Now if you would, let's turn
back in our Bibles to 1 Samuel 26. Tonight I'm going to be dealing
with a subject that would certainly fall, I believe, on the top ten
list of the hardest things that a believer has to do. I'm not
going to list all ten because I haven't even thought of all
ten. But I know this would be on it. It's probably in the top
five. Maybe number one. I don't know. But it's the subject
of waiting on the Lord. That's the title of the message.
Waiting on the Lord. And what I want us to do, we're
going to deal with the first 12 verses of 1 Samuel 26. Here again, we see David being
pursued by The jealous, envious, disobedient, unbelieving King
Saul. And David is given another opportunity. And that's my first point. Here's
another opportunity. Well, we all have. We have opportunities
every day. David had opportunities every
day. But opportunities to do what? That's my second point. Here's another opportunity. Number
one, an opportunity to do what? Number two. And those opportunities,
we've got two choices. We can either go our way. We
can take our ideas and our desires, or we can honor God. And that's
what David's confronted with here. It's what he's faced with
here. And then I want to conclude with
some thoughts on Christ, our great example of what it is to
wait on the Lord. And we're going to see that.
But let's just begin reading. Now the Ziphites, you've heard
of the Ziphites, they before had betrayed David back in chapter
23, the people of Ziph. And these Ziphites came unto
Saul to Gibeah, saying, Doth not David hide himself in the
hill of Hekila, which is before Jeshimon? Now, what they're trying
to do is to gain Saul's favor. It's because of their unbelief
and their distrust of both God and David, who is God's anointed.
And they're just, as you would say, playing the odds. That's
the way people do. You know, playing the odds. They
just figure Saul's out there. We're going to see with 3,000
men. David has 600. Now, who's going to win that
battle? natural man who does not receive and know the things
of the Spirit of God, what's he going to conclude? Well, Saul's
going to win, so let's play the odds and let's go with Saul.
So they're going to gain Saul's favor, again, by helping Saul
find David. And they knew that Saul wanted
to kill David. Saul was a man of war. He was
a man of the spear. That's how he'd operate. We'll
see something about that in just a moment. So these Ziphites,
the people of Ziph, they betray David, they betray God. They're
unbelievers, that's what they represent, that's what they are,
and that's who they represent. Every unbeliever, this is the
issue of the gospel, how every unbeliever is a betrayer of the
glory and honor of God in Christ. Every sinner who comes to God
seeking salvation based on anything but the blood and righteousness
of Christ is a traitor to the Lord God of heaven and to his
honor. And they reject God's anointing, just like these people
of Ziph. Then it says in verse 2, Then Saul arose and went down
to the wilderness of Ziph, having three thousand chosen men of
Israel with him. Now what this means is the three
thousand chosen men. This means 3,000 of the best
warriors in Israel. These were the top guys. This
is like the Green Beret of Israel, you might say, or special forces. So these weren't just fly-by-nights. These were truly, truly those
warriors that Saul wanted. And it says, here's what he was
doing. He was wanting to seek David in the wilderness of Ziv. He wasn't seeking fellowship.
He wasn't seeking help. He wasn't coming in humility,
he was seeking to kill him. And verse 3 says, And Saul pitched
in the hill of Hekala, which is before Jeshimon, by the way.
But David abode in the wilderness, and he saw that Saul came after
him into the wilderness. So now obviously, you remember
when David had the first opportunity to kill Saul, and he didn't do
it. Cut off the hem of his garment. Well, do you remember how Saul
repented? But as I told you, it wasn't
a true, godly, Holy Spirit wrought repentance. It was a legal repentance. And legal repentance is usually
temporary. And so we see here the proof
of that. Saul had already gone back on his previous repentance,
and there wasn't much time in between the first, that repentance,
and now his going back. So what's Saul doing? Well, he's
seeking to tear down. He's seeking death. David seeks
life. David seeks to build up. He's
God's anointed king. And we see a perfect illustration
here of our Savior who came not to tear down and not to destroy
and not to judge. He said that. He's going to judge
the second time He's coming to judge the wicked. But when His
first coming, He came to build. He said, upon this rock I will
build my church. He came to save and to redeem
and to find and to build His church. So we see in Saul the
way of man, the way of unbelief, the way of false religion, the
way of jealousy and envy and depravity, but we see in David
the way of Christ. That's who he pictures and illustrates,
the way of Christ, the anointed one who came to save his people.
