, you know. It's the idea he's waiting. Even in his waiting, he's waiting. It gives this idea, this understanding of patience, that patience

that he's not rushing, that he's not stressed, that he's not overwhelmed, but that he is waiting. Now, I know we all know what it's like to wait impatiently,

And perhaps you experienced that today as you were waiting impatiently for the rest of the people in your family to be ready to come to service, right? Or maybe you were the one that everybody else was waiting impatiently, you know, for you to finish getting ready. We know what that's like. We experience that often. But David says, I'm waiting patiently. I'm waiting even in my waiting for the Lord.

The commentator Albert Barnes explains it this way. He says,

As David says, I waited patiently for the Lord. The idea is he's continuing to pray, and he waited even in his waiting, in praying for the Lord, in seeking for the Lord, and crying out to God for help. He waited in his waiting, and it wasn't answered at once, right? It's not instant. Otherwise, it wouldn't be called waiting. We would love for God to just answer us, you know, every instant that we called out to him, but

God calls us to wait on him. And he describes it as the answer wasn't brought until after there was many repeated prayers. Or even as it seemed, his prayers would not be answered. That he's been crying out for deliverance and that it wasn't coming, wasn't coming, wasn't coming, until finally he's thinking maybe deliverance isn't coming. And then God brings the deliverance.

That's the idea here that is being conveyed. And you and I know what that's like. We often talk about that 11th hour, right? Pastor George has been sharing about that.

You know, as he's looking for a job and he's, you know, looking for a job and looking for a job and looking and seeking out different opportunities. And he keeps saying, you know, man, I wish God would, you know, bring and answer the prayer in the seventh hour or the eighth hour. Why does he have to wait till the 11th hour? It's like the very last minute. And then God answers our prayers. And so many times that's how it is because God wants us to wait patiently for him, to wait on the Lord.

And when we wait on the Lord, notice what David says here in verse 1. He says, I waited patiently for the Lord, and he inclined to me and heard my cry. The idea here is he says he inclined to me is that he bowed down, that the God of heaven bowed down, got close to bring his ear close to listen to the cry of David. And that's how God responds when we call out to him as well.

Maybe like you would do with a child, that you bend down, you get close to hear the cry of the child. And that's how God relates to us. That's how God works in our lives. And listen, I can say this pretty clearly. If you haven't experienced this, then you haven't waited on the Lord. If you haven't experienced God bowing down, inclining, and hearing your cry, and some of the things that we'll follow in these next few verses...

Let it be an indicator to you that you need to learn to take a seat and to wait on the Lord. Well, going on in verse 2, it says, Here, David describes his scenario, and it's probably not literally what he was facing, but

In his situation, whatever it was, it was like this, that he was in a pit of miry clay, muddy clay. And the idea here is that he's stuck in this pit. He can't get out. He can't climb out. And there's nothing to stand upon in the pit. It's just miry clay. So he's kind of just like, you know, doing everything he can to keep his head from sinking in the mud.

And he was in this pit, but when he waited patiently for the Lord and cried out for the Lord patiently, God heard, he bent down, and then he brought David out of that pit and set him upon a rock and established his steps. And you see the contrast. He's in the pit with no bottom, and he's just barely trying to keep his head up. And then God pulled him out and set him on a rock where he could stand fast and have established steps.

It's a good picture of the deliverance that David experienced. It's a good description of salvation for you and I as believers in Jesus. That in our sinfulness, in our lost state, our lost condition, we're in the horrible pit of muddy clay and there's nothing that we can do to get out. There's nothing to stand upon. And it's God who pulled us out of the pit and set our feet upon the rock, Jesus Christ. And it's upon him that we're established.

And so we can reflect on, we can remember how God has brought us out of the horrible pit in bringing us to salvation. But there's also, I'm sure, other experiences in your life, like David, as he's reflecting on this, that you could describe the situation as a horrible pit. But as you wait upon the Lord, God can deliver you from that. Verse 3.

He says, he's put a new song in my mouth. Praise to our God. Many will see it and fear and will trust in the Lord. And so the result, as David is delivered from this horrible pit, he has a new song and God gives him a new song to praise the Lord with.

