Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to Isaiah chapter 30 and reading
for our text, verse 18. We've got one of our free Bibles.
The chapter is on page 673, 673. Isaiah chapter 30 and verse 18. And therefore will the Lord wait
that He may be gracious unto you, and therefore will He be
exalted that He may have mercy upon you. For the Lord is a God
of judgment. Blessed are all they that wait
for Him. Isaiah 30 and verse 18. In our text it speaks of both
the Lord waiting and His people waiting, the reasons why the
Lord waits and the blessedness of those that wait on Him. And I want to look this evening
at how these two weightings, the weighting of the Lord, the
weighting of his people, how they fit together. We are told
in Peter's epistle how that God weighted as in the days of Noah. He says in 1 Peter chapter 3
verse 20, which sometime were disobedient when once the long-suffering
of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing
wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. And we have
a picture then that God saw the wickedness of man that it was
great in the earth. God said that he would destroy
the earth. Noah found favor in the eyes
of the Lord. The Lord did not destroy the
earth immediately. He waited some hundred years
or so. until that ark was being prepared. And while that waiting was going
on, while the ark was being prepared, Noah was preaching. He was a
preacher of righteousness. There was a time, an opportunity,
if you like, given to hear the word of the Lord. There would
have been those in those 120 years that were saved in that
time that if the Lord had cut them right off at first, they
would have perished. But because that time was lengthened
out, and because they heard the preaching of Noah, which was
a preacher of righteousness, preaching the Lord Jesus Christ,
they were saved. Not through the ark, but before
they died, before the flood. We read of those that died the
year of the flood or died five years before. We can trace that
in Genesis. And we know that there would
have been others. A reason why the Lord waited
and did not immediately destroy them. We could say there's several
reasons. The ark couldn't be made in a
day. The Lord was prepared to wait
for the ark to be made, and also give that time for preaching
of the gospel. And in these days as well, there
is the preaching of the gospel. The world shall be destroyed,
but not by water, but by fire. But before it is destroyed, the
Lord waits until he will destroy it, waits until he will come
again, waits until the end of the world, and there's a purpose
and reason for it, and we have the gospel set before us, the
good news of salvation, that though we live in days like the
days of Noah, that were wicked days, yet it is still the days
when there is the preaching of the word. and when men, women,
children are saved. And so we have the picture there
of the Lord waiting, and the reason why, and the blessing
that no doubt came unto many. And so we often would not think
of this, While we wait for the Lord, when we wait that the Lord
would answer our prayers, or wait that he should guide us
and direct us, that he should bless us, that he should come
to us and appear for us and give us assurance and assure our soul
that we are in that Lamb's Book of Life, that we are redeemed,
we are saved, while we wait for that, We don't realize that it
may be the Lord is also waiting. Picture someone waiting at a
bus stop, and they're waiting for the bus. They think, why
doesn't that bus come? But if they could perhaps look
around the road, or a mile or so down the road, there is the
bus at the gates at the train line, and they're waiting as
well. And they're waiting for the train to go. And when the
train goes, then they go. And then they come to the person
waiting at the bus stop. Both have been waiting. Both
have had reasons why they haven't come to each other. And the Lord
has his reasons as well. And may we bear that in mind
whenever we are waiting for the Lord, that the Lord has a reason
why He is waiting. and why he doesn't immediately
come and immediately answer prayer. He waits to answer prayer and
has a good reason for it. So when we get impatient, when
we get unbelieving, when we think surely that we are not God's
people because the Lord doesn't immediately answer our prayers,
or that we get tempted that He will not appear for us. May this
thought arise that maybe the Lord is waiting and for a good
reason why he is delaying answering and appearing for me. So I want to look with the Lord's
help then this evening and firstly the Lord's waiting, the Lord's
waiting. And then secondly, why he waits
in the words of our text, what is actually set before us in
this verse. And then thirdly, the blessing
on those that wait for the Lord. Blessed are all they that wait
for him. They are blessed while they are
