She had just passed her one hundredth birthday. She had a letter form the President of the U. S. congratulating her. Her pastor went to visit her in a nursing home. She was blind and could not see. She was lame and could not walk. In fact she could not leave her room except for emergencies. She took her meals in her room. Her whole life existed in that room.
As they talked she said, “Pastor, I am the oldest member in your church. But I am ready to go to the Father’s house above.” Her pastor understood her desire. But, then, with a twinkle in her eye and with a lift in her voice she said, “But, I guess God is not through teaching me patience yet.”
He stood there dumbfounded. He was not yet forty. Here is a woman, 100 years old, and she is still learning what patience is all about.
The American prayer is, “Lord give me patience; and give it to me right now!” We have difficulty waiting. Wouldn’t you rather do just about anything than wait? Some of us would rather do the wrong thing than wait. Yet, waiting is the rule, not the exception. The open door is the exception.
The open door with the green light so you can rush through it and go on your way is the exception. But the red light and the closed door ... that is the way life is most of the time.
God answers prayers in three ways. Sometimes God says YES to our prayer. We like that. I heard of a man who once said he had never prayed except God had said yes. I thought he must not have prayed much. Sometimes God says yes.
• We like yes answers.
• We like to get our way.
• We like to get what we want.
Sometimes God says NO. And I don’t think we like to hear it from God any more than we do from anyone else. We know what we want. We think we know what we need and when God says NO we fret.
But, sometimes God says WAIT. He doesn’t say yes, He doesn’t say no, He says wait.
But we don’t like to wait. We are not a society accustomed to waiting. There was a time in our society we were more rural. We were agriculturally inclined. We understood what it meant to wait. We planted and then we waited for a harvest. But we don’t live in that kind of world today. We live in an instant world, when everything is supposed to be done quickly and automatically at the push of a button. I don’t think we need a lengthy teaching on waiting. I think we need a long practice time.
Some of us are getting it. One piece of advice I received when I was coming to this church was to have patience. I don’t know how you have done but the Lord has taught me some patience in dealing with you so far. Some of you are frustrated that I have moved too slowly. Some of you are frustrated that I have moved to fast. If anyone feels that I have done just right, I would be grateful if you would identify yourself after the service tonight. We need some practice and we have been getting some and I know that it works both ways.
Psalm 62 is a passage that speaks about waiting on God. And patience is going to come as we learn to wait on God, only. Patience from any other source is not going to be the kind of patience you desire or need. We need the kind of patience that comes from waiting on the Lord.
“My soul waits in silence for God only.” The literal Hebrew translation there is “only for God.” In silence does my soul wait, only for God. In silence does my soul wait. The word silence comes from the Hebrew word meaning, “to whisper, softly.” The idea is of whispering to someone we love. The word goes just to them and doesn’t go to anyone else. So when we wait on the Lord we are whispering secrets to God and He to us. And it is in this context we learn patience.
The word “only” appears several times in this Psalm. When you get a chance, count them, look at them. For David, there was no one else but the Lord. What did he say?
Wait for God to direct your steps.
Wait for God to direct your steps. What does vs. 1 say? “My soul waits in silence for God only.” Don’t run ahead of God. Wait. Red lights mean wait. But we don’t like red lights. We don’t like traffic tie ups. And the first chance we get, we make a break and turn down a side road and back onto the freeway and away we go again.
We act that way in many cases with God. God says “WAIT!” But we don’t want to wait. We think we know what is best and we rush out ahead of Him to try to accomplish on our own what we want. But God says, “Wait.”
Wait for God to direct your steps. Verse one is David’s declaration. “My soul waits in silence for God only.” Verse 5 is his command. “My soul ... Wait! Wait in silence for God only!” You have to tell yourself that over and over again. You may declare, “I am waiting on God, God is my sole source of strength, I wait only for Him.” But then you have to tell yourself that. You have to talk to yourself down in the heart and soul of yourself. You have to speak to yourself.
Do you ever do that? Do you ever talk to yourself? The problem comes in when self starts talking back to you. But we need to talk to ourselves. We need to remind ourselves of what we should be doing.
