“Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord” (Ps. 27:14).
David starts out with a joyful note of confidence: “The Lord is my light and my salvation.” Light implies joy and hope. We see him here on the heights of supreme confidence in his God. The Lord is the refuge of his life: he has to be afraid of no one. Though an army should besiege him, he will not be afraid.
In the second part of the psalm his “tone of voice” changes; this exuberance of faith dies down. He has descended to a lower level. Doubts assail him. He is in the valley. Will God hear him? He pleads that God will not turn His face away, nor turn him as His servant away in anger. In the end, however, he “takes hold of himself.” He knows what he has to do, namely, wait for the Lord. Doing this, he will be strong. And so he repeats the need of this faith, “wait for the Lord.”
It may seem that these words are meaningful only to some people, to those who are experiencing difficulties, physical and/or spiritual. When all is well and the “sailing is smooth” we don’t feel much need of waiting for the Lord for anything. The truth of the matter is, however, that these words speak to all true Christians at one time or another. For many children of God these words have a special meaning in view of their adversities, sufferings and chastisements. David speaks of the kind of faith they desperately need and want.
The kingdom of God usually is not established in us by a quiet, peaceful process. It commonly comes through difficulties, opposition, struggles, adversity, war, persecution and even martyrdom. That’s what the Word teaches us, and that is also the experience of many saints throughout the ages. In living through such experiences, they must often learn to wait.
Often in the psalms of David we read of his difficulties, opposition and adversity. Again and again he encountered the opposition of the wicked, one of whom was king Saul. We may wonder why he experienced so many more of these oppressions than most of us do. Was it because he let his light shine more than we do? This may be one answer. But, true Christians will surely face difficulties in many ways and at different times. There is, of course, the direct opposition of the world. The Heidelberg Catechism speaks of our enemies being the devil, the world and our own sinful flesh. There are the struggles with our own doubt and unbelief. There are the spiritual weaknesses and apostacy in the church and perhaps in our own families. Add to these the common physical pains and distresses. We see many broken hearts, disappointed hopes and tired lives. Those who want to live as Christians want to live in faith in these circumstances, and accept the ways of the Lord in faith. These people are not always living on cloud nine. There remain for them a thousand and one unanswered prayers. They sometimes sing:
Has God forgotten to be kind?
Has He in anger hopelessly
Removed His love and grace from me?
“God’s mills seem to be grinding so slowly.” As a result we have to exercise the faith of patience and waiting. There are, of course, three answers to prayer: yes, no, and wait. If the answer is no, the Lord gives grace to accept it. But most of our prayers are not answered quickly, it seems. We have to wait. Wait for what? Wait for the delayed answer. Even then it can still be a yes or no. But it may also be an answer completely different from what we are looking for, and have prayed for. Regarding Job (who also had to be patient and wait) we read that in the end the Lord was full of compassion and mercy (James 5:11). Don’t fail to see this. It is meant to be a source of great comfort for us because we surely may conclude from this that He will also answer all those who truly wait for Him.
Waiting and being patient is difficult. Waiting does not “come naturally.” It is a gift and work of the Holy Spirit in us. Patience is the grace that makes us willing and able to submit, yield and wait. Sometimes that waiting must continue for years, or even the rest of our lives. Sometimes people have to wait until they are ushered into glory. Spurgeon has this to say about the subject:
“It may seem to be an easy thing to wait, but it is one of the postures which a Christian soldier learns not without years of teaching. March and quick-marching are much easier to God’s warriors than standing still. There are hours of perplexity when the most willing spirit, anxiously desires to serve the Lord, knowing not what part to take. Then what shall it do? . . . despair? Fly back in cowardice, tum to the right hand in fear, or rush forward in presumption? No, but simply wait. Wait in prayer. Call upon God, and spread the case before Him; tell Him your difficulty and plead His promise of aid” (Morning and Evening Meditations, p. 486). David in this Psalm exhorts himself to do this very thing, wait for the Lord.
The Scriptures speak much of believers waiting for the Lord. Notice just a few passages:
Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him (Ps. 37:7).
I waited patiently for the Lord: He turned to me and heard my cry (Ps. 40: 1).
My soul in silence waits for God only (Ps. 62:1).
I wait for the Lord, my soul waits and in His word I put my hope (Ps. 130:5).
Let us also take notice of a few godly people as their experiences are recorded in the Scriptures. There is Joseph, that godly young man who resisted the seduction of the wife of Potiphar. With the greatest injustice He was imprisoned. How long would he have to stay there? We know that later he was released and given great honor. But at the time of the imprisonment Joseph knew nothing of this. All he could do was pray and wait. And we may be sure that this he did. Perhaps he learned some of this from his grandfather, Abraham. God had promised Abraham a son. But that promise was not fulfilled until twenty five years later. During all this time Abraham and Sarah had to wait. And that is what they did. Much later we read of Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist. While he was doing his work in the temple an angel of the Lord came to him to announce the birth of John the Baptist, saying that their prayers had been answered. Remember that at this time this couple was advanced in years. During all of their married life they had evidently hoped, waited and prayed for a son. But not until now were those prayers answered. They, too, had to wait for years. How they, too, had to learn the meaning of the words, “Teach me, Lord, the patience of unanswered prayer!”
Think also of how the Old Testament people of God, hundreds of thousands of them, had to wait for several thousand years for the Christ to be born. Also the New Testament church is described as a waiting church, praying for the second coming of Christ. This implies that also today, all people who are living in true faith are waiting for that final day of deliverance and glory. And the saints under the altar (Rev. 6:9, 10) pray, “How long, Lord, how long?” Waiting is not foreign to God’s people.
To wait means that we are expecting someone, or something to happen. In this Psalm David is expecting God to answer his prayer by giving help, strength and deliverance. Notice that his waiting is confident. We often hope and wait for something good but we are not sure that we will receive it. A patient in the hospital has a biopsy taken. Then he has to wait for the returns, but he is not at all certain of the outcome. It was not so for David. He was waiting for the Lord or as some translations have it, for Jehovah. The name Lord or Jehovah is God’s covenant name. In Jesus Christ He is the faithful, covenant God. He is always faithful and His word is always true, that is dependable. Confident of this, David is waiting for the Lord. He tells himself to do this, he disciplines himself to live in this faith. He even repeats it, saying to himself, as it were, “Be sure to do this, wait on the Lord.” In that confidence he takes courage. He doesn’t know when or how the Lord will answer, but he is assured that the Lord will hear. He has that inner certainty.
Listen again to Spurgeon in the same meditation. “Express your unstaggering confidence in Him; for unfaithful, untrusting waiting, is but an insult to the Lord. Believe that if He keeps you tarrying even till midnight, yet He will come at the right time. Wait in patience, not rebelling, because you are under the affliction, but blessing God for it. Accept the case as it is, and put it as it stands, simply and with your whole heart without any self-will into the hand of your covenant God.
There is an element of peace in these words. Exercising such faith of waiting gives quiet inner peace of the Spirit.
Let all Christians who must wait take courage with the reading of these words of David in Psalm 27. If daily you are burdened and are anxiously waiting, remember you are not alone. There are thousands of children of God waiting for the Lord to give an answer. Never forget that our Lord is faithful in Christ. Wait in that confidence. And be assured that as the Lord dealt with Job so he will also deal with you in His time, being full of compassion and mercy.