waiting, not just when he appears and comes. While they are waiting
for him, they are blessed. So firstly, the Lord's waiting. What does the Lord wait for? We've spoken about regarding
Noah. And so one reason we would say
was providence. God is unfolding his purposes
in this world. And we read concerning the children
of Israel that the land that they were to have, the land of
Canaan, the Ammonites were there, but why didn't God immediately
give the children of Israel that land? One reason that he said
was because the iniquity of the Amorites was not yet full. It
had nothing to do with the children of Israel, as it were. The Lord
was lengthening out and just letting those heathen nations
go on suffering them to go on in their idolatry, their abominations,
the evils of their heart, and waiting for that time that judgment
would fall upon them. We read in the Word of God, because
sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, the
heart of man is fully set in him to do evil. And we are like that. A child
is like that. If a child gets away with something
once, you try it the second time. If he gets away with it then,
he gets even more bold and you try and do it again. And we're
just the same. And we go on and on. Give a man
enough rope, as you said, and he'll hang himself. And the Lord
lets those that he has determined that he will destroy just go
on. We read that with Eli's sons,
he just let them go because he determined to set time that both
of them in one day would die in battle. And they did. But for God's people in great
mercy, he doesn't destroy them, he appears for them and he blesses
them. But we read of the Lord with
his providence then in ordering the lands. determines when things
shall happen. We think of the children of Israel
in Babylonian captivity. The Lord had said before they
went into captivity, 70 years they would be there. And all
that time the Lord waited, didn't deliver them because there was
a set time that he would bring them out. And we read there is
a set time to favour Zion. And the Lord waits for that time. And it's good for us to remember
that. What would we think of a God
that did not have a plan? That had created time, but never
used time to make plans and appointments in time, but we read in the word
of God that he does. And these things are appointed. So one reason in the Lord's waiting
is that he is just fulfilling his own counsel and waiting till
his will is accomplished, that things are ready, the plan is
ready to be put in execution, and it will then be done. And we think of all Israel's
time in Egypt and going down into Egypt, all these things,
every happening really in the word of God had a time and a
place and was appointed of God and God waited. With the children of Israel in
Egypt, he waited 40 years while Moses was being trained in Pharaoh's
household. Then another 40 years while Moses
kept sheep in the wilderness. And then he brought them out. And even then he waited while
there was the nine signs and wonders and Israel was, Egypt
was brought down to ruin. And then at last he brought the
Passover and brought the children of Israel out. All of the delays that we might
count as delays of the Lord have a good reason why. We do not know concerning our
own lives, concerning the history of the church here, the congregation
here, what the Lord's purposes are, why He is waiting, why He delays appearing or building
up or strengthening. But the Lord knows why. Those
blessings that He has promised us for a people that shall be
born that may not even yet be born, that it shall be a blessing
and a purpose for them. There are many reasons we don't
know why it is to trust in the Lord. Another reason in the Lord's
waiting is because he has ordained that
those things that he does shall be in answer to prayer. And in one sense then he waits
to hear the prayers of his people. May that encourage us to pray. Is that what delays the Lord,
in a sense, holds the Lord back? We know that The Lord's time
can never be changed, but we should not govern our lives by
seeking into the hidden things of God. But think that, is the
Lord's blessings restrained? Because we do not ask. Ask, and
ye shall receive. Seek, and ye shall find. Knock,
and it shall be opened unto you. The Word of God declares that
those things that we don't have, you have not, because you do
not ask. You ask, and you ask amiss to
consume it upon your lusts. And there is a reason why the
Lord doesn't appear. The Lord says, he will not come
unto me that ye might have life. Why does the Lord wait? Sometimes
it is. He waits for his people's prayers. And often, he brings things to
bring them to prayer. You think of the children of
Israel when they were serving Baal, the days of Elijah. And the Lord sent three and a
half years of famine. Why did the Lord wait? Until
there was hardly any grass left, very few horses, oxen left at
all. Israel brought to his knees.
