Wait For The Lord | Weekend Sunday Service | Tyler Sanborn

So turn uh turn a handful of pages to your left.

We're gonna be in Psalm 27 today, Psalm 27 verses 7 through 14.

Psalms 27:7–14

And um I just like to admit it's hard for me to wait.

It's hard for me to wait for for good things and for things that are coming my way that I perceive as as not good.

Um, it's also hard for me to wait.

Thinking, I'm thinking of my son um when uh we're home, and the moment he realizes mom is not here, mom is not here, his whole world falls apart, and we can relate.

We don't maybe uh display these feelings externally, but internally, there's some discomfort, there's some turmoil going on inside of us because uh at times we struggle to wait, we struggle to to take that next step, whether it's um in line, uh, whether it's at a red light, whether it's uh for our our house to sell, whether it's for a loved one to return home, waiting is not easy, waiting is difficult.

And sometimes we often wonder, why am I waiting?

What is the whole point of this?

What is going on here?

Uh my dad would uh when I was younger express times of of of uh of training when he was uh in the military, and uh the common phrase was hurry up and wait.

Hurry up and wait.

I'm like, Dad, what does that mean?

Hurry up and wait.

It means we have some waiting to do, and it's here, and it's gonna be okay.

This is fine.

This is not bad, it's not not sinful to wait, um, though it is uncomfortable at times in in our text today.

We're gonna see uh the the purpose through through David's heart, we're gonna see the purpose that God has for us in waiting.

And uh that's found in in verse 14.

Um, but I'd I'd like to challenge us as a church to, while we wait, to call out and cry out to the Lord, because that's what David models for us today.

He's reflecting on the truths of scripture, he's remembering God's character, and he is calling out to the Lord within within his promises, within his will, that he might please God, that he might bring honor to his king.

Not all of us find ourselves in in David's position, but I'd like to call your attention, I'd like to draw your attention to to see your need to wait on the Lord, to see your need to call out to him.

And in every season of your life, you're gonna be waiting for something.

And ultimately, if you're in Christ, we're all waiting for the Lord's return.

So we're all in the same boat, we're all waiting on something.

And in the supreme, the supreme task of of waiting for the Lord's return, as as we have work to do, there's there's a power that God gives us through his spirit, and he and he calls us to ask for help.

He calls us to cry out to him.

So I hope you see that in the scriptures today.

We'll start in verse seven.

I'm gonna read our text this morning.

Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud, be gracious to me and answer me.

You have said, seek my face, my heart says to you, Your face, O Lord, your face, Lord, do I seek?

Hide not your face from me, turn not your servant away in anger.

O you who have been my help, cast me not off, forsake me not, O God of my salvation.

For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in.

Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies.

Give me not up to the will of my adversaries, for false witnesses have risen against me, and they breathe out violence.

I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

Wait for the Lord.

Be strong and let your heart take courage.

Wait for the Lord.

I'm I'm not a king, I'm not a ruler.

I I have minimal authority compared to King David, but we all have something in common with him.

We're made in the image of God.

We are human beings.

We are we are we are made wonderfully and fearfully in the image of our of our God.

And that and that is comforting because at times with the text, we we look at it and we're like, I it's not connecting.

I'm not I can see this guy's distress, but I've I don't know.

I I've never been here before.

Uh but for some of you, you you you understand David's call and his cry in a in a deeper way, in a in a heartfelt way that is that is painful, that is, that is difficult, that's strenuous, with great, with great tension and turmoil.

You look to these verses and and think to yourself, I understand him.

I understand him.

But regardless of your position this morning, we we have a God that hears us, we have a God that welcomes us to cry out to him, to call out to him, Daddy.

Like my my daughters when they were young, when I would open the door and they would cry, Daddy, and they would run to the door and meet me.

That is that is just a glimpse, just a taste of of what God would feel and look towards us when He would call us, invite us, beckon us to call out, to cry out to Him.

And God is faithful to respond, He is faithful to hear us and is faithful to respond.

A cry out to God.

This perspective that David has is looking forward.

