Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to Psalm 89, and reading for
our text, verse 46. How long, Lord? Wilt thou hide
thyself for ever? Shall thy wrath burn like fire? Psalm 89 verse 46, and specifically
the first three words, this question, how long, Lord? This psalm is a beautiful psalm,
prophetic, of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, speaking of Him
in prophecy as coming and they are beautiful words. We have in verse 20, I have found
David my servant, with my holy oil have I anointed him, with
whom my hand shall be established, mine arm also shall strengthen
him. The enemy shall not exact upon
him, nor the son of wickedness afflict him. And Furthermore,
we have in verse 27, Also I will make him my firstborn higher
than the kings of the earth. And my mercy will I keep for
him, for evermore my covenant shall stand fast with him. And it speaks of his seed, and
it speaks of the work that our Lord and Saviour would do in
coming and redeeming His people, the Old Testament Church, expected,
they looked for, they longed for the coming of our Lord. But what they experienced in
their lines, we have in verse 38, but thou hast cast off and
abhorred. And we think of the experience
of the church in all their sins, in the carrying away into Babylon,
and all that they went through. When was the Lord coming? When
was he going to appear for them? No wonder we have this question,
how long, Lord? The church looking through those
years of time, when should the Lord come? There was no time
given. In the fullness of time He came,
but they did not know whether it was near or whether it was
far. But we know from Matthew a beautiful
order from David through to, from Abraham through to David,
14 generations, and from David to the carrying away into Babylon,
14 generations, And then from the carrying away into Christ,
14 generations, God was working through this time in a beautiful
order. He knew what he was doing. He
knew how long. But this is then the church's
question. We may also look at that change
in language from the conquest or looking forward to Christ
and what he would do, and then to when he came. And that also
is reflective of what the Church was going through in the lead
up to his coming. When we think of our Lord who
was in the heavens, his crown was the eternal Son of God, but
Now in verse 38, thou hast cast off and abhorred, thou hast made
void the covenant of thy servant, broken down his hedges. All that
pass by the way spoil him. Thou set up the right hand of
his adversaries. The days of his youth hast thou
shortened. Our Lord was slain at 33. When the disciples were seeing
the Lord coming, On one hand, we've got these beautiful prophecies
and what the Lord would do, and the other, it seemed to be the
Romans, the Jews, they were triumphing. His own people received him not. He was crucified. They all forsook
him and fled. They mocked him. It looks so
different, so opposite from, you might say, the first part
of this psalm. and yet the Lord rose from the
dead, delivered by the full knowledge of God, was taken crucified by
wicked hands and slain. Right through the Old Testament
we have these pictures of the expectation of Christ's coming
and His greatness, His glory, His work, but then seem to be
a completely contrary picture of when he comes, and when he
came, the Jews, they knew not the day of their visitation. Really, and this is reflected
right through, not just the Old Testament, but now in a gospel
day, when in a gospel day, the Church of God is also looking
for Christ to come and to bless them and the fruits of Christ's
death, we need a personal knowledge of Christ, a personal faith,
personally to believe and to be set free, be redeemed by the
Lord Jesus Christ. He shall see his seed, the pleasure
of the Lord shall prosper in his hands, The Lord has redeemed
his people at Calvary, but in the Day of Grace, one by one,
he calls them out of nature's darkness and into his marvellous
light. And in their experience as well,
they are always looking for, waiting for their Lord and their
Saviour. Their hope, their expectation
is from him. And if that is the case with
us, then we join with those saints of old. How many times this same
word was brought and asked. How long, Lord? David, in Psalm
13. How long wilt thou forget me,
O Lord, for ever? How long wilt thou hide thy face
from me? How long shall I take counsel
in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily, how long shall
mine enemy be exalted over me? And David again in Psalm 35,
how long wilt thou look on? That's when the adversaries rejoiced
and mocked. Asaph in Psalm 79, how long wilt
thou be angry forever? And the context is there. is
when the temple was defiled, when it was brought to the ground
and when the Jews were carried away into captivity. Ether, the psalm here, how long
wilt thou hide thyself forever? This is the viewing the hand
of the Lord against his people or against his anointed one. Psalm 94. How long, Lord, how
long shall the wicked triumph? Though often the Church sees
things not as she expected that they would be. Even Isaiah is
asking the same question in Isaiah 6. Lord, how long shall Israel
be blind, really? That is why he's saying, how
long shall they be blind and impenitent? The answer was given. that until the land be wasted,
the Lord was going to chasten them, He was going to carry them
away, He was going to deal with them in Babylon, and then would
bring them back again. We even hear it in the Revelation,
where those that were martyred, for the name of Jesus, they are
saying, how long? How long shall it be before our
blood is avenged? How long? Shall it be that the
judgment day come that Christ shall return again? And it may be that in the experience
of some here or hearing the word this evening, that you also have
that which you look upon and you say, how long? How long shall
this continue? How long before the Lord does
appear for me and help me and overcome for me the adversaries
and that my expectation be realised and the blessing be mine. We bless the Lord that our Lord
and Saviour Jesus Christ has come and that the Church who
longed, who looked, Now in these gospel days, we look back and
