How Long Oh Lord?

HOW LONG OH LORD?

Everyone I have ever known has had to wait for something.

Ben Patterson wrote this in his book entitled, “Waiting”:

“there is a kind of waiting – the waiting of a childless couple for a child; the waiting of a single person for marriage, or whatever is next; the waiting of the chronically ill for health, or (sometimes) death; the waiting of the emotionally scarred for peace; the waiting of men and women in dead end careers for a breakthrough; the waiting of unhappy marriages for relief or redemption or escape; the waiting of students to get on with life; the waiting of the lonely to belong.”

For the Believer “waiting” in these kinds of situations, the question is:

HOW LONG OH LORD?

Text: Psalm 40:1 thru 5

Prayer and Transition:

Everyone has to wait for something. Whether they wait in traffic, wait in line, wait on someone, or wait on God.

How many times have we told others,

“The Lord is trying to teach me patience.”

Many of us have said this all our lives.

Apparently, God has been very patient with us.

Being patient is something we all will face everyday of our lives. Waiting can be done in one of two ways.

Patiently or impatiently.

In one dictionary, I found impatient defined as having “annoyance”. I have been annoyed with being impatience a time or two, myself.

Illustration:

There was a time in my life I had to wait that I remember more often than the other times. While attending Bible College in the early 80’s, I had the responsibility of a career and trying to be a supportive husband and father to my family. It did not seem that graduation would ever come. My life was very busy.

I didn’t have time to wait on anything or anybody.

I was frustrated with being impatient.

While waiting to finish seminary, it seemed as though I did not have a life of my own. To make matters worse I had felt distant from friends and family. Sometimes, my studying seemed meaningless.

In 1985, I finally graduated from Bible College only to realize that I had nowhere to go and nothing to do.

As it turned out, God had a plan for me to again wait for the opportunity to minister.

My point is this. Even when you are doing all that you know to do, all of the good intentions, etc… Waiting and being patient is the last thing any of us want to do.

But according to the plan of God for our lives, we must.

But waiting can be good for you and your relationship with the Lord. Waiting and being patient is always a period of time when the Lord will deal with our character.

We will find out for ourselves what we are made of. It is while we are waiting and trying to be patient that we find ourselves crying the loudest, “HOW LONG OH LORD?”

Waiting is an important part of growing in the Lord, and I can assure you that God will never forget you. He is faithful with His promises and He will one day (miraculously) bring you up out of the pit you may be in.

As an example God brought up -

• Jonah who was sent to the bottom of the sea and had to wait in the belly of the whale for 3 days.

• Joseph who was left for dead and thrown into a pit by his brothers.

• David from being a sheepherder some ten years after he was promised to be the King of Israel.

• Jesus from the grave with His glorified body after having been crucified on the cross for our sins.

My friend, don’t you give up on God raising you up out of the difficult circumstance you are going through.

Psalm 40 has a lot of wisdom and instruction for those of us faced with disappointments in our lives.

Oddly enough, I can also see a little humor in what King David writes.

I had to laugh when I read our text.

Did you happen to notice how David starts and ends it?

• Verse 1 – “I waited patiently for the Lord…”

• Verse 17 – “…do not delay, Oh my God.”

That may sound as if David is not too sure if God will come through for him, and it may not sound very spiritual. But I have to believe David was accurate in saying it that way.

David shows us the human side of having to be patient.

What any of us would have said in writing our own Psalm 40 would be,

“Lord, I know You want me to learn patience one more time. But could You please just hurry it up?”