All the previous songs that he used to sing, they weren't quite sufficient in expressing where his heart was at in this deliverance that God has brought. And there's the need for a new song. And God gives him this fresh ability to praise the Lord. Again, this is what happens. This is what results when we wait upon the Lord. And I would suggest if you haven't experienced this,

that new song welling up within you, that new song in your heart as a result of God's deliverance, then you need to learn to wait on the Lord because when you wait patiently for the Lord, he inclines, he hears your cry, he delivers you, and he delivers you in a way that inspires you to praise the Lord. This morning, as we look at the example of David, we want to learn, we need to learn how to wait on the Lord. What is it that you are waiting for? What kind of horrible pit is

are you in? Are you waiting for a promise to be fulfilled or some kind of deliverance or salvation of someone that you love or some personal change or some work within your marriage? What is it that you are waiting for? We begin in our waiting upon the Lord by remembering. You know, when God's worked in the past, it's been his work.

It's been a work that is done in a way that it causes us to praise the Lord. It's not me doing the work, but it's God doing the work. And so let me remind you, take a seat. Stop trying so hard to fix the things that you see need fixing. Stop trying so hard to stop the things from happening. Stop trying so hard to make things happen. Take a seat and just stop and think about how God has brought you salvation and

and how God has worked in your life previously. God works for you when you wait on him. Well, going on in verse four and five, we have point number two, and that is trust in the Lord. Here's what these verses say. Blessed is that man who makes the Lord his trust and does not respect the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.

Many, O Lord my God, are your wonderful works which you have done, and your thoughts toward us cannot be recounted to you in order. If I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered. David here says, blessed is the one who makes the Lord his trust. As we wait on the Lord, you need to know that you can trust in the Lord.

That the one you're waiting on is one who is reliable and faithful and is always fulfilling his promises. You have good reason to trust God. And listen, if you trust God, you will be so blessed. That's what David says. Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust. Now, he gives a contrast here. Basically, you have two options for placing your trust. You can place your trust in man, right?

who is proud and turns aside the lies, or you can place your trust in God. Your trust is going to be in one of those places. Either you're trusting in man, that includes yourself, or the people around you, or the government, or whatever. You're trusting in people, or you're trusting in God. And David says, if you want to be blessed, trust in the Lord, and you will be blessed.

You want to experience the fullness of what God has for you. You need to trust in the Lord. And there's good reason to trust in the Lord. Check out verse 5. He says, You have good reason to trust God because God does many wonderful works. It's not that the wonderful works of God are rare. It's not that they're few and far between. It's not that they're hard to come by.

Or just occasionally, God does wonderful works. God's wonderful works are many, abundant. There's another psalm, and I forgot to look up the reference. But the psalmist says, God only does glorious things. That's the only thing that God does. God doesn't do any works that aren't wonderful. He doesn't do any works that are partially, you know, wonderful or maybe wonderful. He only does glorious things. He only does wonderful works.

He has done, he continues to do, he will continue to do wonderful works. You have good reason to trust God because God does wonderful things and he can do wonderful things in your life. He says, many, oh Lord, my God, are your wonderful works which you have done. And notice, your thoughts toward us cannot be recounted to you in order. If I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.

So David considers the works of God and he considers the thoughts of God. And both give us good reason to trust in the Lord because his works are wonderful and there are many, but his thoughts, he says, they're innumerable. They're more than can be numbered. God has so many thoughts toward you, he says, you couldn't count them all. And they cannot be

They're recounted in order. They cannot be put in order. In other words, if you tried to alphabetize God's thoughts for you, you wouldn't be able to finish that project. It's too big of a project to actually complete. And I would suggest to you, you know, we're reading this, and David is saying this, and we might think, well, you know, David, he didn't have very much to be able to do, you know, this kind of math with. He only had access to so many fingers and toes, right? I mean, how many could he count up to?

We have a little bit more sophistication in our math and our skills of counting and organizing today. But I would suggest to you that with all of our technology today, this verse is still true. With everything that we have access to and the best of the best of our technology, this verse is still true. That God's thoughts toward you cannot be recounted in order. And if we would declare and speak of them, they're more than can be numbered.

Google's mission statement is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. That's their mission. And you can see they're doing a pretty good job of it. It's amazing what you have access to. It's amazing what information you can get and how accessible it is.