So David says, “My soul. Soul listen to me! Wait! Wait in silence for God only.”
• When you feel on the verge of moving,
• when you are chomping at the bit,
• when you feel yourself surging for action,
• when you have got to go,
WAIT!
Wait in silence for God only. God uses closed doors as often as He does open doors. Sometimes I think He uses them more often than not. We like the open door. Because the open door means GO! But the closed door means wait. Wait.
How many times have we not waited for God to direct our steps and rushed on to do it because we wanted to do it. Do you recall your parents saying, “Don’t do that.”? We didn’t always know that they were saying wait, because you can eventually have that and more. We see the same thing in our relationship with God. He says wait. And we don’t realize that the waiting is only a preparation time for more and more and more from Him. So we rush off and do it our way. We rush off and do it the way we think we ought to do it.
We get married to the wrong person that way. We mess up our life that way because we take the wrong job. We cop out and fail to pay the price with our schooling or our education. We rush ahead of God because we just can’t wait. And God wants to direct our steps. We read from Proverbs: “In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your steps.” “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.” (Proverbs 3:5) Wait for God.
Trust God to provide your needs.
Trust God to provide your needs. We are reading here: “My soul waits in silence for God only; From Him is my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation.” Wait for God to supply your need.
Paul says, “My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” As a child we may believe that. We believe that God is the full supply. He can meet every need that we have. But what happens as we get older? We begin somehow to disbelieve that. We cease to wait for God before our needs. So often we rush off to try to take it in our own hands rather than leave it in God’s hands. We diminish our supply by not relying on Him.
You know ... He is our salvation. He is our rock.
Do you recall in the 6th chapter of John when so many of Jesus disciples were falling by the wayside? Not the 12. But so many others were just saying, “Well, so much for that.”
Jesus asked the 12, “Are you going away, too?” It’s almost as if He were asking, “Where are they going? Are you going away too?” What did Peter say? “Lord, You have the words of eternal life. To whom should we go?” Has it ever dawned on you that there is none to turn to other than God?
• If you turn from Him, who is your salvation?
• If you turn from Him, who is your rock?
• If you turn from Him, who is your supply?
~ He is our rock.
~ He is our supply.
~ He is our salvation.
When we wait for God to direct our steps ... He does. And when we need for Him to direct our steps ... He does. Whatever they are. God made us. He understands our need.
And He wants to meet that need within our life. But we have got to wait.
Wait silently and in stillness.
Wait silently and in stillness. Verse 1 says, “My soul waits in silence for God only.”
Verse 5 says, “My soul wait in silence for God only.” Some of the best times in prayer are wordless times. We think prayer has to be a bunch of words tied together. And the more pious sounding they are the happier we are with them. But that may not be good praying at all.
Dr. Paul Roberts was pastor of FBC Lake Charles, LA and later was pastor of FBC Little Rock AR. Dr. Roberts said when he was called to the ministry, he was a newspaper man.
He could not even speak his name publicly because he was so intimidated by people and he was so afraid. Soon after he became a Christian, he was called on in Training Union to pray. He said the only thing that came out was, “OH GOD! OH GOD!
Sometimes the best prayer is not a wordy prayer. Sometimes we just cry unto the Lord. We just tell Him in those secret whispers that we love Him and that we need Him and that we are counting on Him. And He answers. Some of you need to consider praying like that. Maybe you are in the midst of a decision and everything is on hold. Nothing is sure about tomorrow. You just say, “God I love you.” That’s about all you can say. And God will speak back to your heart.
Wait silently in stillness before the Lord. Sometimes when we have finished saying the words we jump up and run off. We think we are through. You know sometimes the best times between a husband and a wife are when you don’t say anything at all. But, there is a bond, a communication going on that is deeper than words can generate. Wait silently in stillness before the Lord.
Wait in stability and in confidence
Wait in stability and in confidence. Look at vs. 2. “He is my rock ... MY ROCK.” What does the word rock suggest to you? “He is my stronghold, I shall not be greatly shaken.” They were in a desert and earthquakes were a possibility. Where was their stability? In a rock. And he said, “In the midst of being shaken, God! Is my rock. In the midst of my storm, God! Is my stronghold.”