David's anticipation is that God will hear, and his dependence is in him.

He has a great need for direction, a great need for a continued and sustained relationship with his God, with his king.

And this is a a need that is that is paved on undeserved favor.

David understands, David understands his position.

He comes to the Lord in humility.

He comes, he comes with with calls to be gracious.

Hear me, Lord, when I call.

He believes that he will be answered, that he will be heard.

His acknowledgement is that he looks to the God, the creator of heaven and earth, and says, You are the great I am.

You are the one who made me, who fashioned me in my mother's womb.

You hear me, and you have called me to cry out to you.

You want to know my heart.

David identifies as a servant and lowly, not deserving or entitled.

His petition and his cry is for God to listen.

And for us, sometimes it can feel like God doesn't hear us.

God's not listening.

God listens to other people's prayers and not ours.

I I've heard it joked about that if you want something from God, if you want Him to hear you, have someone else pray for you.

How sad is that?

How sad is that?

God hears our prayers.

He listens to us.

He wants us to walk in a way that will be pleasing to him.

And yes, there are ways that we can impede God's God's response as as sin gets in the way, as as pride gets in the way.

Sometimes God does not hear our prayers if it's if it's our sin and our burden that we put in front of this relationship.

But but David's here is crying out with a pure heart, answer me, hear me, listen to me, be gracious to me, be who you are.

You've commanded me, you've instructed me to do something.

You've said, seek my face.

My heart says to you, This is David, I'm gonna obey you.

I'm gonna do what you call me to do.

I'm gonna align my life with your way, with the narrow path, your face, God, your face, Lord.

I'm seeking you.

I'm seeking you, hear me.

Show me I'm drawing near to you.

Drawing near to you.

Hide not your face from from me.

Hide not the the idea of hide and seek comes to mind.

Uh we were at a friend's house recently, and the kids were playing hide and seek, and one of my kids was clearly better than the rest at hiding, and the the kids came, she's gone.

We can't find her.

Where is she?

Where is she?

And and I trying to suppress some pride was was saying, I'll find her.

Room by room, methodically.

You look, you look where they're not gonna look, right?

You're thinking, like, surely my child is not gonna look here.

Surely they're not gonna look here.

Surely they're not gonna look here.

Uh I ended up finding her.

It was a admittedly a good hiding spot, but but this is not our God.

Our God does not hide from us, He does not, He does not hide in a corner behind a chair, behind a curtain to to trick us, to to keep Himself from us, from seeking Him, from finding Him.

God is a God who reveals Himself, who shows Himself.

He is front-facing, He is He is not hiding us away, and He does not hide Himself.

Um, this is an encouragement to us because sometimes when we're overwhelmed, we like to hide away.

At least sometimes when I'm overwhelmed, I I just want some space, I want some quiet.

That's not our God.

Our God isn't overwhelmed by all the requests from all the people in this room, the people in this state, the people in our country, the people in this world.

He's He's all powerful, all-knowing.

He He is everywhere present, and He knows His children.

He knows and hears the cries of His kids.

Now many of you have children, and from across the room, someone will cry and you're like, That's my kid.

I know that's my kid.

I know their cry.

I know their voice.

I know they need help.

And sometimes you're like, I know they need correction.

I hear them, I know them.

This is this is our God.

He knows each and every one of your calls, the sounds of your voice, and he wants to hear from you.

He wants you to cry out to him.

Do you believe that this morning?

Have you given up on this truth that God hears us, that he wants to hear from us?

Have you talked to him this this past week?

What have your what have your calls been to concerning the Lord?

What have you been sharing with the Lord as you as you meet with him?

He's not hiding from you.

Don't hide from him.

Go and seek him.

Go and find him.

He is available.

He is ready to hear from you.

Verse 9, in David's heart as he pours it out, he doesn't want to be left alone.

He says, Hide not your face from me, turn not your servant away in anger.

O you who have been my help, cast me not off, forsake me not, O God of my salvation.

David's looking at his God as his helper, his rescuer, his champion, his source of salvation.

And as I was reading this verse, as I was studying this week, I was convicted because at times I I do cast I cast my kids away in anger.

