Activities of Waiting on God

Take your copy of the scriptures and turn to Psalm 130.! Psalm 130. Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord.

! O Lord, hear my voice.! Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy. If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand?

But with you there is forgiveness. Therefore you are feared. I wait for the Lord. My soul waits. And in his word I put my hope.

My soul waits for the Lord. More than watchmen wait for the morning. More than watchmen wait for the morning. O Israel, put your hope in the Lord.

For with the Lord is unfailing love. And with him is full redemption. He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins.

Wait for the Lord. Be strong. And take heart. And wait for the Lord.

All of us are waiting for something, aren't we? Whether blessings from the Lord. The removal of afflictions in our lives.

The end of some long trial. Some promise of God to be fulfilled. And this is simply the way of our Heavenly Father.

He makes his children wait. He makes his children wait. And this is one of the lessons John Bunyan wanted to get across in his Pilgrim's Progress.

Bunyan himself knew something about waiting. He waited 12 years in prison for preaching without a license to do so.

Separated from his wife, his dear children, his blind Mary, daughter, and beloved congregation. And while he's there in prison waiting, he wrote a timeless allegory called Pilgrim's Progress.

And in it, he talks about the Christian life. He writes, Then Interpreter took Christian into a little room where two children were seated, each in his own chair.

The name of the older was Passion. The name of the other was Patience. Obviously, Passion was not at all content, while Patience was very quiet.

Why is Passion so restless, asks Christian. Well, their governess wants them to wait for their best things until next year, said Interpreter.

But Passion wants all of his best things now, while Patience is willing to wait. What makes a person patient and willing to wait?

That's what we're seeking to learn in this brief study and series on waiting on God. It certainly is not automatic, is it, that just by doing a lot of waiting, we become good waiters.

Patient and willing to wait. As if just doing something a lot makes us better at it. Perhaps there are some things that are that way.

There are other things that are not that way. I know somebody that mows his yard wrong. And he's been doing it for 40 years. And he mows it right down to the nubbins where the sun can burn the roots of the grass and let weeds grow up.

He's been doing a lot of mowing, but it's not made him a better mower. And you can do a lot of waiting and not be better off for it. As Bunyan is saying, you can be restless with passion and impatience and discontent.

Rather than being patient as you wait. It's not all automatic. It all depends on what you do as you wait. Or how you wait.

There's a right way to wait and a wrong way to wait. There's a way to grow better for the waiting and a way to grow worse under the wait. So how good are you at waiting?

How patient, how willing to wait? Two weeks ago when we began this study, we said that the first and most important lesson about waiting is to know that in all our waiting, we are waiting for the Lord.

Psalm 130 is a psalm we'll be working out of this morning again. We'll look at other texts as well, but we notice that on the very face of things in verses 5 and 6.

He says, I wait for the Lord. My soul waits for the Lord. We're not waiting on our luck to change. We're not waiting for circumstances to improve.

We're not waiting on second and third causes. Rather, we look right past all secondary causes to the first cause, God, who's in charge of all the circumstances that have got me waiting.

We're waiting for Him. And so we learn right away that biblical waiting is a Godward thing. It's a very spiritual exercise.

So we wait with our eyes on Him. Who He is, His character, His perfect wisdom that knows exactly what is best for us.

His almighty power that is able to accomplish what is best for us. And His unfailing love that desires what is best for us.

And yes, His patience with us indeed makes us willing to be patient with Him. The very best thing about waiting is the Lord that we are waiting on.

The Lord who acts on behalf of those who wait for Him. So the better we know Him, the easier it is for us to wait for Him with patience and contentment.

It's precisely because of who He is that we can afford to wait patiently and quietly. No one who waits on Him will wait in vain.

No one will come back the poor for waiting on the Lord. He's worth every minute of the wait. Now that's all by way of review, the first lesson.

We come now to lesson number two. And it's this. The wait itself is just as important as the thing that we are waiting for. The wait itself is beneficial, is valuable.

God intends to do us good by the wait. Not just by giving us the thing we're waiting for. Otherwise, He would give it to us at once, without delay.

And sometimes He does that. But if He has you waiting, it's for good reasons. Rather, it's for the best of reasons. He comes to bless you by the very process of waiting.

Now it's what God wants to do in us by the wait that is just as important as the things we're waiting for. He comes to draw us nearer to Him. To cultivate our relationship with Him.

