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?”
We may laugh because we sound like we are talking out of both sides of our mouth. But I think Psalm 40 may give to us a clearer understanding of our true emotions when we find ourselves having to be patient.
Consider again what you just read:
• Verse 1 – “I waited patiently for the Lord…”
• Verse 17 – “…do not delay, Oh my God.”
Perhaps we need to be more honest with ourselves when we talk to God…
According to Psalm 40, we can be patient on getting something from God, and still be looking forward to getting it.
Transition
We can anticipate what we are waiting for with enthusiasm.
We can do this without being impatient.
You see being impatient will mean
• We are not willing to put up with the delay.
• We will become frustrated when we are impatient.
We may be so frustrated that we start making strange noises.
You know the noises…sigh…ugh…
The Bible tells us that being patient is one of the Fruits of the Holy Spirit. When we have the fruit of patience in our lives, we will naturally show the Lord that we trust and respect in Him handling our lives.
We’ll change what we say to the Lord from “HOW LONG OH LORD” to -
• Take Your time, OH LORD.
• No rush here, OH LORD.
On the other hand, if we do not have the fruit of patience & longsuffering, we may be tempted to become bitter and angry with God when He delays in answering our prayers.
While sitting here in God’s house, we may be able to exercise a little patience, but in the height of our being frustrated with our lives we may feel like we are at verse 2.
David refers to his being in a “horrible (slimy) pit” and his feet sunk down in the “miry clay”.
What is he talking about?
The pit I think of when I read this verse is much like a drain/leach field on the downside of the septic tank.
(There are few of us guys that have had the misfortune of having to repair one of these.)
The first thing I learned while studying septic tanks and drain fields is you can’t make any repairs unless you get down in the hole. Nothing will ever get fixed in septic tank or a drain field by standing up on the grassy level.
To make a repair you gotta get down in the hole. It’s nasty down there.
The second thing I learned was that once you are down in the hole and the time finally comes that you are through working and it’s time to get out, it can get a little bit tricky.
Things are slippery everywhere you try to step, but you want out of that hole. NOW!
The stinch is very ungodly, and (if you are not careful) so will be your next step.
The answer to getting out your “horrible pit” is in Psalm 40 -
1. Get someone to hand you a rock to stand on.
2. Have them give you a strong & helping hand to pull you out.
But let me warn you. Whoever is helping you had better be someone you can trust. Someone who has strong arm and won’t let you fall back down in the pit.
In verse 2 of our text we see,
He (God) also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps.
My friend, it is God whom you can count on to raise you up out of what you are going through.
Sometimes we trust the Lord to do this for us. While other times, we make the mistake of falling back into that same pit God delivered you from.
Transition
As an example, years ago I saw someone who had once given their heart and soul to Christ. They had once confessed Christ as the Lord of their life. They knew Christ had saved them from the eternal pit of hell.
But they let a trial they were going through rob them of their victory in Christ. They had seen someone else they despised get saved and delivered from their sins.
The person I am talking about backslid and left the things of God. Before long they were once again consumed with their own misery and depression.
They allowed themselves to fall back into the pit of despair God had once saved them from.
One may ask, “What does this have to do with waiting and being patient on God? Why is patience important?”
While you are waiting and being patient you may get frustrated.
And you may find yourself falling down into a “horrible pit”. What you need is the Lord to extend His strong arm down to you and lift you out.
God is the only One Who can and will make sure you don’t fall back into that “miry clay”.
God is the only way out for you!
Furthermore, you will need the “rock” to stand on.
Jesus is the Rock of your salvation.
“on Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand…”
Psalm 40 identifies for us what can happen to our relationship with the Lord while waiting on Him.
The fact of the matter is you and I will seldom get to where you need to be with the Lord without a few delays.
CONCLUSION:
What God has for you probably won’t come very quickly.
God may be seasoning you.
We all tend to think that all of the spiritual things in our life should happen right now.
I want you to know that God has been very patient with you. He has been longsuffering with all of us for a very long time, but we often say –
“…God, why won’t you get me out of this mess I’m in, and do it right now?!?”
Question: Have you thought about what you are going to do if you don’t get what you want soon?
It might be that the Lord wants to deal with you the same way he has dealt with so many other great men and women of God.
Your cry today may be,
HOW LONG OH LORD?
God wants you to identify with, and to trust in, what He has promised you!