Go to your room.

I'm frustrated.

I feel sinned against.

I feel disrespected.

I feel like they're not listening.

They're not obeying.

My my pride takes a hit.

I'm acting out in the flesh.

Go to your room.

In my heart, it's it's not honoring to the Lord.

This is this is this is not our God.

This is not David's God.

He doesn't hide his face from him.

He does not turn David away with all of his requests and anger.

Seriously, again, David?

Again?

This is like the seventh time this week.

Every day you've asked me for the same thing.

I get it.

I heard you.

He's not upset.

He's not angry.

He doesn't, he's not annoyed by your requests, by your calls.

Be comforted in that.

He's not going to turn his people away in anger.

He's gracious.

He's loving.

He's listening.

He's waiting to hear from you.

And he's available all the time.

Cast me not off.

Don't forsake me.

Don't abandon me.

These are these are feelings, and these are feelings that that people in our world feel all the time.

Maybe even you this morning, feeling alone, feeling unseen, feeling like you have no help, like you have no way out.

Like the season will just keep going on and on and on forever.

Know that God is with you, friend.

Know that God has not forsaken you.

He's not cast you away.

If you are his child, he is with you.

He is working for you.

You might not see it, you might not feel it, but it is true nonetheless.

God is working out all things for his glory and our good.

David must be must be reflecting in this moment of strong feelings of abandonment.

Though his parents, we don't see in the scripture, his parents have not abandoned, forsaken him.

But at times we can we can feel this way in seasons when we're away from home, away from family, away from friends.

In our emotions and our feelings, when when relationships get disrupted, we we can isolate, we can hide away and feel strong things like this.

We can feel strong feelings, like verses nine and ten would show.

He desires to hear from you even this morning.

It's not a it's it's probably gonna be better later.

No, if you have a need, call out to the Lord, call out, and he will he will hear you, he will act.

David, as he thinks about the scriptures, was probably thinking about other people might have been a similar situation.

Joseph in the in the pit or or Rahab being cast out by by Abraham without a hope.

Miery bogs and places that might snare him and weigh him down or on the mind, front of mind.

And David is David is comforted and encouraged.

He remembers.

He remembers God's character, he remembers his promises.

He's not gonna leave me, he's not gonna forsake me.

God is my salvation, he is my rock, he is my fortress, he is my refuge, he is my help.

Remember that this morning.

Remember that and and seek after the Lord while He while He is available and waiting, for this will not always be the case.

Let's write this down for point number one.

Seek the Lord while He may be found.

Seek the Lord while He may be found.

There'll be a time when it's too late to call out for help.

It's too late for salvation.

And the burden, the burden on the heart of the Christian is for the lost, for those who are perishing in their sin.

We have only a short time before the Lord returns, before an eternity with him is enjoyed.

But we have work to do, Christian.

We have work to do while we are here and while we are waiting.

Seek the Lord in your personal life, seek to make him known, seek to love him more and seek to share him with others.

In the discomforts and the rejection and the insecurities of sharing the gospel, sharing your testimony, God is with you even in your in your motions to make his name known.

Whether you're in a sports team, talking with a fellow parent, or uh chopping it up with the guys on your street or or at work or in your your circle of friends at school, make his name known.

Seek to make him known and and seek him in in your personal life.

He will he will not put you to shame.

He will not abandon you, he will not forsake you.

The Lord is everywhere present and he is your help.

We do not need to fear as we look to the beginning of the psalm.

We don't need to fear death.

We don't need to be afraid of the adversaries, the evildoers who assail us, who seek to eat up our flesh.

Reflecting back to verse 3, a literal army may encamp against King David, but his heart is fixed.

He's not going to be afraid.

The war surrounds him.

His confidence, his hope, his peace is in the Lord.

What a great comfort that is.

Admittedly, I I struggle at times to receive instruction.

And God has been and faithful and kind to put me in positions where I don't have a whole lot of experience or a confidence in my abilities.

And David is seeking the Lord.

He's seeking his help, his cry out to the Lord.