But there was a people made ready then to put their own Baal God
on trial, to listen to Elijah, to go up to Mount Carmel and
hear the words of the Lord. And so the Lord waits in that
way. The Lord says, I think it is
in Ezekiel, I'll return unto my place. And then he will just
wait and see that people that then misses him, whether they
will or not. Whether they realize that God
is silent to them, that he's withdrawn his blessings from
them. And then they start to cry after
him. We read in the time in the ark
of God, was in the land of the Philistines, and six months. And each place that it went,
the judgment of the Lord was on the Philistines. But then
when the ark was brought back into Israel, we read the time
was long. It was 20 years. And then the
children of Israel cried unto the Lord, and they begged Samuel
to cry unto the Lord for them. And the Lord delivered them then
out of the hand of the Philistines. Why 20 years? At the beginning
of that time, Israel had been dealt with by the Lord for their
sins and for their wickedness. But that time, that waiting time,
brought them ready to cry and a time ready for the Lord to
appear for them. In all the Lord's dealings, His
chastening, His corrections, very often is time that has the
desired effect of the Lord. The Lord gives time, like He
gave to the Ninevites. He didn't tell Jonah to say,
the Lord will immediately destroy the city. No, He didn't do like
with Sodom and Gomorrah. give them, as it were, no time
whatsoever, but he gave them 40 days. And in that time they
were brought to repentance and the Lord turned away his wrath
and his anger. And so the Lord does wait. And
there is good reason for it. It's very evident through the
Word of God. You might say we very often look
for some cause and reason in us, and sometimes it is, and
it's right to search and try our ways. but otherwise it may
well be that in the Lord's goodness and mercy he waits. And so I
want to look in the second place why he waits in the words of
our text. Not actually because of those
outward reasons but for spiritual reasons, for a purpose that the
Lord has not to destroy, but to bless the people of God and
to exalt and praise his own great name. And so there's four, there's
four reasons why the Lord will wait as said before us in this
text. The text says, and therefore
will the Lord wait that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore
will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you, for the
Lord is a God of judgment. The first reason is this, that
he may be gracious unto you. How seldom would we interpret
a delay in the Lord, the Lord waiting, the Lord not answering
our prayers, the Lord delaying to appear for us, to loose our
bondage, to release our captivity, to save us from a trial. How seldom would we actually
ascribe that, the very reason Why the Lord waits is that he
may be gracious unto us. Very often, if the Lord appeared
immediately, we would think, well, this is our work, this
is our mind. But how often the Lord brings
a people to know they have no help in self. The hymn writer
says, no help in self I find, and yet have sought it well,
a native treasure of my mind, his sin and death and hell. And all the while we are looking
to our own works and merit and what we deserve, then whatever
the Lord does, we will not ascribe it to grace. The word says that
growing grace and in the knowledge of the Lord. And it's often when
our strength is weakened in the way, when it is that We proved,
like the woman with the issue of blood, 12 years, that none
other could help her. Or like the woman with the daughter
who was afflicted, coming to the Lord, Lord help me. And the
disciples feeling they couldn't help her, send her away. But
the reason was that the Lord would be gracious and it would
seem to be grace. that he may be gracious unto
you. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
though he was rich, yet for your sakes became poor, that ye through
his poverty might be made rich. Why did he wait from creation
4,000 years to when he came into this world? Why did he wait 30
years from the time of his birth to his then crucifixion at 33? Why does the Lord wait? That
he may be gracious unto you and that his actions appear as grace,
undeserved, unmerited, freely given, graciously Now that's the first reason that
the Lord may be gracious unto you. Every time that we get delays,
the Lord doesn't answer our prayers. May we think of this. This is
the reason given here, that He may be gracious. You say, I'm
impatient. I want to see that grace now.