But now one other thing here that's interesting, Saul's 3,000
men, choice men, against David's 600 shows us Something that's
very clear, and that's this, that David's success against
Saul, if he is to have it, is not of himself, but it's of God. Same thing when David killed
Goliath. It was of the Lord God. That's
what he said back over in 1 Samuel 17. He said this victory is God's
victory. This man, this Goliath, stands
against the Lord God of Israel. Well, Saul's doing the same thing.
He's standing against the Lord God of Israel. And we're going
to see how God works here to preserve David and his men. Look at verse 4. It says here,
David therefore sent out spies and understood that Saul was
come in very deed. David was a smart general. He
wanted to know his enemy, where they were, what they were doing.
And it says in verse 5, And David arose, and came to the place
where Saul had pitched. And David beheld the place where
Saul lay, and Abner the son of Ner, the captain of his host,
Abner was David's general, just like later on Joab becomes David. And it says, And Saul lay in
the trench. Now, you might have this in your
concordance, but what it was is kind of like a wagon train
circling, and the trench there is literally amidst the carriages
or the wagons. He was inside the camp. And it
says, and the people pitched round about him. So they surrounded
their king. But look what happens in verse
6. Then answered David and said to Ahimelech the Hittite. Now
there's a Hittite that was one of David's captains. These men,
the Hittites, were very helpful to him. And you remember the
man later on when David became king whom David had killed because
of his wife Uriah was a Hittite. So here's a Gentile in the camp,
and anytime you see that, I believe that's God sending a message
that salvation is not just for the Jew. It's for the Jew and
the Gentile, any sinner who comes to Christ for salvation. Anytime
you see that, those Gentiles in the camp of David. So it says,
David said to Ahimelech the Hittite, and to Abishai the son of Zeuriah,
brother to Joab, saying, Who will go down with me to Saul
to the camp? And Abishai said, I will go down
with thee. So Abishai volunteers here. And so in verse 7, it says, And
David and Abishai came to the people by night. That is, they
went down to Saul's camp. And behold, Saul lay sleeping
within the trench. and his spear stuck in the ground
at his bolster. But Abner and the people lay
round about him," they're all asleep, and then said Abishai
to David, "'God hath delivered thine enemy into thine hand this
day. Now therefore let me smite him,
let me kill him. I pray thee with the spear even
to the earth at once, and I will not smite him the second time.'"
What Abishai is saying, let me kill him and I won't have to
thrust that spear twice. That's what he's saying. One
time's all it'll take, and he's a goner. Now, they're standing
there. Saul's asleep. Abner's asleep. The people are asleep. They've
surrounded their king, and he's standing there right by the spear
with Abishai, and they're having this conversation. I don't know
how loud they're talking. You may say, well, why don't
these fellows wake up? Where's the guy on watch? Well,
look over at verse 12. There was a spear and a jug of
water there, and it says, So David took the spear and the
jug of water from Saul's bolster, and they got them away. And no
man saw it, nor knew it, neither awake, for they were all asleep,
because a deep sleep from the Lord was fallen upon them. That's
why they didn't wake up, if you're wondering. God put them asleep. I imagine they had some of the
best sleep that night that any human being ever had on earth.
You ever sleep and you don't sleep well and you wake up tired?
