“I waited patiently for the Lord; and He reached down to me and heard my cry.” (Psalm 40:1 NASB)
We know the definition of faith, learned it years ago when we were children, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” You noticed that I used the King James Version, but I did it on purpose. Because when we were children, we were not using bibles that said the same truth and ranked higher in word for word translation. We also can readily call to mine, a truth that was emphasized over and over in Sunday School, “We walk by faith and not by sight.” We learned the truth in the verses, or shall we say in some case, we learned to recite these verses. But did we learn how to have waiting faith?
With the Lord’s permission and the Holy Spirit’s guidance, this morning I have to focus on waiting faith. And remember, “To do is to learn.” Now, I could have written about faith in general or walking faith, but instead it was placed on my heart to generally speak to all of us and double down on waiting faith.
Why did I say, “double down?” Let me explain. At the start of the week, as I preached the Sunday message, a specific word, specifically sent sent by God for a specific purpose at a specific time. One of the points I made was from the verse above. That being, when we need to be sustained again, delivered again, rescued again, or brought out of our troubles again, we need to pray and wait patiently on the Lord. I used a few of illustrations. I referred to Jospeh going from the pit to the palace. Joseph had to show some waiting faith, going from a pit as an older teen to a middle-aged adult to see the unfolding of God’s purpose for him, He declared, “What others meant for evil, God meant for good.” Joseph, who had a vision as a boy, he had to demonstrate some waiting faith as he went from the pit to the palace. That was a focus on a person. So, then, Sunday morning, I focused on a people and pointed out that God preserved Israel and proved to be a promise keeper, when they were put into bondage by a Pharaoh who did not know Joseph, We stuck in the side note: “It is good to be around people who know God.” This new Pharaoh did not have the benefit of being around Jospeh and God’s people were in bondage for 430 years before they were brought out of Egypt, grown as a people in number so that they could be a great nation and have a great conquest. I stuck in another side note and you can take it any way you want: “If God would manifest the answer to their cries for 430 years, surely we can go through a few more months or four more years.”
Sunday, still doubling down, I also referred to Daniel, who prayed to the Lord, and God answered His prayer immediately in His heavenly abode. But the determined answer was not manifested for 21 more years. Daniel would need to have waiting faith. I could have used many more biblical examples, but I ended up at the cross, where all good preaching should end. I pointed to the waiting faith that mankind had to have while Jesus was in a buried tomb, but God raised Him up on the third day with all power in His hands, Mankind had to have a waiting faith.
As mentioned briefly above, there are countless of people in the bible that had to have a waiting faith. Yes, there is Abraham and Sarah, David anointed as a shepherd boy, the man sitting by the pool of Bethesda, Paul on straight street, Lazarus’s sisters, John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ, and many other persons. But these people of faith are not alone. You and I, we must have waiting faith.
Of course, as we look for Jesus’ return, we will need waiting faith. But in the meantime, while we are waiting and going through “stuff” we would rather not endure, while we are waiting to experience a better situations, while we are waiting for a relationship to improve, while we are waiting for the economy landscape to change for the better, while we are waiting for a lost child to come back to the church, escaping the generational pull away from the church, we definitely need a waiting faith.
Whatever your situation, cry out to the Lord and wait patiently for Him. As my mother taught me, “For believers, better is always ahead.” Keep having a waiting faith. And while you are waiting, keep demonstrating your faith by integrating some working faith into your waiting faith. Be blessed.
“Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.” (Psalm 37:7 King James Version)
Committed to the climb,
Mark L. King