I want that help now. But no. that he may be gracious
is why the Lord waits. The second reason is that he
be exalted. The Lord be exalted. What would we think of a God
that was at our beck and call, that even obeyed Satan in that
temptation in the wilderness? If thou art the Son of God, command
that these stones be made bread. Do my bidding. Let my timing
be in my hand, let me be in control. But no, the Lord is to be exalted
as the sovereign, as the one in control, as the one who knows
best, one who is able to show at last that He is King in Zion,
that He is the ruler amongst His people, that He has gone
before and that all that He has done is right and good. We can be sure of this, that
that multitude in heaven, innumerable multitude in heaven, they will
all be exalting the Lord. And part of that will be those
things that the Lord has waited here below, hasn't acted, hasn't
dealt with immediately, but the Lord is exalted in it. You think even in those maybe
short-term things like with, in Egypt, Children of Israel,
they wondered what the Lord was doing, why Ephraoh would not
let them go. But we read that the Lord had
said, for this purpose have I raised the arm to show forth my power
and might in thee. Ephraoh was raised up for that,
his heart hardened. Why did the Lord wait? That he
would be exalted, and he was exalted over Egypt. and then
they come to the Red Sea? Why did the Lord wait that the
children of Israel might get through the Red Sea, the Egyptians
follow after, and then in their following, that He was exalted
and got Him glory and honour over all their armies in destroying
them under the Red Sea? Again, they rethink when the
Lord delays and when the Lord waits, What has the Lord in store? What is it that shall be at the
last that He will be exalted? Would we seek to rob Him of His
glory, pull Him from His throne? when the word of God says, why
the Lord waits, is that he will be exalted. The third reason
is that he may have mercy upon you. Mercy and grace, they flow
very much the same. But in one sense, the mercy that
is never, ever deserved. The publican, God be merciful
to me, a sinner, how he sorted the law that which he didn't
deserve, that which he fell in his own breast, he didn't deserve. And yet why the Lord waits is
that he might have mercy. Never write ourselves out of
mercy because the Lord is waiting, because the Lord delays, because
he doesn't come, because he doesn't answer immediately. Sometimes he comes at evening
light, but he never comes too late. He comes at his appointed
and set time. May this really encourage a poor
soul It seems that the Lord is just waiting and not hearing
prayer, not answering, not appearing for them at all, that the Lord
has purposes of mercy yet laid up in store, that he may have
mercy upon you. The fourth reason is this, that
he is a God of judgment. For the Lord is a God of judgment. In other words, He is weighing
up, He is judging exactly the right time, the right way, the
right place for Him to appear. He is judging the matter as in
our own hearts of when we are truly humbled, when we are truly
repenting, When we are ready to receive his word. The Lord
knew when Israel were prepared to hear Elijah. The Lord knew
when Israel was ready to be brought up out of Babylon. The Lord knew
what time was needed in the wilderness. They were to remember all the
way the Lord had led them those 40 years in the wilderness. to
try them, to prove them, to know what was in their heart, whether
they would serve the Lord or not. And maybe not trust in our
own judgment, not trust in our own wisdom, but trust in the
judgment of the Lord. What would we think of a parent
that had a child and the child thought, well, now is the time
that I should do this or that. But in the parents' judgment,
they thought, no, that was not the case. Or a teacher, a child,
thought, well, I am right to sit this exam. I should be able
to sit and pass this exam. But the teacher, knowing the
child, knowing their skills, knowing what they were capable
of, they said, no, you're not to sit that exam yet, whatever
it be, whether it be words or whether it be a music exam, and
realize you haven't had enough practice, you haven't got enough
skill, you won't be able to pass it, or whether it's a driving
test, you might think, I'm ready to take my test, but the instructor
says, no, you need some more lessons and you need some more
experience first, and is not left up to the judgment of the
student and the one that's learning. But the instructor, the teacher,
I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt
go. I will guide thee with mine eye. And it is the Lord's wisdom that
directs our way, not our own. And that is a reason why the
Lord delays, why the Lord waits, because he is a God of judgment. He does weigh the balances, all
men, and those times that he moves is always the right time. And when we think of the judgment
on the other scale, like it was with the old world, that was
to be judged. There was a time when mercy was
lengthened out, and then that judgment, it came. And the Lord's judgment shall
certainly fall. Every man shall receive what
things are done in the body, whether they are good or bad. And how vital it is for us to
have one that's mentioned in Psalm 80, let thy hand Be upon
the man at thy right hand, the Son of Man, whom thou madest
strong for thyself. How vital for us to have one
to take our burdens, to receive the punishment of God, the wrath
of God, instead of us. The Lord is a God of judgment.