And you can look up a search term. You know, you can look up all kinds of different things and have access to it. It's organized. It's indexed. They've got it. They don't show the number anymore, but they used to. Remember that? You would do a Google search, and it would say, you know, page one of, you know, four million or whatever. And that number's still there. They just don't show it to you. It's counted. It's organized. It's indexed.

Statistics show that Google is now processing 40,000 search queries every second. One, two, three. That's 120,000 searches on Google just right there in those three seconds. I mean, that's massive. It's incredible what they can do with information. But think about this. If God gave them access to his database of thoughts towards you, it would break Google.

It would fry the computer. Like they wouldn't be able. They could not index God's thoughts towards you. They couldn't calculate the number. They couldn't figure out how many there actually were and organize them in a way that you could sort them. The idea is, the point is, God thinks about you intensely, greatly. So many times when we're in a position where we're waiting on the Lord, we're

We're in the horrible pit and we're thinking, God's forgotten about me. He doesn't know what's going on in my life. You know, he's just completely focused on other things, more important people perhaps. And it feels like we're not on God's mind at all. But David here brings some correction to our hearts in that time. He says, no, God thinks on you so much.

The thoughts couldn't be numbered if we tried. Later on in Psalm chapter 139, David says something similar. He says, So he compares it. The thoughts that God has towards him, we could also apply that to ourselves.

It would be more in number than the grains of sand. Again, even today with all of our technology, nobody has counted all the grains of sand on the earth. Nobody's done it. There's guesstimations, but that's all they are. They're guesstimations. Well, if you take this many and assume this average and try to figure out, you know, the square miles of all the beaches in the world and the oceans of the world and try to come up with some big number, but nobody's counted. Nobody can figure out the exact sum.

That's how many thoughts God has towards you. And you have to know that God's thoughts towards you, that's not saying, you know, like 49% of those thoughts are like, I wish I never created that person, right? All of God's thoughts towards you are for your good. All of God's thoughts towards you

are for your best interests for all of eternity. God wants what's best for you, and his thoughts towards you are good. Again, you have good reason to trust God, because God is thinking about you. His focus is on you. He's paying you attention, and everything that he thinks about you, and everything that he does is for your good. It's what's best for you. What is it that you are waiting for?

waiting for some promises to be fulfilled, some change in your life, some change in your marriage, some work in the home, outside of the home, whatever it might be. Let me invite you to take a seat and wait on the Lord. He has good thoughts for you. You can trust in Him. You can turn that over to the Lord and know that He's reliable and He's paying attention and He will take care of your needs.

He will take care of you. So many times when we're waiting, it feels like God's forgotten about us, but it's not true. He knows exactly where you're at and he promises to take care of you. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And he says all these other things. That's God's promise. I'll take care of your needs. You wait on the Lord. Moving on to verses six through eight, we have here point number three, and that is delight to do the Lord's will.

Here's what it says in verses 6 through 8. These verses, verses 6 through 8, are applied to Jesus in Hebrews chapter 10.

and showing that Jesus is the ultimate sacrifice and the way of salvation for us there in Hebrews chapter 10. I'd encourage you to check it out later. There's some cool insights that the author of Hebrews provides. But the summary of that that I would share with you this morning is that Jesus is the model for us of waiting on the Lord. And that's what is being highlighted here in these verses. In verse 6 says,

Again, he says, sacrifice and offering you did not desire. He also makes reference to burnt offering and sin offering. And he says, you didn't require. Four different kinds of sacrifices that are mentioned here. These four terms for sacrifice and offering that David uses cover the different types of sacrifices that were required by the Levitical law, by the Old Testament system.

And so he says, you know, just kind of broadly talking about all of those, that's not really what you desired. That's not what you required. Now that may stir up a question, you know, in your mind, like, does God not require sacrifice? I mean, after all, isn't he the one who gave the law to Moses and, you know, gave all that instruction for sacrifices there in that Levitical system? And yes, absolutely he did. But don't misunderstand. Animal sacrifices were not for God's benefit.

Animal sacrifices were for man's benefit. Consider what the author of Hebrews says in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 3 and 4. He says,

Then he goes on to make the point that Jesus in his sacrifice is the one who can take away sin. He's the one who can cleanse sin. The blood of bulls and goats, all those sacrifices, they could never take away sin. It was never possible. So what was the point? Why did God instruct them to carry out those sacrifices?

