Waiting on the Lord (Psalm 40:1)

It is important to wait patiently before the Lord. When you do, you are performing three important acts.

When you wait on the Lord, you knowledge him as your sovereign Lord. By that, you recognize that he is in complete control of all events that take place and regardless of how they appear, you believe he will use them for good and his glory.

When you wait on the Lord, you are exercising your faith and when I say exercise, I mean exercise. Each time that you place your faith in the Lord, you are strengthening it and also developing the closeness of your relationship with him. Your relationship with God is what gives your faith strength. This comes from his word (Romans 10:17) and also his joy (Nehemiah 8:10).

When you wait on the Lord, you are relying on his love. God is love and everything that he does for you or allows to happen is motivated by that love. When we cannot understand or see the workings of his love in his actions, it is then that our faith must moves us to wait on the Lord.

Waiting on the Lord will always bring his results. When we fail to wait on him, we act on our own independently of God. These actions are works of the flesh motivated by the emotions that we experienced in the trial.

So instead of allowing your emotions to drive you to disobedience, instead allow God’s working through your faith to lead you to rely on him who on countless times has guided, comforted, carried and loved you. He did not fail you then and he will not fail you now.

A Bound Life But A Free Soul (Psalm 142:7)

Many years ago, I served in a prison ministry to the Spanish speaking population.  I remember needing clearance to enter the facility and to make it to where the bible study would be held required that I pass a few check points.  I needed to have my picture taken and on each visit, I was required to empty the contents of my pockets.  The prison staff did this to make sure that all the inmates stayed within the prison and none would escape.  For me, it was nothing to walk in and out of prison, but for the inmates it was a different story.

However, I must say that I myself have been held in prison on many occasions.  As the Psalmist, my soul too was in prison (Psalm 142:7).  It was not held with iron bars, but instead with the trials or circumstances of life.  My spirit was shrouded in and my soul was bound within the walls of my troubled circumstances.  Most people did not care to even take a second look at my circumstances and of the few that did, there was little that they could do to help.  Escaping the circumstances or finding refuge was impossible (Psalm 142:4).  My only deliverance could come from God and he would only move in his time.  

Eventually deliverance came but in a manner other than what I expected.  Instead of God delivering my life from the circumstances created by others, he delivered my soul through the circumstances.  As men of war could take refuge in a strong tower, my soul was able to take refuge in God.  His word delivered me from fear to comfort.  His presences strengthen me from worry to hope and his promises broke the chains binding my soul and gave me liberty.  The circumstances in life were very much the same, but my spirit and soul found refuge in God.

While in the midst of trials, continue to seek after God by searching his word and lifting your heart before him in prayer.  You too can experience this deliverance from a trial while still in the trial.  When you do, God will be exalted in your eyes and you will be compelled to praise him before men.

Pride Versus Hope (Psalm 131)

The enemy of hope is pride.  It is a proud heart that raises itself up in trying to deal with matters too lofty for itself.  It is a proud heart that refuses to adjust its behavior to what The Lord wants.  As a dependent child submits himself to his nurturing mother, a prideful heart will not stand in awe before God and submit itself to him and his plan.  A prideful heart cannot and will not wait on The Lord.

Trouble waiting on the Lord reveals a prideful heart that wants to take over.  As anxiety builds, so is pride.  A person resists submitting to God because they have already submitted to their own pride.

Pride still comes before the fall (Proverbs 16:18).  Pride is not confined to the act of looking down at others.  It is the attitude that people have after their hearts have been deceived into thinking that they can handle matters greater than their ability.  Whether it be sin, raising children, managing finances, work, or any other area of life makes no difference.  Pride moves man into the driver's seat of his life and as long as he remains there, he will not experience hope.

Man does not need to do anything to get hope.  He simply needs to remove himself and his prideful heart from the plan.  When he does, The Lord takes over and with him comes hope.