The Blessing of Waiting

I wrote on waiting several months ago, but as I read Psalm 40, I was struck with a different aspect of waiting. And let’s face it, most of us need reminding more than once what waiting well, waiting Biblically, means.

I thought about taking a week off. I usually begin work on my blog on Monday which I did and do the main writing on Tuesday, but this week the enemy has been wreaking havoc again. I find it hard to focus because of seemingly overwhelming circumstances, or I question whether I should be writing at all. Then I re-read Psalm 40:1-3, 5, 11. It was what I needed to hear because the havoc today was part of a waiting situation we’ve been in for almost a year. Maybe you need to hear it too. Maybe you need to hear the blessing of waiting patiently for the Lord.

I waited patiently for the Lord He inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord. . . You have multiplied, O Lord my God, Your wondrous deeds and Your thoughts toward us; none can compare with You! I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told. . . As for You, O Lord, You will not restrain Your mercy from me; Your steadfast love and Your faithfulness will ever preserve me!

The Psalm starts with David waiting and waiting patiently. How could he wait patiently? He was waiting for the Lord. David knew His God, and as we will see in some of our verses, God was worthy of waiting and worth waiting for. I may sound like a broken record, but we have to keep our eyes fixed on who God is, His character, His attributes, what He has done. Inevitably, we will shift our gaze to circumstances or other people, but God is patient with us to realign our gaze time and time again on Him.

Our wait in this Psalm is not long as far as verses go. The second part of verse 1 already encourages us that God inclines to us and hears our cry. The Hebrew word for incline denotes stretching out, extending or bending down. Although God is omnipresence and in Christ, we have the Holy Spirit indwelling us, David gives us a beautiful picture of God drawing close to us and hearing our cry. We don’t know how long we will have to patiently wait, but we can rest and wait patiently knowing that God draws near to us and hears our cry.

Jesus is the perfect example of waiting patiently. He never tried to rush things, use His divine power to escape suffering and death or defend Himself when attacked. He endured far beyond what we will ever endure, and yet He patiently waited on His Father and His will. I do not always wait patiently for the Lord, but in Christ, I have His perfect record of waiting patiently every time. This is cause to be grateful and to wait patiently the next time.

Verse 2 describes David’s circumstance that he waited in. He was in a pit of destruction, a miry bog. Jumping to verse 12 we see that a pit of destruction or a miry bog could be from outside evils that encompass us or our own iniquity. Pits can be deep, dark, scary and gloomy. Miry bogs are slippery and difficult to extract ourselves from. David says that God set his feet upon a rock and made his steps secure. The rock is elevated in contrast to the pit. It also hard and secure compared to the miry bog. God completely reversed David’s situation. God is gracious that whether it is evil against us or our own iniquity, He hears when we cry to Him. He helps us. He delivers us. That doesn’t mean there won’t be consequences especially for our own iniquity, but we can wait patiently knowing that our God will set our feet on a rock and secure our steps.

In verse 3, David declares that God has put a new song of praise to God in his mouth. That is the first blessing. No matter how long our waiting is or what the circumstance or the cause of our waiting is, God draws near to us, He hears us, He rescues us and then gives us a new song of praise. Often when we are waiting in that pit of destruction or miry bog, we don’t feel like praising God. We are more prone to fear, worry, anger or complaining. God graciously gives us a new song of praise to Him.

The second blessing of waiting is in the latter part of verse 3. “Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord.” Wow! God uses our patient waiting for Him and then our testimony of His rescue to move others to place their trust in Him. In our waiting, it is tempting to focus on ourselves. In verse 3, we see an eternal perspective which can aid us in waiting patiently – others coming to saving faith.

Verse 4 proclaims that “blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust.” David doesn’t detail a specific blessing but affirms that there is blessing to trusting or waiting for the Lord.

Verses 5 and 11 stood out to me because they describe God’s character more fully giving us sure truths of why we can wait on God patiently. God multiplies His wondrous deeds and thoughts towards us. David doesn’t simply say that God does a few wondrous deeds on our behalf. He multiplies His wondrous deeds and thoughts towards us. None can compare with God!

Verse 11 is what I read and re-read several times. “As for You, O Lord, You will not restrain Your mercy from me; Your steadfast love and Your faithfulness will ever preserve me!” Lately, I have felt like evils have been encompassing me, but “As for You, O Lord.” In Christ, our circumstances are never all that there is. God is sovereign. He is present. He is not constrained in any way by our circumstances.

In the King James, verse 11 is translated as more of a plea. The ESV translates it as a statement. Spurgeon’s commentary leaned toward it being a statement. Either way, God does not restrain His mercy towards us. Lamentations 3:23 tells us that His mercies are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness. I picture a dam that is overflowing. There is so much water that the dam bursts. Nothing can hold back or restrain the water from gushing through. That is God’s mercy.

If that wasn’t enough, David writes that God’s steadfast love and faithfulness will ever preserve him. This is blessing upon blessing. Who God is preserves us. We know from Romans 8:38-39 that nothing can separate us from God’s love – no pit of destruction, no miry bog, no encompassing evils. God is faithful. He will do what He has promised.

Psalm 40 is split into two parts. In the first part, as we saw, David was rescued. In the second part, David ends the Psalm asking God not to delay in delivering him. Two situations. I think both are important for us to observe so that we don’t miss the blessing in waiting patiently. David began the Psalm with saying he waited patiently for the Lord. He doesn’t say that he was waiting for deliverance. Regardless of whether or not we see the rescue we desire, God is inclined to us. He is with us. He hears us. In the pit or out, we can still know God’s mercy, steadfast love and faithfulness. We can wait patiently knowing who He is. We can know the blessing of God Himself. The ultimate blessing of waiting patiently is knowing the Blesser more intimately.

Reflections:

How do you view your times of waiting? Are they an inconvenience? Are they a time of knowing God more intimately? Do you consider the eternal impact or your waiting and testimony of God’s faithfulness?

When your waiting is over or even during, do you declare the wondrous deeds of God, His mercies, His steadfast love and His faithfulness?