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Patience is a difficult subject, so many things in our world today are geared around not having to be patient. We can order items from Amazon and get them the next day, sometimes even the same day if we live in the right area. Compared to 100 years ago, travel is now super fast. We can also communicate instantly instead of waiting for letters to travel.

We are used to fast results and they still, often, are not fast enough for us.

Let’s take a look at what King David thought about patience:

(1)  Of David. In you, LORD my God, I put my trust.
(2)  I trust in you; do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me.
(3)  No one who hopes in you will ever be put to shame, but shame will come on those who are treacherous without cause.
(4)  Show me your ways, LORD, teach me your paths.
(5)  Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.

Psalms 25:1-5 NIV

David mentions hope twice here, to hope requires faith and the patience to wait.

Verses 4 & 5 show us that waiting on God is one of the ways that we can connect with Him. David says, “Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths”, he wanted the Lord to show him how He did things! One of the things that the Lord will show us is the patience of waiting on Him. We can conclude that, if we are not prepared to wait for God, there are some things we may never learn.

(11)  Teach me your way, 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, spouting malicious accusations.
(13)  I remain 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.

Psalms 27:11-14 NIV

In verse 11, David makes two requests of the Lord:

1. To teach him His ways.
2. To lead him in a straight path.

David wanted to be teachable, which required humility. He wanted to know the Lord’s ways and not his own. David knew from experience that God’s ways were immeasurably better than anything he could come up with.

David wanted to be led in a straight or plain (says the KJV) path. Straight or plain is the complete opposite of elaborate or complicated. God’s plans can be elaborate, but our part (if we follow instruction) can be straight and simple. Typically, the Lord will lead us one step at a time, what could be simpler than that?

“Because of my oppressors”, says David in verse 11. David knew that his only salvation from his enemies would come from the hand of the Lord, yet another lesson in the benefits of humility.

Allowing someone else to do for you requires humbleness on your part. When I first became disabled I had to learn to accept the fact that there were things that I could no longer do. I had to ask others to do them for me and to watch my wife do things that I used to but no longer could. This was a huge lesson in humility for me. We need to practice this same type of humility with the Lord, and allow Him to deliver His best in His timing.

In verse 14 David uses the word wait twice. Waiting is a necessary step.

Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.

Isaiah 64:4 NIV

God acts on behalf of those who wait for Him! This is one thing that distinguishes our God as the one, true God. Idols or non-existent gods cannot act.

So, what is involved in waiting for God? Why is there so much emphasis on this?

(1)  For the director of music. For Jeduthun. A psalm of David. Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from him.
(2)  Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.

(5)  Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him.
(6)  Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.

Psalms 62:1-2 & 5-6 NIV

Our hope comes from waiting only upon God, in verse 6 David tells us why:

1. He is the ONLY one we can depend on!
2. He is the ONLY one that can save us!
3. He is the ONLY one that can defend us!

God needs to be our first petition, not our backup and not our last resort.

We can find rest in waiting on God, this truly sounds backwards, but as our faith develops from experience of God’s faithfulness we will truly be able to rest in the knowledge that God has a plan.

(Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.)

Numbers 12:3 NIV

This humble Moses, who was more humble than anyone else on earth, was a far cry from the Moses that murdered an Egyptian. This transformation took 40 years!

(17)  and he sent a man before them— Joseph, sold as a slave.
(18)  They bruised his feet with shackles, his neck was put in irons,
(19)  till what he foretold came to pass, till the word of the LORD proved him true.

Psalms 105:17-19 NIV

Joseph waited a long time until he went from abased to exalted.

What does waiting do? It causes us to realize more and more our dependance upon God. God wants us to depend on Him because, like any good father, He wants what is best for us!

Luke 15:11-32 tells us the parable of the prodigal son. This story reminds us that we can always return to our heavenly Father, no matter what we have done. However, we can also think of this parable from a different angle; the younger son obtained the blessing of his father earlier than he should have, the result was reckless living, waste and sin. If the son had received the blessing at the proper time, in his father’s timing, things could have turned out very differently.

Adapted from a message shared on 4/13/2024.