Wait patiently on the Lord

Sermonnotes from Sunday morning 14 January 2018

James 4 verses 1 - 10

"Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he will strengthen thine heart; wait I say, on the Lord." Psalm 27 verse 14

James speaks in his book about drawing near to God.  Think about David the Psalmist who bore the testimony of a man after God`s own heart.  We looked last week at the one on whom we are to wait on but today we want to look at the practice the Psalmist is pointing out to us.  This will help us in our relationship with God the Lord, with others around us.  The word "wait" means to rest, pause, to stop, to take notice of.  Isn`t it good to take notice today, isn`t it good to wait and rest on the Lord today? 

We are to wait patiently.  It is hard to wait on someone, the most difficult thing to do but here the Psalmist says we are to wait on the Lord.  "I waited patiently for the Lord and he inclined unto me and heard my cry". Are we waiting patiently for the Lord today?  Maybe David could have waited but he longed for the Lord to reach down into the miry clay and lift him out immediately.  The Psalmist is painting the picture of someone in great danger.  Day be day he was sinking down into the clay, very soon the situation may result in suffocation or drowning.  Do we not face days like that some times?  We live in a very high tech society.  We can take our mobile phones and text someone right away and the message in response comes equally quickly.  We can send emails and within seconds someone on the other side of the world can receive it.  We can now turn on the internet and get a telephone number straight away.  Somehow in the midst of all this we have forgotten about waiting.  Moses learned patience in Egypt.  He wanted to take the people of Israel out of bondage but he was 40 years too early.  He had to watch the sheep in the desert for 40 years and then when God called him to go in and speak to Pharaoh he had to wait on all the arguments to be worked out until eventually Pharaoh let the people go.  Then in the wilderness he had to wait on the cloud to move forward so that he knew when to move the Israelites.  He knew all about patience when despite there being a quicker way through the land of the Philistines God led them another way.  Maybe there is something we would love God to do for us right now but the Lord says wait.  Philip Keller`s book Lessons from a Sheepdog told the story of a dog he had.  The dog came to him late in life and had to be taught a lot of new things but he became one of the best assets he had on the farm.  The dog would have gone down into the deepest of thickets and briars to bring the sheep out.  There was one problem though - the dog had one problem when gathering in the sheep to a corner.  The dog was told to wait and not move but he couldn`t do it and all of a sudden the sheep were scattered.  The dog couldn`t wait.  God has a plan and purpose for your life but he is saying "wait".  Peter tells us in his book to build on our faith.  When you trusted Christ as Saviour that was just the beginning.  Have we been building ever since?  Peter tells us to add patience to our faith.  We have need of patience.  Abraham was called out of Ur of the Chaldees but he hadn`t the patience needed.  He ended up in a land of famine.  Habbakuk in the watchtower saw the enemy coming in and overunning the land.  He asked God how long they would be in this situation.  The Lord told him that the vision he had shown him was not for now but an appointed time.  At the end of it, it shall come to pass, though it tarry wait for it for it will surely come.

This little word tells us also to wait prayerfully.  As we tarry we are not just to be slothful or haphazard.  We are to be active.  Abraham`s servant left Abraham`s house.  He was given a task to look for a wife for Isaac.  He laid it all before the Lord and left it there.  He came into the land and met Rebecca.  He was convinced she was the one God led him to.  "Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham who hath not left destitute my master of his mercy and his truth I being in the way the Lord led me." (Genesis 24 verse 27)  That young man he didn`t just sit about, he went out to seek for it, dependent on the Lord to lead him and guide him.  He found Rebecca - "I being in the way the Lord led me."  Maybe this morning you are waiting on the Lord but we need to wait prayerfully.  We need to be active as we wait for the Lord.  The early disciples were told by the Lord he was going away back to heaven by the cross but he would not leave them comfortless as orphans in the world.  He would send the Holy Spirit.  What were they to do?  Wait in Jerusalem, wait for the promise of the Lord.  They waited and on that very day, the day of Pentecost when God would send the Holy Spirit, they were in that place and filled with the Holy Spirit.  They gathered, waited and God fulfilled his promise.  As we go into 2018 let us wait prayerfully.

We need to wait personally.  This is something for you today, something very difficult.  The disciples waiting for the Lord were waiting personally for that word into their hearts.  Job lost his family, his livelihood, his health, everything in one sweep.  Job 13 "even if he slay me I will wait patiently."  God takes us different ways today.  Day after day Job waited knowing God would take him in the right way.  Job knew he was coming from the furnace of suffering.  He knew when he went through it he would be the polished article.  Scholars say it was 2 or 3 years.  The Psalmist says to wait on the Lord.

We need to wait positively.  The Psalmist says "I waited patiently, prayerfully, crying on the Lord all the time, waiting expectantly but also positively."  I think of Elijah on Mount Carmel doing battle with the prophets of Baal.  Remember how he challenged them to build an altar, place a bullock on it then cry out to the god of Baal to send the fire.  When they were fnished Elijah would do the same to the God of heaven.  Elijah was sure of one thing - he waited patiently for God.  He watched the prophets doing all that work possible but no fire fell.  Eliah set the altar up, put the sacrifice on top then doused it with water so that it ran along the trench.  3 times he doused it with water.  He did everything in his power to put every obstacle before God because he had every confidence in God.  He knew God would do it.  God is able to meet what ever problems you might be facing today.  The prophets of Baal didn`t realise Elijah was in touch with the mighty God of heaven.  The Lord sent the fire, it came from the very splendours of heaven, licked up the very stones around the altar.  God was glorifed as a result.  We are to wait patiently, prayerfully, personally and positively because our God will not fail.  What is that difficulty in your life today?  Jacob wrestled with God before he met Esau.  Maybe today there will be a time of wrestling in this year that a mighty move of God will come.