Father, tonight we want to talk about waiting upon you. And so, Lord, we come and we plead for your spirit to come and work among us to help us, Lord, better understand how to wait upon you, our sovereign, redeeming God. And if there be any in the hearing of my voice who know you not, Lord, may this be the night of their salvation. Do your work, O Holy Spirit. You know far better than any of us what my heart needs and each heart needs gathered here or online. So work for your glory. That's all we want, Lord. Help me, Lord, strengthen me toward that end as well to give you glory alone for it is in Jesus' name we pray, amen. You may be seated. Wait a minute. How many times have you heard that phrase this week? Even saw some heads in the congregation go up just a minute ago when I said, wait a minute. It draws us to some sort of attention because we don't want to wait. It's one thing we want to talk about this evening. But waiting is something we do in this world. And I wonder, how much time have you spent waiting this week? Waiting in line maybe at the grocery store, particularly yesterday maybe or the day before when everyone was trying to get all the prep done for the storm that at that time may or may not come this weekend. How much time have you spent waiting on hold to get somebody, some person on the end of that line? Waiting in traffic. Young people, how much time have you spent waiting for your parents to answer that question that's been building within you and yet they're so busy with other things? Waiting. Tonight we want to look not at so much waiting on men, although that's really where much of our focus is, isn't it, in this world because it seems like we have to wait in the ways that I mentioned and even in some other ways on those around us. But tonight we want to talk about waiting on the Lord God. And as we gather here, You may be waiting, you may be waiting for some trial in God's providence that you're under now. Be waiting for God to deliver you from that situation. You may be waiting for God to give you conception as a young married woman. You cried out to him and your husband's cried out to God. Still that conception hasn't happened. Maybe you're waiting for medical diagnosis or to hear test results and you cry out to God in regard to that. Maybe some of you young people think childhood will never end and you're waiting to be an adult. These are some of the things we put under. the Lord God. And so tonight as we work somewhat through this psalm, we want to do so by first of all looking at the duress of waiting. Second, the danger of waiting. And then the third thing we want to look at is the discipline of waiting. How do we wait? How do we wait for the Lord God. What is the duress of waiting as we look at this psalm and just note some of what David is going through. Now we notice the heading and it doesn't tell us the situation in which David is in. We know he's surrounded by enemies, yes, but what was that situation? Was it some time when Saul was giving him chase? Was it some other time in his life? Maybe when some of his own family members showed their enmity toward him, such as Absalom. We don't know. Maybe that's a good thing. That certainly is a good thing or God would have told us otherwise because this can fit any situation that you or I have as we wait upon our God to bring an answer to that situation in which we found ourselves in. And notice here, notice here his situation. Verse 1. Save me, oh God, for the waters have come up to my neck. Verse three, this is not the first time David has prayed this. I am weary with my crying out. My throat is parched. My eyes grow dim waiting for my God. We can look down at any number of verses that we won't go through, we'll talk about them or mention them as we work through here. Tonight you can see more of the weight he bears as he waits on the Lord, humanly speaking. Why is waiting, such a stress, waiting on the Lord, such a duress for us. God has been ever faithful to you, hasn't he? And to me. Has he ever broken one promise that you have made, that he has made to you? He's even redeemed us. Every Christian here, he has redeemed you by his grace. when we did not deserve it. And yet, as this trial or that trial comes upon us, we find it hard to wait upon this always faithful God as if we don't know if he's going to deliver us this time or not. Will he? When will he? Why hasn't he? How easy to forget. The very character of God, how easy it is to forget what God has done in our own lives as we've seen him work faithfully time and time and time again. And our big stress, I think, comes because we want to be sovereign of our lives too much of the time. particularly in trials. We want out of that trial. And if we were God, I would deliver, well, I would deliver myself, if I were God, I would deliver myself right now out of that trial, you see. We want sovereignty. We think we know when we need out more than God knows. We lack patience as well. We want things now. It becomes much harder to be patient when we have things like microwaves that 10 seconds and this can be heated. Or we can get Amazon Prime for the year. and get packages delivered quickly. Nothing