Go with me, if you would, back
to Psalm 25. Psalm 25. I've mentioned to you before
how sometimes it takes a while. Sometimes it takes a little while
for a message to come. I search and search and flip
and turn, waiting to know what the Lord
would have me to bring for a given service. I felt led on the two
messages for this morning, but I really struggled for tonight. It took a while. I got a call
from a brother, and he asked me in the course of our conversation,
he said, how's your studying going? And I explained to him
the situation I was in. Well, I'm looking, I'm trying,
I'm searching. And I finally just said, I guess
I'm gonna have to just wait on the Lord. As soon as I said that, I told
him on the phone, I said, that's probably gonna be our message.
And it is. It is. I got to thinking about
waiting on the Lord. It's something that I find myself
doing a lot, and I know we all do. And I just started thinking
about waiting on the Lord. And this question came to my
mind, and this is what I want us to consider for just a minute. Is it ever hurtful? Is it ever harmful? Is it ever detrimental in life
to wait on the Lord? Is it possible for a person to
wait too long? Is it possible to wait on the
Lord too long? Now I'm talking about a person
who is truly waiting on the Lord. Praying, asking, seeking, searching
for his will. I mean searching for his will.
Is it possible for a person to wait on the Lord too long? Is there a point where waiting
on the Lord is no longer a good option? Is it ever a possibility that
waiting on the Lord is a bad decision? Could we miss out on something
good for us? Could we possibly miss out on
something good for us because we just waited on him too long?
We just waited too long. Let's go ahead and answer all
of that right now. No. No. Our text is going to be the first
part of verse 3. Psalm 25 verse 3 says, Yea, let
none that wait on thee be ashamed. It is never hurtful. It is never harmful. It's never
detrimental. It is not a possibility to wait
too long. It's not a possibility. It is
never a bad decision. Never. We will not ever miss
out on good. from waiting on the Lord. But
those are the things that our minds question every single time
we have to wait on the Lord. That is an underlying thought
every time we have to wait on the Lord. Our flesh always steps
in and says, now wait a minute, is it really the best idea to
wait on the Lord? That's what our flesh says every
single time. Is that really the best idea? May God's Spirit overrule
our flesh every single time that happens. May He speak to our
heart and say, yes, it is. Yes, it is. Let's look at three
things concerning waiting on the Lord. And this applies to
anything, whatever it is. Whatever is in front of us, there
are all kinds of things in front of us. Concerning all things,
let's consider three things on waiting on the Lord. Number one,
our example and our reason for waiting. Our example for waiting
and our reason for waiting. Number two, the danger of not
waiting. And number three, the promises
at the end of waiting. Our example and our reason, the
danger of not waiting and the promises that are at the end.
All right, number one, our example and our reason. Turn with me
over to Isaiah chapter 30. Isaiah 30 verse 18 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. Blessed are all they that wait
for him. What's our example and our reason
for waiting on the Lord? He waited for us. He waited for us. He patiently
waited that he might be gracious to us. He just waited to be gracious. We think waiting on the Lord,
we talk about waiting on the Lord and we naturally think that
involves a few days. Well, I'm going to give it some
time. I'm waiting on the Lord. I should know something by about
two o'clock tomorrow. Our waiting on the Lord is so pitiful compared
to his waiting for us. It is so, so pitiful. He has lovingly endured lifetimes
and generations of people so He could be gracious to us. He
has waited through generations and generations and generations
of people so that He could be gracious to one of His own. Therefore
will the Lord wait. You know, I wonder sometimes,
we, in our flesh, we get so angry with the wicked, just like David
did. Why, Lord, don't you just strike that person down? You
know why? It could be that three generations from now, God has
an elect. He lovingly waits. He waits on us. He waits on us. That he might be gracious to
us and show mercy to undeserving sinners like us. What is our
example and our reason to wait? It's our Lord's waiting in the
grave. His grave. In Psalm 40, he said, I waited
patiently, I waited patiently. How, oh, how holy, how full of
awe is it to think of him in that grave, waiting, waiting
in that grave. He trusted them. He trusted the
Lord. He laid there trusting the Lord.
