"Waiting For The Lord"

"Waiting for the Lord"

Psalms 37:34-40

Sept. 26, 2004 PM

Icebreaker:

When are you the most anxious?

34 Wait for the LORD and keep his way.

He will exalt you to inherit the land;

when the wicked are cut off, you will see it.

35 I have seen a wicked and ruthless man

flourishing like a green tree in its native soil,

36 but he soon passed away and was no more;

though I looked for him, he could not be found.

37 Consider the blameless, observe the upright;

there is a future for the man of peace.

38 But all sinners will be destroyed;

the future of the wicked will be cut off.

39 The salvation of the righteous comes from the LORD;

he is their stronghold in time of trouble.

40 The LORD helps them and delivers them;

he delivers them from the wicked and saves them,

because they take refuge in him. (NIV)

Introduction:

Someone once said:

Patience is a virtue,

Possess it if you can.

Found seldom in a woman,

Never in a man.

To those Christians who are always in a hurry, here’s some good advice from the 19th-century preacher A.B. Simpson:

"Beloved, have you ever thought that someday you will not have anything to try you, or anyone to vex you again? There will be no opportunity in heaven to learn or to show the spirit of patience, forbearance, and longsuffering. If you are to practice these things, it must be now." Yes, each day affords countless opportunities to learn patience. Let’s not waste them.

Patience is recommended.

The elderly appear to have more of this virtue than the young. Waiting for the Lord constitutes an act of faith. This is not an easy proverb to follow since we are such activists. Like Job, we, too, need to learn that it is more important to trust God than to have answers to all our questions.

Those who trust in the Lord find that he helps them, delivers them, and saves them (v. 40). God takes care of his own.

I. Patience give us our reward. (Vs 34-36)

34 Wait for the LORD and keep his way.

He will exalt you to inherit the land;

when the wicked are cut off, you will see it.

35 I have seen a wicked and ruthless man

flourishing like a green tree in its native soil,

36 but he soon passed away and was no more;

though I looked for him, he could not be found.

A. Patience - 34 Wait for the LORD

Heb 12:1

12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. (NIV)

Hebrews 12:1 tells us to "run with perseverance" the race set before us. George Matheson wrote, "We commonly associate patience with lying down. We think of it as the angel that guards the couch of the invalid. Yet there is a patience that I believe to be harder -- the patience that can run. To lie down in the time of grief, to be quiet under the stroke of adverse fortune, implies a great strength; but I know of something that implies a strength greater still: it is the power to work under stress; to have a great weight at your heart and still run; to have a deep anguish in your spirit and still perform the daily tasks. It is a Christ-like thing! The hardest thing is that most of us are called to exercise our patience, not in the sickbed but in the street." To wait is hard, to do it with "good courage" is harder!

Perseverance NT:5281

hupomone (hoop-om-on-ay’); cheerful (or hopeful) endurance, constancy:

KJV - enduring, patience, patient continuance (waiting).

Isa 40:31

31 but those who hope in the LORD

will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles;

they will run and not grow weary,

they will walk and not be faint. (NIV)

B. The Way - 34 and keep his way

1. Follow the way - read the instructions

Psalms 119:105

105 Your word is a lamp to my feet

and a light for my path. (NIV)

Illustration:

Migratory birds in the U.S. were tagged by the Department of the Interior with metal strips reading "Wash. Biol. Surv."--for Washington Biological Survey. The code was changed, so the story goes, after a farmer from Arkansas wrote to the department: "Dear Sirs, I shot one of your crows, My wife followed the cooking instructions attached--she washed it, boiled it and served it. It was the worst thing we ever ate."

At my auto repair shop, I find few people read the owner’s manual and even know how to turn on the air conditioner or heater.