To increase our appetite for God. Our hunger and thirst for God. To make us pant for Him like a deer pants for the water. Not as an added extra in life.

But as an absolute necessity. I need you, Lord. Like the deer needs the water. He comes to wean us from the earth.

He comes to correct our misguided priorities. To set our hearts on things above. Things that are eternal. Things that will last beyond this life. Yes, in waiting, He comes to refine our faith.

Which is more precious than gold. He comes to burn out the dross in our faith. To strengthen our faith. That we might believe what we don't see.

And what we don't feel. As we're waiting. In waiting, He comes to show us His glory. To teach us contentment with Himself and His will.

To teach us to pray. To exercise our patience. To build character and perseverance into our lives. And to build a hope that does not disappoint.

He comes to build, to bring us, to bring glory to Himself. As we demonstrate by waiting that He is worth the wait.

Those are just a few of the priceless gains that are found where? In the school of waiting on God. Quite independently of receiving what we're waiting for.

These are great gains to be had during the wait. It's what He wants to do in us while we wait. So with God, all delays are intentional.

None are mistakes. None are just happenstance. All the delays in your life from God are intentional. And if He's got you waiting this morning, He's got good purposes to be achieved in you by the wait.

Young person, waiting years are not wasted years. Middle-aged people, waiting years are not wasted years.

Older people, waiting years are not wasted. David waited 12 years between being anointed king and actually coming to the throne. And not a bit of it was wasted.

The Lord Jesus Christ Himself did not begin His public ministry until age 30. And then it only lasted three and a half years. But 30 years of waiting was anything but wasted in our Lord's life.

There are no wasted years on God's calendar. There are no meaningless delays in the lives of His children. His purpose is to do you good by the wait. So don't waste your wait.

Get all the good you can out of it. Now I want to set before you this morning then some basic activities of waiting on God. It's easy to misunderstand this biblical idea of waiting.

I think just because of the word wait and the images that come to us. So you're on your way to work and the railroad gates come down and you're sitting there at the crossing.

And you're waiting for this slow train to China to pass. And you're waiting. And so you're wrapping your fingers on the steering wheel. You're biding your time until it's over.

And then you go on. You're waiting. Waiting on the Lord is not passive. It's not just sitting around doing nothing.

It's not twiddling your thumbs and biding time until it's over. Instead of that picture of waiting, get this picture of waiting. There's a nest full of baby robins.

And they're waiting for their parents to bring them the bugs and worms back to the nest. And they're straining. They're outstretched, scrawny necks.

And their beaks are wide open as they're waiting in expectation for that juicy worm. There's nothing passive about waiting on the Lord.

It's rather a time of intensified spiritual activity. Having dealings with God himself. It's soul work. David says in this psalm, my soul waits.

It's not just your body is in a posture of waiting. No, the soul is waiting. That's the very control center of your heart. Engaged in this spiritual activity of waiting.

So, I say it's a very active thing to wait on God. And I want to set before you some basic activities of waiting on God. The first is drawing near to God in prayer.

To wait on God is to draw near to God in prayer. Psalm 130 is a waiting psalm. And though the author is not stated, it's most likely David, the author of most of the psalms.

And we've noted that much of David's life was spent waiting on the Lord. He's anointed to be the next king, but he's got to wait 12 years to be king. And then it's just of two tribes.

And he's got to wait another seven and a half years to be king over all the 12 tribes. And then he's waiting during the trials in his family.

He's waiting during Absalom's rebellion. He's waiting to die. On and on he goes. At any rate, what we find in Psalm 130 is this psalmist waiting in the depths.

That's how it starts. Out of the depths, I cry to you. He's waiting in some deep affliction, some deep trial. And the first thing we see him doing as he's waiting is praying.

You see that? Out of the depths, I cry to you, O Lord. O Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy.

You know, sometimes we have to be made to wait in the depths before we will really lift our voices up on high and address God in prayer.

You know what I mean? We often say our prayers, but do we really pray? And then God makes us wait in the depths. And we learn a whole new level of prayer.

We must have him hear my cry. I'm not just saying my prayer. I am now really praying, crying out to God for mercy and help. It's not just here in this waiting psalm.

Many other psalms are prayers to God by men who are waiting for the Lord. In fact, as we saw two weeks ago, many of them were waiting so long that they were growing weary of waiting and beginning to ask the Lord, How long, O Lord?