He believed. He hoped in God. He endured the
indescribable. Every time we have a message,
we try to describe the suffering he endured for sin. It can't
be done. It's indescribable. And he endured the indescribable,
knowing, he laid there knowing, thou wilt not leave my soul in
hell. You won't leave me here. Father,
you said you wouldn't and I believe you, so I'll quietly wait. I'll
just wait. I'll just wait until the terror of this suffering
is over and you're pleased to deliver me from this horrible,
horrible pit. He waited patiently through the
punishment of our sin He bore it patiently so He could show
mercy to us. Now, isn't that all the reason
we need? Isn't that all the example that
we need to wait on Him? Whatever it is, just help me
to bear it, Lord, and wait. Just bear it and wait. Bear it
and wait. James 5 says that He is waiting
for the precious fruit of the earth, all of the elect that
He redeemed. His Father chose and He redeemed. The Spirit's going to call all
of them, and He's waiting for all the fruit of the earth. And
it says, He hath long patience for it. So if He's willing to
wait on us, He's not going to leave one man behind. He's not going to fold it up
early and be done with it and leave one elect child behind. So if He's willing to wait on
us, may He give us the grace to wait on Him. He is our reason. He's our example. Look with me
at Lamentations chapter 3. It's over a couple of books.
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations chapter 3. Verse 22 says, It is of the Lord's
mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail
not. They are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. Great, great is thy faithfulness. Verse 24 says, The Lord is my
portion, saith my soul. Therefore will I hope in him. The Lord is good unto them that
wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that
a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the
Lord. So the Lord himself is our example
and our reason to wait, and it's good. It's just good Good to
wait. What should I do? What should
I do? Wait as long as that's the question. What should I do
until the Lord reveals the answer? Wait, here's the answer until
he reveals his answer. Wait, just wait on the Lord.
All right, now here's the danger in not waiting on the Lord. Look
with me at Psalm 106. Psalm 106, and I have to turn
my page, the heading above verse 12, at the top of my page, says,
this is the story of Israel's rebellions. That's what this
chapter is. And it says in verse 12, then
believed they his words, they sang his praise. They believed
his words and they sang his praise. Verse 13 says, they soon forgot
His works. They waited not for His counsel. They made the mistake of not
waiting on the Lord. And verse 14 says, but lusted
exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert,
and He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their
soul. If we don't wait on the Lord,
we will bring nothing but heartache to ourselves. We'll bring nothing
but misery to ourselves. We'll get it set in our mind,
this is what I need to do, this is what I need to do, without
waiting on the Lord. There is a way that seems right
to man, but if we don't wait on the Lord and seek His will,
then the end is always destruction. It's always destruction and trouble. Everything that the Lord does,
all of his acts, all of his perfect time, everything
that he does, everything that he purposes concerning his children,
works together for good. Everything for his people works
together for good. And that cannot be overruled. There's no buts about it. That
cannot be undone. We cannot, in our own flesh,
by acting too quickly, we cannot undo or change His purpose for
good. We cannot stop it. We cannot
thwart it. But if in our, as the scripture
says, rebellions, If we get ourselves set on taking matters into our
own hands, not waiting on the timing and the direction of His
hands, He may just send leanness to our soul. He may send leanness
to our soul and He may give us our request for a while. We want
it, we want it, we want it. He may give it to us. He might
give it to us. He may just let us go around
and around in circles for a while in the wilderness. You know,
that's what the children of Israel did. They were so close to the
promised land so many times, and the Lord just let them just
keep, they kept murmuring, and the Lord just let them keep on
going, just keep on circling, circling 40 years. How many examples
in the scripture do we have of trouble that was created by men
and women not waiting on the Lord? The first one that came
to my mind was Abraham having Ishmael. God promised Abraham and Sarah
they were going to have a son. And years started passing by,
and years started passing by, and Abraham and Sarah both said,
I don't think we can wait any longer. I just I don't think
we can wait any longer. We've waited times up. It's now
not a good idea to wait on the Lord. And they took matters into
their own hands and they had Ishmael and God said that's not
him. And he's going to have to be
cast out. All you've done is rebel against me, Abraham. That's
all you've done. You've added your works to mine. and you've created heartache
for everybody around you. It created so much heartache
for everybody. In God's time, his promise came
true. He sent Isaac, and in him, in
who he represents, which is Christ, the promised son, all the nations
of the earth were blessed, just like the Lord said he would be.
His promise held true. If the Lord would allow us to
truly, in the heart, enter into who it is we're waiting on. I
mean, really, who it is we're waiting on. Look, turn over just
a few chapters to Psalm 62. Psalm 62, verse 5. He only is my rock and my salvation. No, no, I'm sorry, verse five.