I imagine they slept well. God put them to sleep. What do
you see there? God working to accomplish his
will in the life of David in Israel. God working all things
after the counsel of his own will to do his good pleasure. None can stay his hand or say
unto him, what doest thou? God working here to preserve
David, a deep sleep from the Lord. You know Saul to me there,
and the rest of his camp, that's a real picture of spiritually
dead people. Spiritual things going on around
them, spiritual truth being worked out, being measured out, being
preached out, but they're sleeping and they don't care. And they're
not expecting the anointed one to come. Just like people today
who don't believe the gospel, who don't believe in the true
Christ. They're really not expecting the true Christ to come the second
time. That's why he tells God's people,
or God tells his people, to watch. Be on the watch. And don't let
the enemy come. And Christ coming, not our enemy,
but Christ coming, will not take us as a thief in the night, in
that sense. But there it is. Now here, David
has an opportunity, just like we have them every day, maybe
not on this scale. But we have opportunities every
day, and that's what the lesson is here. Just as believers, as
sinners saved by the grace of God, we're met every day with
opportunities to do one of two things. In every choice we make,
in every decision we make, in every way we go, and that's either
to honor God, or to exalt ourselves in some way. One of the two. And this is another example in
David's life. Now, granted, we fail so many
times, don't we? I'll be honest. David failed
sometimes. A lot of times. And we fail too. But sometimes, and underscore
this, by the grace of God, we succeed. Sometimes. And by the grace of God, we succeed. We see a great difference here
between Saul and David. Saul, as I said, he's a man of
war. He's a man of the spear. How many times has he flung that
spear at David? Twice. He had that spear right
beside him. He's like a fellow who sleeps
with a pistol under his pillow. Saul had his spear right there.
Somebody disturbed him, he could get up and fling that thing.
And he was a good shot, too. You say, well, he missed David
twice. Oh, yeah. He did, but that was God's doing.
That was God's doing. But Saul was a man of the spear,
which is indicative of the power of man, you see. And this power
of man illustrates the impotence of man's works. What Saul is
trying to do in seeking the death of David, a man of the spear,
is a good illustration of sinners trying to be saved by their works.
trying to overcome by their works. But what about David? What's
so different about him? I'll tell you, by the grace of
God, he is what he is. David trusts in the Lord. David
trusts in the Lord. And who makes him to differ?
Who makes us to differ? God does. God does. So here's an opportunity now.
All right, that's point one. Here's the second one. An opportunity
to do what? To honor the Lord God. That's
point two, to honor the Lord God. Listen at it in verse nine. Now, you remember what Abishai
said. He said, we got this strike while the iron's hot. Isn't that
our motto? We got him down now. We can end it all, all these
troubles, all this running around in caves and asking for people
for help, people like Nabal the fool, you know, having to go
and humble yourself before a dog like that. That's all over, David,
all you got to do. Here's the spear. You got him.
One time, that's all it'll take me. And Abishai really made it
easy for David. Because he said, you don't have
to do it. They won't say David killed Saul, they'll say Abishai
killed Saul. And your troubles are over. Listen
to what David does in verse 9. And David said to Abishai, destroy
him not, for who can stretch forth his hand against the Lord's
anointed and be guiltless? Now, what do you suppose got
into David? A few days before, a fellow named Nabal disrespected
David and refused to help him. And David was going to go down
and kill the whole city, the whole place. Where do you suppose
God ended up? I'll tell you what. God, the
Holy Spirit, God's grace got into him. And he said, do not
stretch forth your hand against the Lord's anointing. He's talking
about Saul. He's talking about Saul's office. We'll see that
in just a moment. Look at verse 10. He says, And
David said furthermore, As the Lord liveth, the Lord shall smite
him. This is God's business, not mine.
You see, this is not for me to do. Vengeance is mine, saith
the Lord. We've learned that lesson several
times through this study, haven't we? David saw it when he had
that first opportunity to kill Saul, and he didn't do it. And
then Abigail convinced him not to kill Nabal. Vengeance is God's. Because God's vengeance is justice. Our vengeance is selfishness
and self-righteousness. And I don't care. Somebody said,
well, what if they're in the wrong? What if they did you wrong?
Let me tell you something. Any vengeance that we take personally
is selfishness and self-righteousness. And it's taken the easy way out.
But he says, the Lord God shall smite him. One of three things will happen.