There is going to be ... in your waiting in confidence before God ... stability in your heart.
Doesn’t the psalmist say in another place, “My heart melted like water.”? Don’t you experience some of the fright, the fear, the instability.
• You are not sure about tomorrow,
• you are not sure about a job,
• you are not sure about a school,
• you are not sure about a marriage,
• you are not sure about a decision you have to make,
• you are not sure, you’re not sure, you’re not sure.
You are shaken.
But when you wait on the Lord He gives stability. I shall not be greatly shaken. In this Psalm 62
v. 1 He is our only deliverer. He is our salvation.
v. 2 He is our stronghold.
v. 5 He is our only hope. Our hope is with Him.
v. 7 He is our glory. He only is our refuge.
Why wait? Because without God we don’t have anything. Jesus said in John 15:5, “...apart from Me you can do nothing.” But when we have God we have everything.
Turn with me to Isaiah 40. Let’s begin at the 28th verse. “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth Does not become weary or tired.” Do you get tired? This summer drained our energy ... but not His. “His understanding is inscrutable. He gives strength to the weary, And to him who lacks might He increases power. Though youths grow weary and tired ...” We’re not talking about old folks. We are talking about even the young grow weary and are tired. “And vigorous young men stumble badly Yet those who wait for the Lord. Will what? Will gain new strength.” Some of you need new strength. You need a new lease on life and hope and faith and love and opportunity. You need new strength. How does it come? “And yet those that wait on the Lord will gain new strength They will mount up with wings like eagles.” Have you ever seen that sight? The writers of the Scriptures had seen that.
Oh, that I could just soar above all this. “They will run and not get tired.” Can you imagine that? “They will walk and not get weary.”
Doesn’t it seem like he has this part backwards. It should be ... we walk and don’t get weary, we run and don’t get tired. When we mount up with wings like eagles we are really going with God. That is generally the way we look at life. The slow pace to the medium pace to the fast pace. But, sometimes it seems as if life is in reverse. Sometimes we mount up with wings and then we run and then we walk. Sometimes the walking is the hardest. Some are having to walk right now when you would rather be running. Some of you are running when you would rather be soaring. “They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired They will walk and not become weary.” The point is: Those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength. And we need that. Let me tell you I can’t give it to you. There is not another place in the world you can get it except in Him.
Some of you have never given God a chance in your life. From the beginning until now, you have tried to run the show yourself. And you do get exhausted. You get totally puzzled and your impatience overwhelms you. You are looking in the wrong place. Give God a chance. How do you do that? You ask Jesus Christ to come into your life. He is the way God comes into your life. Ask Him to come into your life and direct your paths from this day forward. That is the way you do that. He takes us seriously when we do that and He moves in. He moves in lock, stock, and barrel. He moves in. He takes you serious. He goes to work for you. Some of you need that.
Turn with me to the book of James chapter 1 vv. 2-4. I am going to read it from the Phillips translation. “When all kinds of trials and temptations crowd into your life, my brothers, don’t resent them as intruders.” What do we do? We resent them as intruders. “But welcome them as friends.” Some friends you say. Trials and temptations. Some friends. “Realize that they come to test your faith and to produce in you the quality of endurance.” Has it ever dawned on you that when you trust Christ and He does come into your heart and you give Him permission to go to work in your life, He takes you seriously and He does go to work and that He is now at work in you both willing and doing His good pleasure? You gave Him permission to do that. Realize that these trials and temptations come to test your faith and to produce in your the quality of endurance.
But let the process go on until that endurance is fully developed. And you might find that you have become men and women of mature character with the right sort of independence.
What is it we want? To have our way or to become mature? Could it be that the little prayer which America loves to pray, “God give me patience and give it to me right now,”
could be changed to, “Lord make me mature and I am willing to wait on you.”
You see waiting involves trusting. You have got to trust God to be there and to be at work and to be acting in your behalf with all the powers of heaven. You have to believe that.
You have to be praying. You have to be praying in that secret communication between you and Him. You have to be resting in that trust.
“Waiting in quietness and confidence as the man of God says, shall be your strength in quietness and confidence waiting on God.”
May we pray together?