We see that at Calvary, the Lord taking the place of his people
Now the Lord said at one time, your time is already, but my
time is not yet. But when that time was, no time
before, they tried to cast him down from the brow of the hill,
but he went straight through the midst of them. But at the
appointed time, then wicked hands, he was taken, crucified, and
slain. Peter, he says very clearly,
ye have taken and crucified and slain him that was delivered
by the determinate counsel and full knowledge of God. And we
see the Lord's purposes and timing and yet men used in it and men
not excused but brought in guilty at last and yet brought to know
mercy and the Lord's grace even in spite of all what they'd done
in the crucifixion of the Lord. And so our text gives us these
four things. That when we have the Lord delaying,
when the Lord is waiting, that we are to think of this. Has
the Lord in store that he might be gracious unto us? Is it that
in this very matter, this perplexing trial, this difficulty, this
that we are such a distress for the Lord waiting upon him that
he will be exalted, that's why he waits. The hymn writer said,
he waits to answer prayer, that he may have mercy upon you. Maybe
think of this, grace and mercy and the Lord exalted, all bound
up in the Lord's waiting, because the Lord judges exactly what
is best and what is right. I want to look then in the third
place of the blessing on those that wait for the Lord. The end of our text says, blessed
are all they that wait for Him. Blessing is pronounced, as we
said before, on those that wait for Him, even before He appears
for them. This is the same as in the The
attitudes as well, we have it set before us in the Gospel according
to Matthew and chapter 5. Blessed are they which do hunger. and thirst after righteousness,
for they shall be filled. They're blessed not when they're
filled, but while they are hungering and thirsting after righteousness. And it is put in that way that
those blessings are to those that wait upon the Lord even
before he appears for them. It is a grace from the Lord.
It is a gift from the Lord that there is a people that wait for
him. The children of Israel had those times they wouldn't wait
for the Lord's counsel. They had an enemy approaching
them. King Saul fell in this way. The
Philistines were pressing upon him. Samuel was supposed to come
and offer the sacrifice. Samuel delayed, but when he came,
it wasn't beyond the time appointed. But Saul was fearful, then he
forced himself, and as a king he had no business to interfere
in the matters of the church or in the offering of the sacrifices,
and yet he offered the sacrifice. And then Samuel came and reproved
him. It's one of those things of disobedience
and trespassing out of his office. that King Saul did, all because
he would not trust that Samuel would come in time. He would
not wait for the Lord. Later on, the children of Israel,
rather than wait for the Lord's counsel, they went down to Egypt
for help. That is what is reproved again
in the beginning of this chapter. The people not waiting. Are we
like that? That we're not waiting for the
Lord's guidance, counsel. The exercise of prayer, day by
day, we say, well, we get impatient. We can't afford to wait. We must
make a decision. We must make this move in providence,
or act, as it were, even if we don't get guidance and direction
from the Lord. I want to really emphasize in
this last point that blessing of waiting upon Him. If the Lord
gives patience, if he gives that spirit that to whom else can
we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life, we have no other one. We cannot go any other way. If we see one that is impatient,
never goes to the Lord for prayer, never watches in prayer, never
waits for the Lord to appear, Then we have one that is not
under this blessing and you might say has not laid up in store
that they will see the graciousness of the Lord and the Lord be exalted
and mercy be shown upon them. And we look back at some of the
times in their life where we've had to wait upon the Lord for
him to appear whether it is for a blessing in our soul, or for
a house to sell, or to have a job, a means of income, and time has
gone, months have gone by, and the cries to the Lord, the helps,
and then the answers, the deliverances, and they're wonderful to look
back on, and sometimes we forget that before those times that
we now would speak of to the praise of God. We had very, very
anxious times of waiting and greatly tried whether the Lord
would really appear and would come for us or whether perhaps
all our religion just evaporated and appeared to be nothing at
all. And it's good for us to look back and not only think
of those blessings and the Lord's appearances, But what happened
before? What happened before? How much
want went on while we were waiting for the Lord? Our God is the
living God, the true God, a God who hears, a God who has all
power in heaven and in earth, who is able to do exceeding far
above all we can ask or think, a God who loves his people, has
chosen them, redeemed them. God who has eternal purposes
of grace and mercy for them. May he give us this blessing,
this grace of waiting for him, waiting upon him, much in prayer,
our eyes looking unto the Lord. And may we know while we are
in that way, hard as it is, Tried we might be, but the Lord in
our text pronounces a blessing upon us. Blessed are all they,
not some of them, but all they that wait for him. May the Lord
add his blessing. Amen.