My soul wait thou only upon God, for my expectation is from him. Wait only on God. We're waiting
on the one who cannot lie. We're waiting on the almighty
God. We're waiting on the one whose word cannot return void. He knows all things. He controls all things. Look at Psalm 123. Psalm 123
verse 2 says, Behold, as the eyes of servants
look unto the hand of their masters and as the eyes of a maiden unto
the hand of her mistress, so our eyes wait upon the Lord our
God until that he have mercy upon us. We're waiting on the
one who swore in his covenant that he would have mercy on us.
He swore. The prophet Micah said, I will
wait for the God of my salvation. because my God will hear me.
He'll hear me. And this is leading us into the
promises that are waiting at the end of waiting. The promises
that will come. David said, I'll wait because
he'll have mercy on me. Micah said, I'll wait because
he'll hear me. Isaiah said, this is our God. We have waited on him and he
will save us. He will. Now all of those are
promises waiting at the end of waiting. But I want to show us
three verses, three verses specifically that I hope will be an encouragement
to us right now, right now in our time of waiting. Turn over
to Psalm 27. Psalm 27 verse 14 says, Wait
on the Lord, be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine
heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord. Waiting can be very discouraging
to the flesh. The longer we wait, the flesh
is so weak, it is just so weak, and usually the longer we wait,
the more discouraged we become. More and more discouraged. This is a promise from the Lord
in His word. Keep waiting. Keep hoping. Keep trusting. Keep seeking His will. Keep seeking His way. Keep courage
in the Lord. Have courage in the Lord, and
He will strengthen your heart. He will strengthen your heart.
It's a promise in His Word. Keep truly waiting on the Lord,
and He will strengthen your heart. And this is how He'll strengthen
it. He will confirm His will to you. He will. He'll answer your prayer by confirming
in the heart, this is what he'd have you to do. If your heart
and my heart, if it's truly crying, thy will be done. If it is truly
crying, thy will be done. Lord, thy will be done. He will
hear you. And in his good time, he'll say
to your heart, this is my will for you. This is my will. Verse
14 says, wait on the Lord, Be of good courage, and he shall
strengthen thine heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord. It's
a promise. Now turn with me to Psalm 37. Psalm 37, verse 7 says, Rest in the Lord and wait patiently
for Him. Fret not thyself because of Him
who prospereth in His way, because of the man who bringeth wicked
devices to pass." He said, don't fret. You just wait on the Lord
and you rest in the Lord and don't fret on the man who is
prospering in His way when it seems like you can't get a break
to save your life. Don't even fret over it. And
don't fret over the man who's just bringing wicked devices
to pass and wicked devices to pass. Don't even fret over it. Verse 8 says, Cease from anger
and forsake wrath. Fret not thyself in any wise
to do evil. What is doing evil? Not waiting
on the Lord. not trusting the Lord in everything. He said in verse 8, cease from
anger and forsake wrath fret not thyself in any wise to do
evil for evil doers shall be cut off but those that wait upon
the Lord they shall inherit the earth. Here's a Here's a promise
that'll keep us going and keep us waiting. This to me is the
most encouraging promise to just hang in there. Even if the Lord
is not pleased to change the condition we're in right now,
even if he's not pleased to change anything, this is all gonna be
over real soon. You think about, as a woman in
travail, you know the scripture says, we're going to be delivered.
And, buddy, I could have been no comfort
to Hannah during her two deliveries. I was a hindrance, not a comfort. But the doctor or somebody is
telling that woman, you hang in there and keep going. This
is going to be over real soon. This is almost over. This is
almost over, and that's how it is for us. This is almost over.
And we do have a brand new earth waiting for us. Brand new. Don't even fret over what's happening
here. Just keep waiting on the Lord.
Just keep waiting on the Lord because Because this is the last
word of encouragement we'll look at tonight Isaiah 64 Don't even fret over what's happening
here. Just keep waiting on the Lord
because Isaiah 64 verse 4 says For since the beginning of the
world, men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, neither
hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for
him that waiteth for him. We cannot imagine what's waiting
at the end. Cannot imagine. Just keep waiting
on the Lord. Just keep waiting on the Lord.
He is going to strengthen our hearts. He is going to. And none that wait on him will
be ashamed. None. Wait, I say. Wait, David said. Wait, God's
Holy Spirit says, on the Lord. Just keep waiting on the Lord.
May the Lord help us to do that. Just keep waiting on the Lord.
Wait on the Lord. All right, let's all stand together.