wrong with Amazon Prime. I'm not speaking against that, but we have to realize God does not work on an Amazon Prime schedule. God's not an Amazon Prime God in that sense of the word. Because to God, the important thing is not our immediate satisfaction, but our growth in character, our growth in trusting Him, our Redeemer God, our growth in leaning on Him. And we can lose all track of that as We want this now. We get tied up with our own sovereignty, would-be sovereignty, our own impatience, and we want to blame God. But another thing we fail to do is that we fail to realize how often God's people have had to wait down through the centuries. for God to work. We look at Moses. How long was he in Midian before God called him to come and deliver his people? Basically 40 years. Stephen tells us in Acts chapter 7 verse 40 in that great sermon before Stephen was martyred Or we think about Baron Hannah. How she, scripture says, pled long for God to give her a child. You remember that situation? Married to Elkanah in 1 Samuel chapter 1. But sadly, Elkanah had two wives. And God gave children to Peninnah, the second wife, the other wife, whom Hannah saw as her rival. In fact, we read in scripture in 1 Samuel chapter 1 verses 5 through 7 that her rival, Hannah used to provoke her grievously to irritate her because the Lord had closed her womb. So it went on year by year. Hannah had to face barrenness, had to face her rival gloating, no doubt over her own children. She's continued to wait on the Lord for conception. And as often as she went up to the house of the Lord, she used to provoke her, Peninnah did. And therefore, Hannah wept and would not eat. Now God, by his grace, did give conception to Hannah, as we know. Doesn't mean that every barren woman will have conception. But in this situation, he did. Or we think about Rahab. What would it have been like to have been Rahab waiting with her family that those spies told her to gather together, waiting for deliverance? How long could they trust God? How long could they trust these spies, or could they at all? To wait. With that red cord going out the window as a sign of where she lived. God's people have had to wait time after time. I wonder the conversation, as I was working on this sermon that Rahab must have had with her family as the army marched around Jericho and nothing happened. Day after day. What trust it took to continue to wait on the Lord, to cry out for his deliverance in his time. Or if we had time, we could look at falsely accused Joseph And the year upon year, he waited upon the Lord for deliverance from prison. Down through history, God has had his people, as we read in his word, waiting upon him for his glory, for their own continued trust and building their own character. Well, how do we apply this before we move on? Well, we want to notice here that we read in verse three, I'm weary with my crying out, my throat is parched, my eyes grow dim while waiting for my God. That Hebrew word for waiting carries with it waiting with the hope of expectation. Now there's a different word used in verse 6 that's also translated waiting. But even though it's a different Hebrew word, let us remember we wait upon God with expectation. And please remember, when you and I hope in the triune God, triune God of the Bible, we can always hope in expectation that he's working in us, doing his will for his purpose. And he will bring his deliverance in his way in his time. Yes, there's duress and temptation, but I've tried to work through some things that will help us to attack that duress. But secondly, I want us to look at the dangers while waiting on the Lord, and they're real dangerous. I want us to be alert to them because Satan, and we spoke sometime recently about knowing, as God's people, some of the wiles of Satan, so that we might be better able to stand against them, to recognize them, and to stand against them. And here we have one that I just want to mention, and that is We want to take matters when we're waiting into our own hands. It's a great temptation. We need to speed God along a little, you see. Maybe it's my fault I have to wait on God. Great example of this is Abraham. You remember how he had waited, he and Sarah had waited year after year after year for the promised child. And God had not given parents Sarah conception. So could it be that Hagar would be the mother. This servant, this handmaid, that Hagar, maybe they misunderstood God in some way. Maybe Abraham was going to be the father, but not Sarah the mother. We can reason in all sorts of different ways, you see, to put ourselves in a good light to sin, supposedly, not just when We're dealing with waiting on God, but at anything in life, and we have to guard ourselves against rationalizing sin. And so Sarah gave her handmaid to Abraham for the night, and a child was conceived, but it was not the promised child, and we're still living with the consequences of that decision even. in our own day. It's a great danger while waiting on the Lord is try to be Lord ourselves, speed God along, control time in that matter. We can fail to pray. That's what the disciples did as he told them to watch and pray in that