The Lord God is going to smite him, or his day shall come to
die. The day of his death, it's appointed,
and the man wants to die, Saul will come to that day. Or he
shall descend into battle and perish. We find out later that's
really what happened. Of course, he perished by his
own sword, Saul did, but it was in battle. Either way, God's
going to take care of it. God's going to do it. Well, Abishai
could have said, well, when's God going to get it done? In
his way and in his time. God knows exactly that day, and
he hadn't let David and Abishai in on the matter. And so, verse
11, the Lord forbid that I should stretch forth my hand against
the Lord's anointed. But I pray thee, take thou now
the spear that is at his bolster, and the cruz, or the jug of water,
and let's go. Take his spear, take his jug
of water, and let's go. And so David took the spear and
the cruz of water from Saul's bolster. They got them away,
and no man saw it, nor knew it, neither waked. For they were
all asleep, because a deep sleep from the Lord was fallen upon
them. Here's the lesson. It's a very
simple one, very plain one. And that is that David resists
taking the easy way out, taking the shortcut, and wait on the
Lord. That's it. David's waiting on
the Lord. God had told him, you're going
to ascend and sit on the throne of Israel, David. When? In God's time. and in God's way. The book of Proverbs, chapter
20 and verse 21, let me just read this to you. It says, an
inheritance may be gotten hastily at the beginning, but the end
thereof shall not be blessed. Say not thou, I will recompense
evil, but wait on the Lord, and he shall save thee. Now you may
get an inheritance quickly. But the end thereof may not be
blessed. So what are you to say? Wait on the Lord. David knew
to seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness first, and
all these things shall be added to you. That's what the Lord
said in his Sermon on the Mount. We must honor the Lord above
all things. And a lot of times that means
what? Wait. That's one of the most difficult
things for even a child of God to do, to wait. Wait. Somebody said the waiting room
is the worst place on earth to be. You can be sitting there
and you think it's six hours. You look down at your watch,
it's 20 minutes. You think all progress is stopped. You think
the doctor or the dentist is in there laughing at you or something.
It's a bad place to be, the waiting room. Why is it so hard for us
to wait? Well, I'll tell you why. Because
as part of fallen humanity, the flesh, we're so prone to do what? To take matters into our own
hands, to follow our own schemes and wisdom, and to try to take
the easy way out. That's Abishai. Let me take that
spear, let me thrust it into him, won't have to do it twice.
There are many things we learn in this waiting room of God's,
waiting on the Lord. First of all, we learn to value
God's glory and worship Him. Look down at verse 19. Now, we'll
pick up there next week. I'm going to preach the rest
of this chapter. But you know what happens? David
hollers over to the camp, and he picks out Abner, who was the
king's A man in charge, he was the general, and he says, Abner,
you failed. You have messed up. I had this
opportunity. You deserve death, Abner. And
he just chides Abner for allowing someone to come in like that
and get that close to his king. But listen to what David says
here. There's some differences among scholars about what this
verse actually means, but I'll tell you what I think it means.
It says in verse 19, now here David is talking to Saul, because
Saul recognizes that it's David speaking to Abner. And he, verse
10, and you know how he does. He says, is this thou my son
David? Then he comes around again. And
so David says, now therefore I pray thee, talking to Saul,
let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If the
Lord hath stirred thee up against me, let him accept an offering."
Now, I believe what he's saying there is to Saul. He said, if
what you're doing in trying to kill me is of the Lord, if the
Lord stirred you up to do that, if you're doing the Lord's business,
then I'll be the sacrifice. Let me be the offering. I'll
give myself to you, and you can do with me what you will. Kill
me. So David is saying, if what you're doing is of the Lord,
then here I am. But he goes on, he says, but
if they be the children of men, if it's men who are urging you
to do this, cursed be they before the Lord, for they have driven
me out this day from abiding in the inheritance of the Lord,
saying, go serve other gods. What David, I believe, is saying
there is this, if I refuse To do what the Lord tells me
to do, it's the same as serving other gods. And first and foremost
on his mind is this, whatever opportunity I have in God's providence,
whatever decision I make, whatever choice I make, I must first honor
and worship God. Now, that's the be-all and the
end-all of this whole thing. And that's what we learn in waiting
on the Lord. We learn the value of God's glory
and worshiping Him. I don't care what opportunity
you think you have, whatever comes your way, what choice you
have to make, what decision you have to make, you first and foremost
worship and serve and glorify the Lord in everything we do. You say, I've got a decision
to make. Well, which one exalts you and which one exalts Christ?