we see that longing church and the faithful covenant-keeping
God did come after all the hopes and all the fears of all the
years. The Lord did suddenly come to his temple. We bless the Lord for the record
in the holy inspired word of God of how redemption was accomplished. by Him who has made man, made
flesh, dwelt among us, the Eternal God, the Eternal Word, dwelling
amongst us. We bless God for that realization,
that that beautiful plan, intimated and shown forth in types and
shadows throughout the years, is realized in the Lord Jesus
Christ. It is a real message to us, That
church, as portrayed in Hebrews 11, were looking by faith to
Christ's coming. They died in faith that he would
certainly come and he has. The church now looks back and
they are given the ordinances of the Lord's house in baptism
and especially in the ordinance of the Lord's Supper to remember
his coming and to remember his second coming. He do show forth
his death that is in the path and showing it forth is now in
present until he come. And we're looking forward to
his coming. We are like the Thessalonian
church who waited, await for his son from heaven. And so the church of God has
one central person the God-man, the Redeemer, the Saviour, that
they are looking to. Really, in the first part of
this psalm, there's all praise, there is no doubt, and the Church
of God too. They know that God is the God
of their salvation. They know that the Lord Jesus
Christ, in rising again from the dead and ascending up into
heaven as rose up and as conquered and he is in the position of
authority and of power. And though we know that, the
walking it out and the experience here below will often bring forth
this same cry, this same question, how long, Lord? I want to look this evening at
three points. Firstly, what the church waits
for now, bringing this same question, how long, Lord? And then secondly, an encouragement
to wait for the Lord. And thirdly, how we are to wait
for the Lord. But firstly, what the Church
is waiting for now. We have said that the Church's
aim today is the same as that of yesterday. She is still running
the race set before them, looking unto Jesus. He is still the object
of their affection, their worship, their hopes, their fears are
all centering in our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. But the Church of God looks for
those blessings, that which Paul wrote to the Ephesians, spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ, looks for that which
is the fruit of grace, by grace you say through faith that not
of yourselves, it is the gift of God. And we look for those
Gospel blessings, that which is promised. The Holy Spirit
was promised, He was given, and there followed then the blessing
upon the preaching of the Word. And the Church of God is to look
for this and expect this, even though it may be that it doesn't
seem that these things are being done or is in the very dark and
low condition and place. But our expectation will be the
same today as it was at Pentecost, the same as it will be when even
the Lord comes. We look for the Lord's visits,
His visits spiritually, the blessings to the soul, those times to favour
Zion, looking for Him to visit His people, reveal Himself to
them, to give them those blessings like Jacob had, as the man wrestled
with him, I will not let thee go except thou bless me. Those blessings that strengthen
the spiritual man, the new man of grace, that weaken the old
man of sin, that make us more than conquerors through him that
loved us. The Lord's visits are to be looked
for, longed for, for his people. But the Church of God, often
today, is in those times where there is darkness, there's either
persecution, or with worldliness that is grown so rampant, men
shall be lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. And there's
a labouring in word and in doctrine We've seen very little effect
and little of fruit from it. And often then this question
arises, Lord, how long? And looking for his appearing
and for his blessing. The difference that is made with
the church is when the Holy Spirit takes the things of Jesus and
reveals them to the soul. When Christ is lifted up and
sinners are drawn to Christ, when His blessing is upon them,
then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord. And with
the eunuch, with Philip, he went on his way rejoicing. Why? Because
he had seen the Lord and he walked in His ways. And every time you
see the church rejoicing, and glad and happy, they have seen,
they have understood, they have realised, even when the disciples
saw the Lord ascend up into heaven, they returned to Jerusalem with
great joy, because now they understood, now they could see clearly. And
it will be always with the Church of God, looking that they might
see the Lord and rejoice in Him. The Lord Himself has said in
me, you shall have peace. In the world you shall have tribulation. And while we're looking in that
tribulation and walking in that tribulation, our expectation
and hope is in the Lord, how long, Lord, that we might have
that peace and that blessing that comes to us. We're looking for those conversions,
and it may be, and it should be, that we're laboring for souls,
praying for those that meet with us, our families, our children,
those that know not the Lord. And as we pray and watch and
speak, this question still, how long, Lord? Church longs for
those times and revivals that it has known through its history. How long, Lord, that there might
be a revival, And of course, he's looking for his second coming,
looking for that time when he shall gather his people, when
he shall raise the dead, when he shall have his people with
him in heaven. And we do not know that time,
the same as the former generations knew not his first coming, So
we are not told and do not know His second coming. But the Church of God is not
to be so busy and so immersed in this world that it forgets
and is no longer looking for His coming. In that sense, it
is a blessed thing to all the time be asking how long, because
the soul that is doing that is saying, That means something
to me. I look forward to it. I have
not forgotten it. I am waiting for thy appearing.