How long? The how long psalms. They're waiting psalms. There's a lot of them by David. Psalm 119, 84. How long must your servant wait?

You feel that way? David did. What did he do about it? He prayed. He asked God, how long must I wait? Psalm 13. How long, O Lord?

Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemies triumph over me?

How long? And the long wait brought him to have these face-to-face dealings with God in prayer. Precious communion with God in which he pours out his heart.

And often finds refuge even by the end of the prayer. And then there's that rare psalm of Moses, Psalm 90.

Doesn't write a lot of psalms, but there it is. And he's waiting out in the desert for 40 years with a bunch of rebellious, murmuring Israelites.

Not for his own sin, but for their sins. And he's waiting until a whole generation of them has died off. And boy, are they dying off.

1.2 million estimated to die in those 40 years, 38 and a half years. And you do the math, it's about 85 funerals a day.

While they're waiting for the whole generation to die off. That's the background of this how long psalm of Moses.

No wonder he cries in Psalm 90. You turn men back to dust saying, return to dust, O sons of men. We're consumed by your anger and terrified by your indignation. Relent, O Lord.

How long will it be? Have compassion on your servants. You see, the long wilderness wait squeezes prayer out of this waiting man, Moses.

The same could be seen with Asaph in his how long psalms. Psalm 79, Psalm 80. The lessons are the same in each. Where do we hear these cries of how long?

Well, they're not in their mumblings to themselves. But they're in their prayers to God. It's because they hurt like crazy and they're weary of waiting.

That they then turn to the Lord with their heartaches. With their questions. Their fears. And they just dump the hole to the Lord.

They pour out their hearts to God in prayer. The lesson is clear. Waiting times are to be praying times. Are you praying?

Are you seeking the Lord? Are you waiting? Are you praying about the wait? Are you taking it to him? That's the lesson on the face of these waiting psalms.

Years ago, our family visited the Texas State Fairgrounds in Dallas. You know everything's big in Texas. And that's true of the Ferris wheel. Stretching high above the Cotton Bowl Stadium.

And I'm looking at that and all the other rides and thinking, well, that's a rather slow, safe, tame, family-friendly ride.

Nothing scary about that. Wrong. Jonathan was 17, 18?

No, four or five. And as we started going higher and higher, and then, of course, you've got to stop and let everybody else get on and go a little further.

And as we got up into the stratosphere, you could see in his eyes, he was feeling less and less comfortable, more and more scared. And I think he scooted closer to me than he's ever been before and has ever been since.

No, it wasn't intentionally chosen on my part to get him to scoot over. But you have that kind of God in heaven, child of God.

Who's not above putting you into difficult, waiting, scary, long, protracted trials and afflictions to get you to scoot in closer to him, to draw nearer to him.

He's saying, child, come near. Come near. He's not above that. And it shows his heart for us, doesn't it? Could it be that God has you waiting in difficult circumstances for this very reason?

That you might draw near to him and cling to him. God wants us moving towards him in our waits. Going to him with our fears, our sadness, our longings, our doubts, our questions, our weak faith, but going to him like Job.

Waiting times are his calls to draw near to God. And he will draw near to you. And how do we draw near to God? We do it in prayer.

We do it by praying. In fact, prayer is sometimes called waiting on the Lord. That's what it means. That's what prayer is. It's waiting before the Lord.

We come with needs, don't we? And we wait before the Lord. And God says, come near, child.

Be still before the Lord. And wait patiently for him. Psalm 37, 7. So believing prayer is waiting on the Lord.

It's the heart's clinging to God. My soul clings to the Lord. Psalm 63, verse 8. That's prayer in the wait.

Just clinging. You remember Jacob? Wrestling all night with somebody he finds out to be God himself. And he goes from wrestling just to clinging.

And just saying, I'm not going to let you go until you bless me. He's not saying his prayers anymore. He's praying. He's clinging. He's holding on to God. With all his soul.

My soul waits on the Lord. Now that's where the Lord wants us. In the wait. He wants us seeking his face. And so he makes us wait.

That we might. That he might teach us to pray. And that he might bring us to pray. With sweet submission. Not my will. But yours be done. Have thine own way, Lord.

And he makes us wait. That we might find. That in drawing near to him. The blessing. Of fellowship with him.

That that's the good thing itself. Just being near to the Lord. Isn't that what Asaph said? As for me. It's good to be near to the Lord. I used to think that it meant being without sickness.