Even the most minute things that we might not even think have
anything to do with religion. That's what we have to do. And
that's what David learned through this whole experience. He was
a man after God's own heart. He was the type of Christ. He was the king of Israel, the
first king to come out of the tribe of Judah in the lineage
of the Messiah. And what is he going to do? He's
going to do, by the grace of God now, not by his own volition
or his own goodness, but by the grace of God, he's going to do
that which would honor his Savior. And that's what I pray, Lord,
let me do. Here's the second thing that
we learn while waiting. We learn to value God's Word
and not circumstances. You see, David, When all this
happened, he received some advice from Abishai. The problem is,
that's man's word. What's God's word? Now, this
is the issue now. Whatever opportunity comes our
way, whatever choice, decision we make, what does God's word
say? That ought to be first and foremost
on our minds. Because David, see, he receives
here the same advice that he got on a previous occasion to
kill Saul. You remember when he was in that cave and Saul
was laying there, those men came to him and said, look, what an
opportunity. It's the providence of God killing.
That's the way we reason, isn't it? And those men pointed out
that this circumstance was not an accident. They knew God designed
it. God's delivered him. Abishai
said that God's delivered him into your hands. And the design
was for David to take righteous vengeance upon Saul. You know,
Abishai is like a lot of people who think circumstances are the
most reliable guide for finding the will of God. Not so. Not so. And if they can find
a circumstance, some circumstance that seems to approve of a certain
course of action, and they'll say, this must be the Lord's
will because the circumstances are just right. Oh, no. Circumstances are no replacement
for the clear Word of God. The Bible says, Commit thy way
unto the Lord, trust also in him, and he shall bring it to
pass. You may get an opportunity, you think, to act in a way that
goes contrary to the Word of God. God said, Vengeance is mine,
David. I'll take care of Saul. Abishai
says, oh, this is an opportunity. It must be God's will. Get him.
Oh, no. Forget the circumstances. Go
to God's word. Go to God's word. Here's another
thing we learned while waiting on the Lord. We learned to value
God's wisdom and God's way. You know, the prophet Hosea,
you know, he's an interesting character. If you read Hosea,
because What God told Hosea to do would never be the advice
of men. Hosea, you are a prophet of God.
Go out and find a prostitute, a whore, and marry her. Make
her your wife. That doesn't sound like good
advice, does it? But that's what God told Hosea to do. What Hosea
was, God was picturing through Hosea how Christ and his bride
come together in grace and mercy. The undeserving bride, the sinful,
unworthy bride being married to her Savior. Great, great picture. And don't you love that book,
Hosea? Don't you love that picture? And somebody says, well, you're
a fool, Hosea, to go do that. That's not the right way. God
wouldn't even tell you to associate with such people, let alone marry
one. Remember how the Pharisees and the Scribes, we know you're
not a prophet of God because you eat with publicans and sinners. They didn't know what they were
saying. Well, here's what Hosea wrote in Hosea 14 and verse 9. Listen to what he says. And this
is by inspiration of the Spirit of God. He says, Who is wise? and he shall understand these
things, prudent, and he shall know them. For the ways of the
Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them, but the transgressors
shall fall therein." You know what Hosea is saying there? He's
saying whatever God says is wise and whatever God says is right.
Period. Period. no matter what circumstances
say, no matter what we say. Think about our Savior, the King
of Glory, coming into this world by a miracle conception in His
incarnation, being born in Bethlehem in a manger, being driven out
of His own home by a wicked, ungodly, unbelieving King, and
being brought back Being raised up as a boy, we don't know much
about his youth. There's a few things said in
scripture. We knew he grew in wisdom and stature. We know that
he perplexed the doctors, the religious doctors in the temple.