Well, the point was, in those sacrifices, there is the reminder of sins. You see, it wasn't needed for God to have sacrifices. It was needed for humanity to have sacrifices, to be reminded, to show their need for a Savior. What God always wanted was obedience. And so he gave them an opportunity to be obedient, to respond to his word, and to do something about the sin that they were living in.

And so that was what God desired. That's why God gave that system. Not because he needed the blood of those animals, but to remind, to call to attention, to let people know the need for a Savior. The blood of Jesus now has taken that place of that. And his blood actually is able to wash away sin. But God still wants the same thing as before. He wants you and I to walk with him in obedience.

Now, we don't do animal sacrifices today, but for many, the concept still remains. People think that they can do something big for God, some big sacrifice. Again, we're heading into Passion Week, starting with today. We're finishing up next Sunday with the resurrection of Jesus. It's a time, the conclusion of a time for many called Lent, where they fast from different things.

And for some, it's a legitimate thing. It's part of their relationship with the Lord. It's a good thing. It's a beautiful thing. But also for some, it's just a big sacrifice they can offer so that they can continue to live the life they want to live. They think it makes up for, well, I'm sinful and I disregard God and I don't listen to what God says and I don't want to do what God says, so I'll make up for it and I'll give up chocolate for this time. Sacrifice and offering is not what God desires.

Some people try to buy God off, you know, well, I don't want to obey God. I don't want to listen. I don't want to pay attention to what God says, but I'm going to give to God. And they think that's sufficient, like that buys them off. Now God's satisfied because he got the money and I can live how I want to live. Or they think I could do some good deed, you know, just do some big thing, some sacrifice and some good that I could do. No, what God would rather have, forget all that other stuff.

And start living in obedience. Start doing what God has called you to do. Now, you should do those things if God's telling you to do them. But you should not do them instead of doing what God is actually telling you to do. Notice again in verse 6, he talks about the sacrifice and offering. You didn't desire it. But then he says, my ears you have opened.

When he talks about his ears being opened, it's really interesting because the word opened means to dig out. It's used to describe digging out a well. And so, you know, they would dig down into the dirt. They would dig down, dig down, dig down until they got to the water. It's also used to describe digging out a grave. And so they would dig it out of the ground or out of the mountainside and they would carve out, they would bring the dirt out, the rock out.

He says, my ears you have opened, or my ears you've dug out. You've cleared the way so that I can hear. See, that's what God wants. God wants to speak to us. A couple years back, I was swimming. And as I was swimming, I dove down to the bottom of the pool. And I came up out of the water. And you know how your ears are kind of weird. After you get up out of the water, there's water in your ear. And so you're kind of like shaking it and stuff. And sometimes it takes a little bit longer. So

My ear was feeling a little bit weird, and I couldn't hear quite right from it, but I thought, okay, give it a few minutes. And after a few minutes, I still couldn't hear quite right, and gave it a couple hours. After a couple hours, I couldn't hear quite right still, and gave it a couple days. I still couldn't hear quite right. Okay, something's wrong. I know I need to go to the doctor. So I went to the doctor, and the doctor took a look, and he said, you know, you've got some earwax.

I don't know if you've ever had to do that process, but they do the thing where they flush it out. It's like they're shooting water just right into your ear. Strangest feeling in the world. I mean, I'm laying there like dizzy and like, what in the world? And then the doctor showed me. It was like this big old rock of wax that he pulled out. There's a lot of information that you wanted to hear this morning, right? But the difference before and after was quite clear. Suddenly, my ear was dug out, and I could hear. Here's what the psalmist is saying. It's not the sacrifice and offering that's

that you desire God, but instead you've opened my ear. You want to speak to me and you want me to hear you. You've enabled me to listen to you. Waiting on the Lord, taking a seat on the bench puts us in a position of needing to hear from God. It teaches you to hear from God because you want to get up and you want to go try to do stuff and fix stuff and put things where you think they need to belong. And God says, just sit there and listen to me.

And we have to sit there and learn how to hear from God because God wants to speak to you. And so it's not the sacrifice and offering that God desires. Here's what God desires. You listen to him and then obey him. Listen to what he says and then do what he says. And you know, this provides the balance for us of waiting and doing. One of the challenges for us in waiting on the Lord is, well, if I just sit there on the bench and

How's the house going to get clean? If I just sit there, how's the relationship going to be restored? If I just sit there, how are things going to get done if I just sit there? It doesn't make sense. I can't just sit there. I got to do stuff because things got to get done. I got to resolve this situation. I got to find that spouse. I got to take care of this or that. And we want to get off the bench. It's frustrating to us because we think we've got the solution.

