May 28, 2006 7^th Sunday of Easter

"Wait for the Lord"

Psalm 27

I N I

1. The LORD is my light and my salvation-- whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life-- of whom shall I be afraid?

2. When evil men advance against me to devour my flesh, when my enemies and my foes attack me, they will stumble and fall.

3. Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then will I be confident.

4. One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.

5. For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle and set me high upon a rock.

6. Then my head will be exalted above the enemies who surround me; at his tabernacle will I sacrifice with shouts of joy; I will sing and make music to the LORD.

7. Hear my voice when I call, O LORD; be merciful to me and answer me.

8. My heart says of you, "Seek his face!" Your face, LORD, I will seek.

9. Do not hide your face from me, do not turn your servant away in anger; you have been my helper. Do not reject me or forsake me, O God my Savior.

10. Though my father and mother forsake me, the LORD will receive me.

11. Teach me your way, O LORD; lead me in a straight path because of my oppressors.

12. Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes, for false witnesses rise up against me, breathing out violence.

13. I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.

14. Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.

Waiting – did you ever stop to think that waiting is a sign of trust?

It shows that we believe something is coming, that something will soon happen. In terms of our waiting for the Lord, as the psalm writer puts it, it is a sign that we believe the Lord will provide help that is needed. Waiting for the Lord shows we trust that the Lord will do what is best for us according to His all-knowing wisdom.

Very often we are not so good at waiting. We are generally very impatient people. We don’t like to wait in lines in the store or at government offices or in traffic. We don’t like to wait to buy things until we can afford them, and so we purchase on credit. We don’t like to wait, so we try quick schemes for losing weight. I’m sure each of us has our pet peeves – those areas in which we just hate to wait.

Did you ever think, in the big picture of things, that our impatience shows a lack of trust? Our impatience can show lack of trust in God. Sometimes that lack of trust in God then moves on to placing undue trust in ourselves to make things happen. Adam and Eve may have been showing impatience when they gave in to temptation – trying to achieve a higher level of life by themselves, without God’s help or guidance, in fact, against His Word. Or take Abraham for another example. He shows some impatience when he comes up with several plans of his own to provide the heir – the son promised by God. But none of Abraham’s plans were in God’s plan. Ultimately, Abraham had to learn to wait – 25 years – for God to fulfill His promise of giving a son to Abraham and Sarah. Yes, impatience can show a lack of trust in God – a sinful path that leads us away from God, and into more troubles for ourselves.

The writer of Psalm 27, King David, sings a song of triumph that focuses on waiting and trusting in the Lord. David certain knew many times of trouble, times of threats to his life, times when he must have wondered if God would ever provide the help he needed.

Let’s read verses 1-3 together:

Wait for the Lord, trust the Lord, in situations that cause us to be afraid. He is our Light, He is our Salvation. He is our stronghold, our strength. In Him we can be confident even if all around us is trouble.

Let’s read verses 4-6 together:

David’s song paints a beautiful picture of patient desire. We want to dwell with the Lord all our life. We want to see His beauty. We want to be in His presence. We want to be safe in His keeping. We want to celebrate salvation joyfully. We want to sing and make music to the Lord. All this is a beautiful, godly desire. It’s what God wants for us, too.

Let’s read verses 7-12 together:

David’s prayer here puts in very plain language exactly what we need. That the Lord would hear us and answer our prayers with His mercy. That the Lord would not turn away from us in anger. Remember Luther’s explanation of the Lord’s Prayer – the 5^th Petition: and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. What does this mean? We pray in this petition that our Father in heaven would not look at our sins, or deny our prayer because of them. We are neither worthy of the things for which we pray, nor have we deserved them, but we ask that He would give them all to us by grace, for we daily sin much and surely deserve nothing but punishment. So we too will sincerely forgive and gladly do good to those who sin against us.

Like David, we pray that the Lord – as He has helped us in the past – would continue to be our helper, our God, our Savior in all the days to come. We pray that no matter how troubled our situation, He will receive us. We pray that He would teach us and guide us in His path of Life. We pray that He would not allow our foes to triumph over us with violence.

At times it may seem that our enemies are winning. Those enemies may be evil forces in the world around us, or those enemies may be the temptations within us. Especially at those times of trouble, we need to wait upon the Lord, we need to trust that He does have all things in His hands, under His control, and that He is working out all things for our good.

Let’s read the last 2 verses together.

Like David of long ago, this can be our confidence. The Lord will be good to us. We will see His goodness in the land of the living – in life now and in life everlasting. WE can trust that His mercy for us is never-ending. Like David, we can wait for the Lord. We can trust Him with our whole heart and strength. We can wait for the Lord, trusting Him for help day by day, trusting Him for forgiveness through Christ and His cross, trusting Him for Christ’s return on the final day, trusting in His gift of life everlasting. Waiting is all about trusting! Wait for the Lord, be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. Amen.