And then arrived on the scene in his public ministry as a man
of sorrows, acquainted with grief, poor, with not much of a following
at first, but then gained a following, then lost the following, then
what? Went to the cross. Went to the cross, the Lord of
glory, God in human flesh. Went to the cross and died for
the sins of his people. Now that's foolish to the natural
man. Somebody said, somebody was talking
to an unbeliever and they said, well, Christ died for our sins. And the man said, well, that'll
be his undoing. Oh, that's his victory. Because
you see, that sounds foolish. But the ways of God, the wisdom
of God, who is the wisdom of God? Christ is. And that's why
he's our wisdom. Who is the way to God and the
way of God? Christ is. I am the way, the
truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. The way to God, the way up is down. The way to God
is through the cross. And that just doesn't seem too
wise to the natural man. But I'll tell you what, in waiting
on the Lord, you'll learn. In His Word, you'll learn by
His Spirit to value His wisdom and His ways. And a lot of times
we don't really get the message until after the fact, do we?
Sometimes years after. I know every one of you believers
here, you've got stories that you could tell. How things went
a certain way back in your past. Now you see the wisdom of God
and the way of God in it. But at the time you didn't. I
know that's the way it is with me. And then lastly, to value
God's grace. David, you know, David here,
he keeps calling Saul the Lord's anointed. Well, that's what he
was. God put Saul on the throne, and it was God who was going
to have to take Saul off the throne. And David valued Saul's
life mainly, and it had nothing to do with how Saul looked at
David or treated David, because everything in that sense would
have said, well, get him, kill him. But it was because of the
office of king, the office of the anointed. This office of
king pictured and pointed to Christ, our great eternal king.
And you don't treat that lightly. And that's why I believe David
keeps calling Saul his anointed. Well, here's the third point.
Christ, our supreme example. Our Savior is the supreme example,
the perfect example of what it is and what it means to wait
on the Lord. He truly is. Our Savior waited patiently to
do the work on the cross for the salvation of our souls. You
know there was an appointed time, He even said an appointed hour
for His great work. Now Satan tried to distract Him
with temptation and promised Him what he, that is Satan, could
not really give. the kingdoms of the world. Do
you remember he took him up on the mount? And when he was up
on the mount of temptation, he said, I'll give, he said, bow down, worship
me, deny God, and I'll give you all these kingdoms. Well, let
me tell you something. He had all those kingdoms already,
and he was going to have them as mediator. Because every knee
is going to bow and every tongue is going to confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord. But our Lord knew that all the
kingdoms of the world were already his and going to be his by right
of redemption. But he didn't take the easy way
out. He waited on the Lord. Somebody
said, well, he waited on himself. Well, that's fine. He is the
Lord. David's greater son, Christ Jesus,
showed us how to refuse to pursue the right thing in the wrong
way. He rejected Satan's shortcut. Because he knew that the way
of salvation for his people, for his sheep, for his church,
was the way of death, the way of blood, the way of the cross. He knew he had to die to satisfy
the justice of God, to put away our sins, to finish the transgression,
to establish the only righteousness upon which God could be just
and justify the ungodly. He never did miracles just to
promote himself. He went the way of humility and
humiliation instead. He went the way of the cross.
He told Peter one time, when Peter drew a sword on a man who
was going to arrest our Savior, which was well within the purpose
of God working out all things after the counts of his own whip,
and Peter drew that sword and cut the man's ear off in John
18, 11, here's what the Lord said. He said, put up thy sword
into the sheath, the cup which my father had given me, shall
I not drink it? The cup of his wrath. That's
what I came for. Just like David told Abishai,
put your sword away, Abishai. I've got a cup to drink to. He told his disciples one time
in John 12 and verse 27, he said, Now is my soul troubled, and
what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour?
No, but for this cause came I unto this hour. There was an hour.
And this is the way to go. This is God's way. He showed
us that God's way may be more difficult, but it's always better. The cross is the supreme example
of the wisdom and perfection of waiting on the Lord. Christ
recognized that there was an appointed time. And throughout
His ministry, He kept telling them, My time has not yet come.