But here's the balance. You need to wait on the Lord, sit down and hear from him. But then when he speaks to you, then get off the bench and go do what he says. That's the balance. Us following the direction of God instead of trying to handle situations and resolve things in our wisdom and strength and with our resources. We need to learn to wait on the Lord, to let God direct us.

to hear from him and do what he says. Well, going on in verse 7, it says, It's very easy to see how this verse applies to Jesus as it is in Hebrews chapter 10, because even Jesus said, all the scriptures are about me. And so again, we see Jesus as the fulfillment of this and the model of it. But there's another sense that I would encourage you to consider, and that is,

Listen, the Bible is about you also. Now, you're not the fulfillment of salvation for everybody, and I don't mean it like that, but so many times we approach the scriptures and we read it for other people. You ever do that? Oh man, Richard really needs to hear this verse. I can't wait to share that with him because yeah, he really needs to listen to that. Sometimes we approach the Bible just for information. You know, it's just history. It's

But there's much more to the Bible. Listen, when God inspired the men who wrote the Bible, he had you in mind. And God uses his word to speak to you. You're one of the people that God is writing to and writing about. And so when you read the command to repent, understand that God's speaking to you. That's about you. You need repentance in your life.

When you see God's command to love him with all your heart and soul and mind and strength, understand that's a command to you. In the volume of the book, it's written about you, that you need to love God and love your neighbor. And you get the point. Now, again, that doesn't mean that we take it to the extreme and say, you know, every promise, you know, is all mine. There are contexts and things to evaluate and consider. But the point I'm seeking to make is that through those things,

God wants to speak to you. And that's why we encourage you to join us as we go through the Bible in three years, because it's written about you. And God wants to speak to you, and he has things to speak to you about as you work your way through the scriptures. In verse 8, he says, I delight to do your will, O my God, and your law is within my heart. I delight to do your will. As we sit on the bench and learn to hear from God, considering his word, he reveals his will, and now we're

It's time to get off the bench and say, I'm going to take joy. I'm going to delight in doing what God has instructed me to do. Get into the word of God and get the word of God into you and then delight in putting it into practice. That's what it looks like to wait on the Lord. Again, to wait on the Lord, we remember the Lord's previous work. We remember that God is faithful and he is faithful to deliver. He's faithful to work.

and to complete his promises. We have good reason to trust in the Lord. And so let's delight in his will, knowing he wants what's best for us. And his thoughts are on us continually. It's appropriate for us to trust in the Lord, to wait on the Lord, to have a seat on the bench until we hear from God, until God speaks to us. And listen, if you're not in the word, you're not waiting on the Lord.

If you're not in the word, if you're not spending time with God in his word, you're not waiting on the Lord because waiting on the Lord involves you giving God opportunity to speak to you. And as you get into the word and as God speaks to your heart, then it's time to get off the bench and to delight in doing the Lord's will. Listen to him and then obey him. Going on to verse nine and 10, now we have point number four, and that is declare the Lord's righteousness. While we're waiting on the Lord...

we will be declaring God's righteousness. Here's what it says in verse 9 and 10. I have proclaimed the good news of righteousness in the great assembly. Indeed, I do not restrain my lips, O Lord, you yourself know. I have not hidden your righteousness within my heart. I have declared your faithfulness and your salvation. I have not concealed your loving kindness and your truth from the assembly. David says, I've proclaimed the good news of righteousness.

Here's a very good indicator of waiting on the Lord. So if you're trying to evaluate, well, am I waiting on the Lord or am I not waiting on the Lord? Here's a good indicator to look at in your life. What do you talk about? If you're talking about the Lord, that's a good indicator that you're waiting on the Lord. If you're talking about yourself, primarily in all your conversations, you're probably not waiting on the Lord. If you're talking about how terrible your situation is in all your conversations, you're probably not waiting on the Lord.

When you're waiting on the Lord, you're sitting on the bench, you're sitting there hearing from God, seeking God, and God's revealing himself to you, then you will be declaring the Lord's righteousness. If you're impressed with yourself and the victories that you've accomplished, you're not waiting on the Lord. And if you're only talking about, you're just so overwhelmed with your situations and how horrible they are, if all you can talk about is the horrible pit, let that be an indicator to you.