Having a lot of money in the bank. Being with. But now. Now. After waiting all this time. And coming near. Now I see. The real blessing is just to be near.

To the Lord. And it's as we draw near. That we not only. Have sweet fellowship with the Lord.

That makes it worth the wait. But it also strengthens us to go on waiting. For even youths grow tired and weary. And young men stumble and fall. But those who wait on the Lord.

Will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint. Who? Who will have such endurance and perseverance built into.

Those who wait on the Lord. With their eyes on him. Not on second. Third causes. On the first cause. Waiting. On the Lord.

Seeking his face in prayer. So look to the Lord dear ones. Look to the Lord and his strength. Seek his face always. Our waiting has done its work.

If it has brought us to Jesus. There. We're much richer. Just for being near him. And that is one way he intends to bless us.

By making us wait. So if you would not waste your weight. Draw near to God in prayer. And then we look again here at Psalm 130.

We've heard David praying. Crying out to God while he waits in the depths. David what else are you doing while you wait? You know it's good to learn from people that know something about the subject.

Here's a man who knows something about waiting. David I want to know something. How did you wait those 12 years? Those seven and a half years? All this time. How did you wait? What were you doing?

Well I was praying he told us. What else were you doing? Well he tells us in verse 5. Look at it. I wait for the Lord. My soul waits. And in his word I put my hope.

This God that I'm waiting for has spoken words to me. And they're written down. So I wait with hope in his word. And that's our second activity of waiting on God.

Not only drawing near in prayer. But soaking your soul in the word of God. Now you ladies know that there is a waiting time in making tea.

That after you bring the water to a boil. You turn the heat off. And you wait. But while you're waiting you're doing something else. You're soaking a tea bag in the water.

We call it steeping. I was going to have this point labeled. Steep your soul in the word of God. I was afraid some of you wouldn't know what that means. Soak your soul.

That's what's going on. The tea bag. It's soaking in that water. Until its flavor fills every drop in the cup or the pot.

Now you steep your soul in the word of God. Bring your soul and soak in the word of God. Until it affects you. The way that you think.

The way that you pray. The way that you live. The way that you wait. David is telling us that waiting time is to be time filled with his word.

I wait on the Lord. My soul waits. And in his word I put my hope. You know it's in the Bible that we learn about the character of God.

His wisdom, power, and love, and patience. That makes it easier to wait. Knowing who it is we're waiting on. And it's in the Bible that we learn the promises of God.

His commitments to us. That's worth a series of its own. Do you know that the promises of God are his commitments to you?

So your son comes. Come on dad. Let's go up for a DQ tonight. Eh, you know, you've got other things to do.

And you're ready to brush it off. And dad, you promised. Oh, we're gone. We're gone. Right? Why? Because you promised. And that's God's promises to his people.

He is committing himself. And once he commits himself, he's in. He's in. And so we need to know the promises, the commitments that God has made to us.

They're in his word. Ransack your Bible for God's promises that fit your circumstances. Some of them are specific promises. Some of them are more general promises.

They all are God's commitments to you. Those who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength.

Isaiah 40, 31. Isaiah 64, 4 tells us God acts on behalf of those who wait for him. 1 Peter 5, 6.

Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, and he will exalt you in due time. You're waiting. Due time is coming. And you don't need dozens of them.

Better just one or two at a time. Take one promise this week. Find a promise. Memorize it. Recite it. With my lips, I recite all the words that come from your mouth, the psalmist says.

Recite it throughout your day. Dozen times. Meditate on it. Pray over it. Pray the promise back. God, you said. You said. You see, you're doing to him what the little boy's doing to you, Dad.

But you said. Treat your God as the father that he is. You said. That's the way the psalmist did it. That's the way David did it. Lord, you said. Now, remember your word.

Act on your commitment. My soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. Do you know how essential hope is to waiting?

Once hope's gone, waiting's gone, isn't it? But as long as a man has hope, he can wait a bit more. Hope. If we hope for what we do not have, then do we with patience wait for it.

Romans 8.25. Hope leads to patient waiting. Hope feeds on the promises of God.

What are you feeding your hope as you're waiting? How sad that the world is waiting. They're waiting for a lot of the same things we're waiting for. Or in the trials and afflictions of life.

But they don't have hope. Because they don't have God. And to be without God in this world is to live without hope. Oh, but we do. Nothing feeds hope like the promises.

