March 1, 2019 -- Psalm 27:14 -- Waiting

Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!

Psalm 27:14 ESV

I hate waiting. Right now I am in the place of waiting. My resume is out and in the hands of a number of potential employers…but things seem, to me, to be stalled out. I can be so impatient! How urgently I need the wisdom of this verse.

The sense of the Psalm is to wait with anticipation and eagerness. The sense of waiting here is that the LORD will unfold His purposes and those who did not waver in their waiting will be rewarded. What will be their reward? Great question. Look over Psalm 27. The prayer requests have been: to dwell in the house of the LORD; to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD; to inquire in His temple. Then the next stanza of the psalm intensifies the request: he will seek after the face of the LORD, he is asking that God will not hide His face from him.

How does one get strong and take courage while eagerly waiting for the LORD?

The Psalmist begins the Psalm 27 with praise. The LORD is my light and my salvation. Praise honours God. Praise magnifies God in our own hearts and minds so that we see the LORD in His rightful place, above all the storms and questions of our lives. And the LORD, in the glory and splendour of Heaven is willing to help, powerful to bring His grace.

The Psalmist prays to the LORD—The Covenant/Promise-Keeping God. Though his situation seems dire, the psalmist having praised God is assured of God’s ability, willingness, and desire to help and bring about the change needed in the life of David—the writer of this psalm.

The praise and prayer changes in the third stanza. Suddenly the psalmist isn’t so much seeking deliverance from enemies and troubles, he is asking to know God better. The enemies and threats have resulted in waiting which makes David reflect on the eager expectation of knowing God Himself. Not merely salvation from trouble, not just relief from enemies—in the middle of the storm, his prayers have become focused on something entirely new: to know God Himself better.

Our life’s purpose is not to be happy, or get rich. A life well-lived is not a life in which we have a wide circle of friends of perfect family life. Our life’s purpose is to know God and serve Him alone. This life is the waiting room wherein we learn either to love the Living God or we grow to hate Him and in our puniness try to rebel against Him.

Those who rebel against Him will be judged when Jesus returns. The price of rejecting the God of Glory is to receive the declaration of guilt. People are judged guilty for rejecting the God they know exists. The heavens declare His glory. People are judged for refusing to serve the King of Glory and offering their lives in service to the Devil. There is no neutral ground—one either serves God or one serves the Devil. To be judged guilty is then to be cast into hell with the Devil and all the demons. In hell the torment and punishment never ends. It is a frightening and terrifying prospect.

Those who have learned to wait on God, who desire to see His face and obey Him will be rewarded. Their heart’s desire will be fulfilled and at the judgment the Judge will declare: your sins have been punished upon the Person of Jesus Christ. You are therefore declared righteous, clothed in the goodness of Jesus Christ—enter into the rest of God! What a glorious day that will be.

Waiting for a job. Waiting for biopsy results. Waiting for justice. Waiting for healing of the heart. Waiting for enemies to be stilled. Waiting for anything ultimately is the training ground of the heart and mind—learning to eagerly expect God and thereby to break ranks with the Devil and serve the Living God of Might. For the LORD alone is worth the wait. In fact, in the waiting, He reveals Himself to us as Good, Loving, and Beautiful.

We confess, O God, we think ourselves to be so self-sufficient, until there is a cancer scare. Or our boss at work refuses to acknowledge our hard work. We are shaken by a small tear in our reputation or a financial set-back. Let the storms and trials of this life accomplish their important work: to cause us to turn to You and wait on You. Truly, King Jesus, give us the strength and courage we need to wait on You in joyful obedience. Let Your Word and Holy Spirit instruct us in this life so that for all eternity it will be our soul’s great rapture and bliss to know You better and better. Answer the deepest longing of our heart and soul, the longing we often don’t even realize is prompting all our restlessness and urgent dissatisfaction: the longing to know You, our Maker and King. Amen.