Mine hour has not yet come. And you know, He was the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. But on a given time, He prayed
unto the Father, and here's what he said, as he lifted up his
eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour is come. Glorify thy
Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee. He's waiting. The Old Testament saints were
commanded to wait patiently for this hour, and the hour came.
It was an appointed time. It's called in Galatians 4, for
the fullness of the time, God sent forth his Son, made of a
woman, made under the law. to redeem them that were under
the law. And they waited. One of them
was waiting for the consolation of Israel. His name was Simeon.
And when that babe was born, they brought him to the temple,
laid him in Simeon's arm, and he lifted the babe up, and he
said, Lord, I'm ready to depart, for in mine eyes I've seen thy
salvation. He waited. And look what his waiting ended
up. He held the Christ child in his arms. He saw the salvation
of the Lord. And listen, Simeon knew he wasn't
just holding a helpless infant. He knew he was holding the Lord
of glory. We speak of waiting. Now we're
to wait for His coming. Even we ourselves, Paul wrote,
grown within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, namely the
redemption of our body. It's coming. Just wait. I heard a fellow the other day,
an unbeliever, trying to discredit the Bible. He said, well, if
you feel like you're going to get a better body and you're
going to go to heaven, why don't you just kill yourself? Well, because the Bible commands
us, God commands us to wait on Him. That's why. Wait on the
Lord. Trust in Him. It's not my business
to kill myself or to kill you. That's God's business. The Lord
giveth, the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
If I do it, it's murder. If I do it, it's sin. When God
does it, it's glory for the believer. Glory in Christ. Wait on the
Lord. You see, man's reasoning is so
messed up, but God's Word is right on the note. What's God's
word say? Wait on the Lord. You may get
into a point of your life where you're in pain, and you may want
to do away with yourself. The Bible still says wait on
the Lord, just like our Lord did, just like David did. Wait
on the Lord. We're waiting for the coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ, Paul wrote to the Corinthians. Paul
wrote to the Galatians, for we through the Spirit wait for the
hope of righteousness by faith. What is it? That's glory. And
the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the
patient waiting for Christ. And by David's example, but especially
by our Lord's, we see what this waiting involves. There's a passage
of time. Time, time, time. How much time? We don't know. Short, long. A
day is a thousand years to God and a thousand years is a day.
He doesn't measure time like you and I do. There's a confident
expectation based on knowledge and truth. What has God said?
What does He say in His Word? There's a focusing upon who Christ
is. Keep your eyes and your mind
and your heart upon Christ. Who He is, what He can do, what
He has done, and what He promises to do. It will all come to pass. He said He'll save us to the
uttermost, the Scripture says. This waiting on the Lord means
seeking the Lord by His Spirit in His Word by prayer. It doesn't
mean sit down and fold your arms and do nothing. Seek the Lord.
That's what David was doing. It means obeying his word. Doing
what God says to do. That's waiting on the Lord. Fellowshiping
with his people. That's waiting on the Lord. And
here's the kicker. Here's the toughie. You say,
I thought the whole thing was tough. It is. That's why it's
by the grace of God. But listen to this. Here's the
here. Waiting on the Lord. Learning to be content with God's time
and God's provision. and God's providence. Now that
doesn't come naturally. You reckon David was content
in that cave when he knew that he was going to dwell in a palace?
Let's get on out of here. Wait on the Lord. Learning to
be content with God's time, God's provision, and God's providence.
Just wait on the Lord. Let me close by reading A few
verses from Psalm 25. The psalmist writes, Under thee,
O Lord, do I lift up my soul. O my God, I trust in thee. Let
me not be ashamed. Let not mine enemies triumph
over me. Yea, let none that wait on thee
be ashamed. Let them be ashamed which transgress
without cause. Show me thy ways, O Lord, teach
me thy paths, lead me in thy truth, and teach me, for thou
art the God of my salvation. On thee do I wait all the day."
That means all the time. Wait on the Lord. Alright.