passage we read in Luke chapter 22. He was going a few steps away to pray on the night of his betrayal. We can fail to pray because we say, what's the use? God will work in his time. It's the wrong type of dependence upon sovereignty. Beloved, indeed, God will work in his time, but he calls us to cry out to him that we might develop more and more our sense, our reality of depending upon him and him alone in every situation in life. Or we can grumble. We can complain as the Israelites did in the wilderness. And if we had time tonight, we'd turn back to Exodus chapter 16 and see just one incidence of that. But I want to ask you, brothers and sisters, are you, even as I have to ask myself, am I falling into one of these dangers? Or maybe some other danger that I haven't mentioned. Satan doesn't care which one you fall into. He doesn't care which one I fall into, just so that we sin against God as we wait upon him. Maybe some of you young unmarrieds are struggling, waiting, waiting, waiting for God to bring the right Christian along that could be a future spouse and you waited and it hasn't happened. But there is a good moral person that would love to know you better. Doesn't go to church, doesn't read the word, doesn't pray that you know of, but good moral person. Don't talk yourself into it. It's a great danger. Don't talk yourself into, well, maybe I better help the Lord along. Maybe this is the person God has for me. You continue to cry out to the Lord. Wait upon him for that Christian to come along. Don't marry an enemy. Don't marry an enemy, one that is a stranger to the grace of Almighty God. Wait on the Lord, our ever faithful God. How he'll work, I don't know. When he'll work, I don't know. But I can tell you, he's a God worth waiting for in every situation in life. Or young people. Are you frittering away your time as a young person? Because you want to be an adult. And you're not learning the things you need to learn, responsibilities, accountability, et cetera, et cetera. Asking your parents how to do this, how to do that, how to make a budget, all sorts of different things as you grow toward adulthood. Because you're so desirous of being an adult that you're frittering away wonderful years of youth. without using them as preparation. Be good stewards of your time, Governor Youth. As you wait upon the Lord to make you an adult, to bring you into those adult years, cry out to God that he would prepare you in these years. and praying and thinking about, what are your talents? How can I use them for the glory of God? What books would be good to read but better prepare me for marriage on down the road if the Lord's not given you a gift of singleness? To be useful in the church, et cetera, et cetera. How to do the things that adults do. Be good stewards, young people, of the time God has given you now. All sorts of applications can be made, but I have to move on to us thinking about, as we look at this psalm a little bit more closely, at the discipline of waiting or some directions for waiting. What do we do? Will we continue to pray even as we see no change, humanly speaking, in our situation? We see that in verse one. Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. Verse three, I'm weary with my crying out, but he still cries out. He has nowhere else to go, neither do you or me, but to an ever faithful prayer hearing God for deliverance. He says, I'm the talk of those who sit in the gate, in verse 12, and drunkards make songs about me. How would you like to be sung about by drunkards? Be their theme song as it were. This was the situation he was in, but he's continued to cry out to the Lord. In verse 12, he says, drunkards made songs about me, but notice verse 13, but as for me, My prayer is to you, O Lord. I will not be distracted, even though drunkards are making songs about me. I'm not going to give up and say, what's the use? I will continue to cry out to the Lord. Are you willing to continue to pray as you wait upon the Lord? Remember the needs of others. Notice verse six, the psalmist's attention as he is surrounded by enemies. What does he speak of in verse six? Let those who hope in you, let not those who hope in you be put to shame through me. As we wait upon the Lord, we do not want fellow Christians. We do not want to be a stumbling block. The fellow Christians to those around them. We don't want to show them how not to wait upon the Lord faithfully. If you're having trouble how to pray, here's a great, great petition. Let not those, let not my fellow Christian brothers and sisters be put to shame through me, oh God of host. Let not those who seek you Be brought to dishonor through me, O God of Israel. Think of others. When we're waiting upon the Lord for our deliverance, it's so easy just to think about ourselves. We have the worst situation ever. I've just mentioned any number of people here as examples early in the sermon that we can go back to and meditate on and how they waited on the Lord. But think of our testimony to others around us. We want to wait on the Lord to God's glory. It's what God calls us to. He's refining our character. He's preparing you and me for heaven. He hasn't changed his