You need to wait patiently for the Lord because when you wait on the Lord and you spend time with him, he's going to fill your heart and that's going to affect your words. Now, I'm not saying you can't ever talk about things that are going on in your life, but if it's all you talk about, if it's the primary content of your conversations, there's a concern there. Listen, God works for you when you wait for him.

He fills you. He reveals himself. Now, not instantly. Again, that's why it's called waiting. But he does it. He will do that. Wait on the Lord. He will fill you, and he will work it. And notice the result in verse 10. He says, I've not hidden your righteousness within my heart. That is, God, you're working, and you're speaking, and I'm not keeping it quiet. When God speaks to you, it's not usually just for you to keep personally and privately.

Nobody else can know what God said. No, you know, God speaks to you and he's speaking to you what you need and ministering to you in that. But he also speaks to you so that you can speak to others about what God is doing and what God is saying. And notice David's focus on the Lord here. He talks about your righteousness. He talks about your faithfulness, your salvation, your loving kindness, your truth. And he says, I haven't hidden these things from the assembly.

When I've gathered together with other people, I've brought forth the things that you're saying, the things that you're speaking, the revelation of yourself that you've been giving to me. I've delivered that to other people. Listen, if you don't have God revealing himself to you, you're not waiting on the Lord. There ought to be things for you to share as you gather together.

Now again, I'm not talking about in a legalistic sense, you know, like every occasion without exception, you know. Again, it's waiting. It's not instantly, but just generally speaking in your life. When you're waiting on the Lord, you're going to have revelation from God. God's going to speak to you. You're going to have things to share. And it's not your own thoughts, and it's not your own, you know, impressive events, but it's what God has done, and what God is doing, and what God has said. Have a seat on the bench today.

and declare the Lord's righteousness. Well, moving on now into the verses we read to begin the service, and we'll go faster through these last two points. Point number five is, ask the Lord for mercy in verses 11 through 13. Again, verse 11 says, do not withhold your tender mercies from me, O Lord. Let your loving kindness and your truth continually preserve me.

David here begins by asking God for mercy. He says, do not withhold your tender mercies from me. And this is one aspect about God that I absolutely love. As we talk about waiting on the Lord, you need to understand that this is not just for those who are super awesome Christians. It's not just for the holy people that, well, if you're really holy, then when you wait on the Lord, then God answers you and reveals himself. But if you're not really holy, then you can just keep waiting.

That's not the way that God works. Listen, David asked for mercy. You know what mercy is? It's not receiving judgment that you deserve. David's not asking for justice. He's not saying, Lord, I'm righteous, so do what's right and deliver me. He's saying, Lord, I deserve judgment, but would you help me anyways? Would you be merciful to me? Check out verse 12. He says, for innumerable evils have surrounded me. My iniquities have overtaken me.

so that I'm not able to look up. They are more than the hairs of my head. Therefore, my heart fails me. He describes this massive situation, right? Innumerable evils have surrounded me. Man, these problems, there's so many. It's more than the hairs of my head. David must have had a little bit more hair than I do. If my problems were only as, you know, the number of my hairs on my head, I'd be living a pretty sweet life. But he said, they're piled up around me. But notice what he says. My iniquities have overtaken me.

It's my sin that's caught up with me. David is asking for help when it's his own sin that has brought this trouble upon him. That's a beautiful thing. When we put ourselves in the mess, you need to know you can still call out to God and wait on the Lord and he will deliver you. When your problems are your own doings,

You can call out to the Lord. You can wait on the Lord and he will deliver you. Do you picture God saying, don't come crawling back to me? That's not what God says. He says, come crawling back to me. He invites us to. Yes, you're sinful. Yes, you bring many problems into your life because of your own sin, but he still invites us to call out to him. Two wrongs don't make a right.

I'm sure you've heard that expression, right? Two wrongs don't make a right. That's true when it comes for us waiting upon the Lord. You got into the mess by not waiting on the Lord. That's wrong. Now don't further the wrong by not waiting on the Lord now that you're in the mess. Don't make it worse by trying to get out on your own, by using your own resources or efforts or own plans. Two wrongs don't make a right.