What is hope? It's that confident expectation of future good. How can you be confident of future good? That as you're waiting and nothing looks good, sounds good, feels good.

And how can you be absolutely certain that it will be good? Because God has spoken promises. And in your word I put my hope, my confident expectation of future good.

I'm certain that the things promised will one day be mine. And though I wait through the live long night, one day it will happen.

So I can wait. I can afford to wait. Because God who promised is faithful. So God's promises give us hope. And hope refreshes and strengthens us.

To keep on waiting for the Lord. Expecting to see the promise fulfilled. You expecting God to work your long trial together for your good.

You expecting that? You counting on that? You sure of that? Will you find a promise for the thing you're waiting for? And pray it back to God this week?

What are you feeding your hope? David compares his waiting for the Lord with the way watchmen wait for the morning. More than watchmen wait for the morning. He waits for the Lord.

So there's a watchman on the field of battle. And while others sleep and refresh themselves, he's on duty. He's the sentinel on duty. And he's looking for the enemy and danger. And so as he passes through the watches of the night and becomes more weary, and perhaps even more stressed out at the noises and shadows of the night, he's really looking forward to the morning.

He is waiting for the morning. How is he waiting? Eagerly. Certain that it's coming. He's not, you know, I wonder if ever the sun will come up.

He knows. He's been on this duty many times. And he knows that the sun's coming up. And he's eager to see it come up. And David says, more eager and more sure am I that the Lord will show up for me, then he is eager and sure that the sun will rise.

Let him go home and sleep after being on duty all night. More than watchmen wait for the morning. More than watchmen wait for the morning.

Because David knows his God. He knows his promises. And that he'll be true to all his words. So don't waste your waiting. Soak in the word of God.

You say, you're feeling cheated? What have I told you? The activities of waiting on the Lord. Well, it's prayer and reading the Bible. Aren't those the normal, ordinary means of grace?

Yeah, and we need to appreciate them more. Where do we find help to wait? In what we call the ordinary means of grace.

God speaking to us. Us speaking to him. That's where we find grace to wait.

And to wait in a way that ministers to our peace and to God's glory. And thirdly and lastly, the activity for those who are waiting is to preach the truth to yourself.

Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones used to say that our great problem is that we listen to ourselves too much rather than talking to ourselves enough. Waiting times are to be times when we do a lot of talking to ourselves.

Are you waiting? Are you talking to yourself? In prayer we talk to God. In coming to his word we listen to God talking to us.

But in self-talk we have a good chat with ourselves about truth that we dare not forget while we're waiting.

Reminding ourselves of what God has said. Now listen to these who have waited much on the Lord and what they say to themselves. Here David over in Psalm 62.

Now Absalom has revolted. He's chased David off the throne in Jerusalem. David's hightailing it out of Jerusalem. Running for his life. His own son Absalom is claiming the throne.

Claiming his wives. Claiming all that was his. And he's waiting on the Lord. How long will this uprising last? How will this coup be successful?

He's waiting for word from Jerusalem. And waiting on the Lord. And as he waits he lectures himself. This is what David says to himself in the wait.

Find rest oh my soul in God alone. My hope comes from him. He alone is my rock. My salvation.

He's my fortress. I will not be shaken. Now his own son is threatening to shake the kingdom right out of his hand. But David says because of who God is I will not be shaken.

He has a promise from God you see. What does your self-talk sound like during the wait? I've had enough of this.

I can't take anymore. Or because the Lord is my fortress I will not be shaken. Talk to yourself.

Remind yourself. Of what God has said. And who he is. While you wait. Then there's the weeping prophet Jeremiah. You know he was another guy that had to wait a long time on God.

Not for his own sins. But the sins of the people. He had to wait through that dark period. When God would be judging the nation. Because they were not responding to his call to repent.

And he would have to suffer persecution. And wait through the long persecution. Of having the people hate him for bringing them the word of God. And here's Jeremiah. This great waiter on the Lord.

And here's what he says to himself. Lamentations 3.24. I say to myself. The Lord is my portion. Therefore I will wait on him.

That's it. The Lord is my portion. Therefore I'll wait on him. You know what he had to wait through?

You read the book of Lamentations sometime. And you see that things of God's judgment were going to fall on Jerusalem. Such that anyone that heard it caused their ears to tingle.