character. No, he's refining our character. He's not suddenly forgotten about us or unfaithful toward us, not he who redeemed us. No, he's an ever faithful God. Refining our character. Rest also in God's character. That's exactly what the psalmist does here in verse 16. Notice. Answer me, O Lord. And then he turns to the very character of God. For your steadfast love is good. I can't doubt that God. You don't hate me. According to your abundant mercy. Oh God. Turn to me. Rest in God's providential care. He will bring you through this. Notice verse 13. He gives himself to the Lord in these very terms. But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord, at an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love, answer me in your saving faithfulness. Oh, how he gives glory to God. How, how we see him here advancing, even in his prayer, it seems toward trusting in God, our only deliverer. What an answer as we fight our own sovereignty, our own temptation to impatience. is to pray, Lord, at an acceptable time, in the abundance of your steadfast love, answer me. What resting there is in God, in his very character, you see, in who he is, in his saving faithfulness, the psalmist says here. But how are you going to the father? You're going to the father praying this through his son. A son who was above time but came into time for your and my sake. And while he was in time, he waited upon God. for God's time, God the Father, to bring him to that time of the cross. Luke 9, he set his face toward Jerusalem where he would be crucified and the rest of Luke gives us some detail of Christ's journey to the cross. Think of that Christ. Think of his time on that cross. We think at times we sink in deep mire where there's no foothold as the psalmist describes it in verse two. But think on Christ who sank in deep mire because of our sins that were upon him. Think of those of you who went down into the devastated areas of North Carolina and the border counties of Tennessee to North Carolina and how you talked about how that dirt and muck that you worked in, in basements, et cetera, would just stick to you. And think of that as I think about how our sins, your sins, and my sins stuck to Jesus. till he bore all the wrath of the Father that needed to be born to pay for our sins. How Christ waited upon the Lord on the cross. As he bore our sins there and we go back and look at the recorded words of Christ there on the cross and notice how many of them He prayed our prayers to the Lord. The psalmist says here in verse four, verse four, that more number than the hairs of my head are those who hate me without cause of all people. that were hated without cause, it was Jesus, our Lord and Savior. In fact, the psalmist points out that in verse 21, for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink. projects us forward to that very scene on the cross of Calvary where scripture was fulfilled. Because Jesus cried out one of those words, I thirst. And he was given wine to drink. We read in verse 17, hide not your face from your servant. But you see, because of your sins and my sins, Jesus' face, God's face was hidden, as it were, from his son to the point that the son cried out to the father, why have you forsaken me? Reproach. has broken this psalmist heart here, we read in verse 20, by the enemies around him. And think about how our Lord's heart there on the cross of Calvary was broken, was broken as he bore our sins. And he bore those sins in the midst of enemies all around him, mocking him, rebuking him. And He did it for us. This is a Savior that we can trust to bring us deliverance that knows what it is to wait upon God. He's with us and He will deliver us in His way, in His time. But I ask you, do you know this Savior? Is God someone you cannot wait upon because you're an enemy? Even as I was an enemy at one time of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. You need to cry out to God. He would bring you to himself. When you cry out to God, From your heart and all sincerity, Lord, forgive me for my sins. You died for them on the cross of Calvary. I want you alone as my savior. You don't have to wait on God to answer that prayer because he bid you come. Come unto me, all that are weak and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. So I close tonight by crying out to you, commanding you even, Jesus did, I command you in Jesus' words. Come to Christ. Trust in him alone. No waiting for that prayer to be answered. Cry out in his sovereign mercy. Pray that he would give you faith and repentance for your sins. So you might know a Christ who's worth waiting on in the midst of trials, who will bring deliverance in this time. Let's pray. Father, we thank you. We thank you that you are a God of deliverance. And Lord, even in the fullness of time, you sent your son into this world to die for sin, or so, Lord. In the fullness of time, as you see fit in your perfect wheel, you bring deliverance. to your people every time we wait on you. Let us not lose hope in doing that. Let us fight the dangers and know the dangers, Lord, that come in the midst of waiting upon you. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.