You got yourself into the mess because you're wrong now. Start doing what's right and wait on the Lord now. God wants to deliver you. Ask God for mercy. Don't ask for justice because you don't want justice. What you deserve is not good. It's judgment. But God invites us to ask God for mercy. In verse 13, he says, Man, what great boldness.

For David to say, my iniquities have overtaken me. I'm in this mess by my own doing. Lord, please hurry up and help me. Please hurry up and get here. Hurry up and take care of this situation. Great boldness of David to ask God for mercy. But it's what God wants us to ask for. This is the way that God wants us to wait upon him, to rely upon his mercy. What are you waiting for?

Are you waiting for a promise to be fulfilled? And maybe you're thinking, oh man, this promise is not going to be fulfilled because I've been such a dummy and involved in this and that. You can still ask God for mercy and ask him to fulfill his promises by his mercy and grace. You could still wait on the Lord. Are you asking God for deliverance like David? You can wait on the Lord even if that deliverance is needed because of your own sinfulness.

Again, you could apply it across the board. Whatever you're waiting for, whatever you're needing to happen in your life, wait on the Lord. Have a seat on the bench and ask God for mercy because two wrongs don't make a right. You got there by not seeking the Lord. You're not gonna get out with your own efforts. Start waiting on the Lord right now. Well, finally, point number six found in verses 14 through 17 says,

Let the Lord work. Verse 14 says, Verse 15.

As we talk about waiting on the Lord, we need to let the Lord work. You know, sometimes I think we run interference on ourselves. We block our own plays by getting off the bench and trying to do things that God never asked us to do. We need to learn to sit and let God work and not run ahead of him. A good example of that is Abraham. When you look at Abraham there in the Old Testament, how God promised him a son.

I'm going to give you a son. They were old. It was a crazy promise, but God promised it. But after God promised it, they waited and they waited and they waited. Nothing was happening. So Abraham and Sarah come up with a plan. They get off the bench and say, let's make this happen. And the result, well, they had a son, but it wasn't the son that God promised. And it was a son that brought much tension and difficulty in their life because they ran ahead of the Lord and they

They didn't wait upon the Lord. Now later, God brought the son that he promised, and God still did great things in that, but they brought a lot of hurt and heartache to their own lives by running ahead. Again, running interference on themselves. You need to let the Lord work. Stop trying to fix things yourself. Stop trying to stop things from happening. Stop trying to make everything the way that you think it needs to be. Notice the word let here in these verses. In verse 14, he says, let them be ashamed. David doesn't say let.

I'm going to make sure that they're ashamed. He says, Lord, I'm going to turn that over to you. Let them be ashamed. He says, let them be driven backward in verse 14. He doesn't say, I'm going to drive them backward. He says, Lord, I'm going to turn that over to you. Would you handle that? Let them be driven backward. Verse 15, he says, let them be confounded. He doesn't say, I'm going to confound them. You see, he's turning it over to the Lord. He says in verse 16, let all those who seek you rejoice. Lord, I'm going to let you do a work, and I'm going to let you do the work so that

The people who seek you will rejoice. It's going to be a blessing to those who walk with you. Let such as love your salvation say continually, the Lord be magnified. When we let God do the work, he does it in such a way that we're able to praise him. When we do the work, well, often like Abraham, we bring a lot of destruction and difficulty to our own lives. But even if we get what we think we need to accomplish accomplished, the Lord's not magnified.

Let the Lord be magnified. Let the Lord be glorious in your life. You know how that happens? By you waiting on the Lord. David provides for us, I think, a good example of waiting on the Lord in that way. In 1 Samuel chapter 16, he was anointed as king as a young man. Still very young. Saul's the king at the time. And David's not going to be king for many years. But he's anointed as king. David knew what God promised.

And throughout the next many years, he refused to make that happen by his own efforts. He was popular enough. The people loved him. He could have probably led a revolt. He could have got the votes, overthrown Saul, and made himself king. He probably could have done that. He was popular enough. But he was careful. He had opportunity several times to take Saul's life. Remember when Saul was chasing David?

In our mind, we read the account, it's like, you know, it seems even fair for David to take his life because Saul's persecuted him for no reason. There he is in the cave and David has this opportunity and his men are telling him, this is the day God told you about. I'm going to give you the kingdom. Take his life. And David says, I'm not going to touch the Lord's anointed. He said, I'm going to let God work. David waited for God to do the work and to fulfill that promise. And he became king when God said it was time.