This is an expectant church. And a blessed thing if we are
those when those signs come, that we look up for our redemption,
draweth nigh. The church then today is looking
for the Lord to appear. The people of God each have a
spiritual path that they walk through. Their down-sitting,
their uprising, their troubles, their temptations, their trials,
their times of chastening. No chastening for the present
seemeth to be joyous, but afterward yieldeth the peaceable fruits
of righteousness to them that exercise thereby. How long shall
it be? The path of providence is enmeshed
with spiritual blessings too. You cannot hardly separate between
the things that happen in our lives and the blessing of the
Lord. We know this with the saints
of God. We look at this a little later.
But in providence, often we ask, how long? God's people in Babylon,
they were told that the Lord would accomplish 70 years. It's
one of the rare times that a time factor is given. But the Lord
did appear for them. And there will be those times
then that there is darkness and is trial, but it is a sign of
a living soul that is looking for the Lord and asking how long
she's wanting You think of the children when they go in the
car and you've only gone a few miles and say, are we there yet?
How long is it going to be? How long is this journey? And
they want to get there. They have their end in view.
And it's a blessed thing if we have an end in view as well.
And we're not thinking, how long? Because I want to enjoy the pleasures
of this life to the full first. We are looking and longing for
the Lord to appear and come to us. Many of us know there's answers
to prayer in providence and in grace, where the Lord has come,
where we have known what it is to be given a promise we have
not known whether it would be one year, two year, 30 years. The Lord's performed it in his
time and way, and where we are, where the Lord has placed us,
is in the midst of these things that the Lord has brought about. The church then, today, you must
not think, well, this word how long only belongs to the Old
Testament church. It belongs to all those that
love the Lord's appearing, that look for his coming, that know
he only is able to do what we have at the end of Psalm 25,
redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles. The
only proper way of getting out of troubles is to be redeemed
out of them. We need the Lord to come. When
the Lord comes, then that deliverance is sure. Well, then I want to
look secondly at the encouragement to wait for the Lord. The first one obviously is the
experience of the Old Testament church, because the Lord did
come. And all what we read of them,
how long, we can see though those many thousands of years went
past, the Lord did fulfil his promise, he did come, he has
redeemed his people. This is a wonderful foundation
for the gospel days and preaching of the gospel. is encouragement
to wait for the Lord, knowing that He is in control. The Lord
is on the throne. No man can stay his hand. No
man can change things. Satan is not the head. His head
is bruised. His control is taken away. The Lord is in control. That
should be an encouragement for us when we are asking this, how
long? to know that the Lord is in control. When we think of the experience
of God's people in the past, Abraham was promised a child,
the seed, the seed that was to run to the Lord Jesus Christ. But Abraham, Sarah was barren. 10 years on, Abraham took things
into his own hand. Ishmael was born of Hagar. only
brought trouble and sorrow, didn't help. And then those 25 years
later from the first promise, then we have Isaac and the promised
seed. The Lord did what he had promised
Abraham. He said to him that what is impossible
with man is not impossible with God. And the blessing was to
be, I will surely visit thee. The expectation was the Lord
would visit with his blessing. We think of Joseph. He was given
the dreams that one day that his brethren would bow down to
him, not told any time, not told how it would come to pass. Then
he is sold into Egypt, dealt with so hardly by his brothers.