And Jeremiah. Has to see these things. Envision first. And announce them to the people of God. And he's waiting. But he says. I said this to myself.

The Lord's my portion. So I will wait for him. You're waiting? Tell yourself. About this God.

He's your portion. Everything he is. Is yours. He's. Mom deals out portions at the dinner table. God has portioned himself out to you. Here you are. This is everything you need. To wait.

Therefore I can wait. So he goes from talking to God. In prayer. From the depths I cry to you. To listening to God.

I put my hope in your word. To talking to himself. Telling himself. Why I can afford to wait. Because God is my refuge.

And I will not be shaken. And then to talking to us. You see that in verses 7 and 8 of Psalm 130. I wait for the Lord. And in his word I put my hope.

That's what we've seen. Now he says. Oh Israel put your hope. In the Lord. And then he gives us two of the best reasons to do so. Because with the Lord is unfailing love.

And with him is full redemption. He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins. Now here's the bottom reason. Why the psalmist says we have reason to hope in the Lord.

It's the bottom line reason for all our hopes. It's because with him is unfailing love. And full redemption. The one we're waiting for has unfailing love.

A love that will not let us go. A love that is committed to never stop doing us good. Will that do something for hope?

Yes. So soak in it. Soak in the promise of his unfailing love. And his full redemption. Because with him is full redemption.

Full redemption. For he himself will redeem Israel. From all their sins. He himself will redeem Israel.

Now we know that he sent a redeemer. But will you remember who the redeemer was. And is. It's God himself. He himself became man for us.

That he might redeem us. God himself. Became sin for us. That he might make us the righteousness of God in him. God himself became a curse for us.

For Christ redeems us from the curse of the law. By becoming a curse for us. He himself will redeem Israel.

God. There is a savior who saves sinners. This is the cause for hope. And he. With him is full redemption.

He. Not partial redemption. Full redemption. He himself will redeem Israel from all his sins. Not some of his sins.

1 John 1.7. For the blood of Jesus God's son cleanses us from all sins. That's full redemption. That's full redemption. That's all our sins. And that's what gives us hope in every situation.

My sin. Oh the bliss of this glorious thought. Not in part. But the whole.

Is nailed to his cross. And I bear it no more. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Oh my soul. It is well with my soul. Because he himself.

Has brought a full redemption in Jesus Christ. And taking away all my sins. So there's a savior to redeem us from sin.

And indeed. When he returns from all its consequences. So put your hope. Oh people. In the Lord. Don't waste.

Your weight. Soak in his word. Pray. Draw near in prayer. Soak in the word. Talk to yourself about. What God is.

And has said. He would do. Do you have that kind of hope. This morning. In whatever it is. That you're facing. That peace with God. Through the blood.

Of Jesus. His son. So that you know. You're secure. As you wait. Couldn't be in a better place. Than to be in the care. Of the Lord Jesus. Are you waiting. For your best things.

As certainties. Or. Or are you just a breath away. From eternal torments. And so. You're without God. And you're without hope. In this world. And you have no hope. For the next world. And. And everything is insecure.

Because you don't. Have his son. Because this life. Is in his son. And he who has the son. Has life. And has this eternal life. But he who has not.

The son of God. Has not life. And has not hope. And hope enables us. To wait. On God. Believers. We often pray.

Lord. Let me glorify you. Do you know. That waiting on God. Patiently. And quietly. Is no small way.

That we bring glory. To God. Because it says. He's worth waiting on. It honors him. I'm safe to wait. It's his wisdom.

That is deemed. This is best for me. His power. Will accomplish. What's best for me. And his love. Wants. What is best for me. I can wait. The world desperately.

Needs to see. Believers. Waiting on the Lord. And so glorifying him. And enjoying. The weight themselves. And the peace. And contentment.

That it brings. Father in heaven. Create in me. A clean heart. Oh God. Renew a right spirit. Within me. Thank you for.

Being interested. In drawing us. Close to yourself. For the privilege. Of knowing you. And yet often.

That privilege. Lies unimproved. Until you. Take us into the depths. And make us wait. And then we learn. What a prize. And treasure it is. To be near to you. Draw us near.

And speak to us. From your holy word. Help us to latch on. And cling to your promises. And then to. To tell them to ourselves. And then to speak them.

To one another. And encourage each other. To put our trust in the Lord. For with the Lord. Is unfailing love. And full redemption. We praise you. In Jesus name.

Amen.