In 2 Samuel 2, after Saul was already dead, killed by the Philistines, then David asked the Lord, should I go back to Judah? And God said, yeah, go back. And David said, to what city shall I go? God said, go to Hebron. You see, David's hearing from the Lord. He's sitting on the bench. He's hearing from God. He's getting the instruction from God. And then he's acting. And so he goes and he becomes king. He only becomes king for part of the kingdom. And then later on, seven years later, he becomes king for the whole nation.

If David would have done it his way, it would have been different. It wouldn't have worked. It would have brought pain. It would have brought more hurt and destruction. But there, David provides a good example. He let the Lord work. We need to learn to let God work, to give God space, to accomplish what he wants. Put yourself in the position of being totally reliant upon God. Check out David in verse 17. He says, but I am poor and needy. Can you say that? I'm poor and needy. He's not talking about his finances.

He's saying, with this situation, with my life, I have nothing really to offer. My resources aren't sufficient. I'm not going to be able to handle this situation. He says, I'm poor and needy, yet the Lord thinks upon me. I have nothing to offer God, but God thinks on me. Many wonderful thoughts that can't even be numbered. He says, you are my help and my deliverer. Do not delay, oh my God. I'm not going to try to help myself. I'm not going to try to deliver myself. I'm going to sit down on the bench. Let me tell it again.

I'm going to sit down on the bench, and God, you're my help. You're my deliverer. I'm going to wait for you. Don't delay, because I'm waiting for you. I'm completely dependent upon you. I'm relying upon you, and I'm going to allow you to work. David, here in this psalm, provides for us a great picture of what it means to wait on the Lord. It begins by remembering how God has worked in the past. You can look first at salvation.

how God delivers you out of the miry pit and sets your feet upon the rock and gives you forgiveness of sins and gives you everlasting life. Secondly, we see that we need to trust in the Lord. And you've got good reason to trust God because he's got good thoughts towards you and he wants what's best for you. Thirdly, we see that we need to delight to do the Lord's will, to listen to him, to hear from him, and let it be a joy to you to do what God says.

Fourthly, we need to declare the Lord's righteousness. Don't be impressed with yourself and your efforts and your works. Hear from God. Let God reveal himself to you and then share that and declare that to the people around you. Ask God for mercy. Two wrongs don't make a right. You got yourself in the situation by your own iniquity. It's caught up with you. Start now waiting on the Lord, asking God for mercy and not justice. And then finally, just sit there.

And let God work. Keep yourself in that position of being totally reliant upon the Lord. Now listen, here's the picture of waiting on the Lord that David gives us. Let me remind you that great scripture, Isaiah chapter 40, verse 31. Those who wait on the Lord, if you'll do this, here's the promise. You shall renew your strength. You shall mount up with wings like eagles. You shall run and not be weary. You shall walk and not faint.

And so many Christians are not renewed and they're faint and they're weary because we're not waiting on the Lord. Wait on the Lord and he will deliver you. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, as we consider this passage, we thank you, God, for the exhortation and the reminder for us. And Lord, we need the reminder because we're so bad at waiting. Lord, we want things to happen right now, this moment.

Lord, we want to make it happen in our time. We want things to happen the way that we want them to happen. But Lord, I pray that you would show us the error of our ways, the foolishness of our thinking in that way. Show us, Lord, where we're running ahead of you and running interference on ourselves and preventing, Lord, or messing up the things that you want to do. And I pray, God, that you would help us to learn to take a seat, to sit and to wait, as it says in another psalm, to be still and know that you are God.

Lord, that we would rest in you and trust in you. And I pray, Lord, that you would help us as we wait patiently on you. Help us, Lord, to hear from you, to seek you. And Lord, I pray that you would bring deliverance, that you would fulfill your promises, that you would grant victory, that you would accomplish great things in each of our lives as we wait on you. Lord, would you have your will and your way within us? Lord, your word tells us you want abundant life for us.

Help us, Lord, not to settle for anything short of that by trying to do things our way. Lord, we have our own ideas about what abundant life is and how to get there. Help us not to settle for those ideas. Lord, help us to hear from you. And I pray that you would speak to each one. Lead us, Lord. Teach us to wait on you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

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