Then he is falsely accused, he's put into prison, and he's forgotten
in prison. How many times must? Joseph had said, how long? Until
his time came, we read in Psalm 105, the word of the Lord tried
him. But at the set time, that thing
was done suddenly. It must have been a very quick
thing. to suddenly one day have the
messengers to tell him to come and to put on fresh apparel and
shave himself and come and stand before Pharaoh. His life was
changed in a moment. Israel in Egypt, the Lord looked
upon them in their burdens. He knew their burdens. He recognized
them as his people. But he didn't come straight away. And with their preparation with
Moses, 80 years went by since the time they were already throwing
the babies into the Nile. How long that must have been
to them. They would have remembered the promise given to Abraham,
that thy seed shall be a stranger in a strange land. They shall
afflict them 400 years, and in the fourth generation they shall
come hither. The iniquity of the Amorites
is not yet full. The Lord had foretold these things,
but not the exact how things would happen. They would have
had some expectation of the timing. We are to remember this. When
we say how long, think of Abraham, Joseph, Israel, Jacob, others
that have had to walk this path. Another thing that is to be an
encouragement to us is that the Lord always has a reason for
His delays. He doesn't just delay for no
purpose. He has a reason. Sometimes He
says why. Like the iniquity of the Amorites
is not yet full. But other times we do not know
why. But what we do know, and this
should be an encouragement too, that the Lord is working in the
time that we are waiting. Though we don't see it, though
we don't realise it, He is still working. He is doing things in
the background. Many times we might see a building
site and we think, well, nothing is being done. You might see
a plot of land, a vacant plot of land, and you think, This
is just wasted, this is just lying there, but you don't know
what's going on in the drawing board and in the council planning
offices and in the funds being get to build a building there. You might first then see a sign
saying about planning permission. You get an intimation something's
been happening here. But we know in our Society, things
take a long while. You see a new road being put
in, and you can be sure that new road was on the drawing board
30 or 40 years ago. Land was being set aside for
it, plans were being made, and nothing was done for years and
years. And so it is with the Lord. The Lord is working, though
we see it not. And so if you, if I have this
question, how long, may we remember that the delays of the Lord doesn't
mean that the Lord hasn't heard, that the Lord is not working,
or that the Lord has purposes of mercy toward us. May we not
listen to Satan and say, well, because the Lord is so long,
he will never come. He never means to bless. He won't
remember me, He won't appear for me. We have to remember these
times that where it is said the time was long. We also have to consider this. Those of us that are called by
grace, how long did the Lord wait before He called us? How long did the Lord bear with
our iniquities, our sin, our waywardness, our rebellion, before
the Lord stopped us and brought us by His grace to know Him,
to be changed, to be turned. Therefore will the Lord wait
that He may be gracious unto you. The Lord has waited. And then think the other way
as well. How long is the Lord waiting? We read when he ascended
up into heaven, henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool. His prayer, Father, I will that
they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they
may behold my glory. How long is the Lord waiting
for that to happen? Has the Lord no interest in having
his people with him? Does He have no feelings as we
have? We get impatient, we think for
our own ends. But when we think of from the
Lord's end, He waits when He calls His people,
then He waits until that time. Father, I will that they be with
me where I am. And then He brings them to be
with Himself. that there are a lot of encouragements.
When we have the Lord delaying and the Lord not appearing immediately,
and when our question comes, Lord, how long? Then we have
to remember these things to encourage us to wait for the Lord. I want to look then thirdly at
how we are to wait for the Lord. We read the directions given
through Paul, that we are to be redeeming the time because
the days are evil. We read in the instructions that
were given to Israel when they went into Babylonish captivity,
that they were to build houses, that they were to marry, that
they were to be fruitful. We are to occupy till the Lord
comes. We're not to be idle, we're not
to be just serving ourselves, but actually serving the Lord
in the place and in the way where he has placed us. We mentioned
Joseph, and even though he wasn't immediately brought from his
home to a place where his fathers and brethren bowed down to him,
Yet we read the Lord was with him in every place he came, and
he honoured the Lord in his servitude as a servant, and even as a prisoner,
the same as the Apostle Paul did, and was used in the conversion
of Onesimus, Philemon's runaway slave. And so, we answer the
same way Not all the time thinking, well, what we want is over there,
and until we get there and have that blessing, then we're just
going to fritter away the time and not use it productively at
all. No, we are to use that time in
the place where the Lord has placed us, to His honour and
to His glory. Even if that is in tribulation,
even if it seems that Our adversaries are against us. Men rise up against
us. Providence is against us. We
are to walk in that way that glorifies the Lord in the fires
and in tribulation. Again, when we think of Daniel
and his friends, in each situation that they came, they glorified
the Lord. Whether they knew how long that
would be, that they would be. in that situation or not. And again, the emphasis is to
always be looking to the Lord Jesus Christ, that our hope and
our expectation is in Him. And so how we are to wait, it
is in hope. Why art thou cast down, O my
soul? Why art thou disquieted within
me? Hope thou in God, for I shall
yet praise Him. who is the help of my countenance
and my God. The psalmist was walking in hope. We are saved by hope, but hope
that is seen is not hope. What a man hopes for, what a
man seeth, why does he yet hope for? It is a trust, a trusting
in the Lord, in His wisdom, in His understanding, in His management,
Put another way, it is faith. Faith in the Lord and not in
ourselves. We walk by faith, not by sight. It is a path of prayer as well.
Many times when Israel had to wait for the Lord's deliverance,
the Lord was waiting for them. He was bringing their famines,
He was bringing trials to humble them, to bring them low. Why
in the days of Elijah, Was there famine for three and a half years?
Why not just half a year? Why not just one year? Why three
and a half? The people had to be brought
to be made willing to come to Mount Carmel to have the trial
of their God and to offer the sacrifices, the fire from heaven. There was a need for that delay. And the Lord was doing it so
his people were humbled and made teachable. And so we are to occupy
our time in prayer and in self-examination. If we are saying, how long? And
the devil will say, well, put the Lord at fault with him. And
to turn it round, is there a reason in us why the Lord is delaying? Why the Lord has returned to
his place? Why is quiet? Why is silent? Why is not speaking? We are to
examine our own ways and walk in the path of prayer. keeping close unto the Lord. Another direction is in submission
to the Lord. Instead of fretting, rebellious,
all the days of my appointed time will I wait, says Job, till
my time come. Many times in the book of Job
you hear the saying, Lord, how long, how long? But the Lord
knew what he was doing, and dear Job was given patience or endurance,
and we read in James, you've heard of the patience of Job. The end of the Lord, what the
Lord achieved and did. The blessed thing to be submissive,
nevertheless not my will, but thy will be done. And walking
in obedience. obedience to the Word of God,
obedience to the Spirit. While we wait for the Lord's
time, the Lord to appear, there's a path, there's that which we
are to do and to walk in. If this is our question, how
long, Lord? It is very doubtful that the
Lord will actually give us a time for our troubles. a time for
Him to appear and bless us. But it is a good thing to be
asking, because it brings the state of the soul that it is
looking and longing, who for? The Lord. The Lord to appear,
Jehovah, for the Lord Jesus Christ and His salvation to appear for
us. And it's a good thing then to
be watching, watching providence, watching our spirit. Those are
blessed times when we've just felt that still small voice,
go and pray. And for maybe months have been
hard-hearted, no prayer. Then the heart slowly starts
to soften and go to prayer. Might only be a few minutes,
And then you go back to your work to hear again, a still small
voice, go and pray. And how many times is that hardness
just slowly thawed away and the heart is softened, the Lord returns
and blesses our souls. Those times in Providence when
we prayed and prayed and watched for the Lord to appear with a
house sale or with a move or a job, And we've seen the Lord's
goodness go before. We marveled at what the Lord
has done, how he's moved others, how he has done those things
that are perfect timing. And these things in review, they
are good to walk then on, remembering what the Lord has done. Thou
shalt remember all the way the Lord thy God hath led thee these
40 years in the wilderness. It is to try us, to prove us,
to know what was in our heart, but we are to remember it as
we go on. The Lord is the same, Jesus Christ,
the same yesterday, and today, and forever. Still pray, says
the hymn writer, for God will all explain, nor shalt thou seek
his face in vain. We need to know how to wait then,
And we need those encouragements to wait, and there are many in
the Word of God so to do. And the Church of God today must
not think she's any different or can rise above what the Old
Testament Church was, who so often had this question and this
language. And yet the Lord appeared, and
the Lord blessed them. How long, Lord? May the Lord
bless the Word and encourage us this evening. Amen.