It should be our cry too.

Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies.

Give me not up to the will of my adversaries or false, for false witnesses have risen against me, and they breathe out violence.

His mind is continuously teachable.

His mind is fixed on growing and learning and trusting in God.

We reflect to verse four.

One thing have I asked of the Lord.

This is his singular focus in his life.

I want to seek after you, God, that I may dwell in your house all the days of my life.

That is my my main goal, my main objective.

How do we do that?

We we ask for help.

I want to know you more.

I want to follow you more closely.

I want to be nearer to you than I ever have before.

David's God lights the way.

He was comforted, encouraged by the scriptures, and empowered by them to lead Israel.

A level and righteous path is his desire.

A level path, not always literal, but a path that is that is clear of obstacles, clear of sin.

Lead me on a way that would be towards everlasting life with you.

I want to follow you.

I don't want to stray from you.

I don't want to leave your side, though my enemies are all around me.

Despite my enemies, God, teach me, teach me even in this trial.

Show me, be with me, lead me.

His cry is a great model for us, as are many of the Psalms, full of cries of supplication, requests for the Lord, and declarations of adoration, affirming to God his attributes and his character.

Glorifying his maker.

That is David's desires.

I want to be in line, in step.

I don't want to go outside the fold.

I want to be yours forever.

And a great cry for David is a cry that we can echo.

We can echo, you've said, seek my face.

I will seek you.

I trust that you will answer me.

I trust that you hear and you can do something about it.

The Psalms, a focus is a declared confidence, not in self, not in abilities, but in God.

Are you in a place this morning where your hope is in God?

All your hope.

Do you find any any ounce of confidence in any of the ways that God has blessed you, have has gifted you?

Any accomplishments, your abilities, or your your analysis or your authority.

Do you find your supreme trust in any of those?

Put your trust, friend, in God alone.

He will be your all in all.

Despite the enemies that surround David, despite your circumstances, your season that you're in, trust in him, desire to be taught by him.

I found that when I was playing sports growing up, I would get injured from time to time.

And I I would look back in the rearview mirror and see that God was growing me, though while he was healing me from different injuries that I sustained, he was growing me and teaching me at a far rapid pace than when I was not injured.

And sometimes God has a has a funny way of grabbing hold of our attention.

There's ways that he humbles us to instruct us.

Does he not?

That's for our good.

That's for his glory.

More often than that we'd like to just share with our with our peers, with our life group members.

And God is God is revealing to us that we need help, that we cannot do it on our own.

We need each other to run this race together as we seek Him, to make His name known and to glorify Him with our lives.

You may be in real danger, in real circumstances in your life that are that are unsettling, that are truly dangerous.

And maybe those, maybe those days or those, those seasons are in the past for you.

Some of us live in that reality of danger day to day.

And some of you have have faithfully served, and are many of you are currently faithfully serving, putting your life on the line for the benefit of others, for their safety, for their provision.

And God is God is with you even there, even in the most intense trial, friend.

God is right there by your side.

David's cry, give me not up to the will of my adversaries.

Don't let them get what they want, Lord.

They're praying for my downfall.

They're wishing that I would slip.

That my life would be ended.

Now, whether these people wanted what David had, whether it's his possessions or his power, his portfolio, whatever, whatever it is that these people wanted from David, or maybe they just wanted him dead because they opposed his God.

Whatever the case was, David's seeking God's will.

He's acknowledging the will of those enemies who would oppose him all around.

Those who would seek to bear false witness and slander his name, breathing out violence, threatening him in his life.

He may be in the a literal situation in this text, but there's not a single thing that can be done to him or done to you outside of God's control, outside of his plan, and in the strain in the trials in our lives are for our good, and we would do well to treasure them, to see them for what they are.

So let's write this down for point number two.

Treasure godly instruction during trials.

Treasure the moments of discomfort.

Lean into them.

Lean into God because He is there in them, molding you, shaping you, making you more like Clyde, more like Christ day and day after day.

Now, realistically, David, David could could fall short, and he did in his life.

We see that in the Psalms.

In his adversaries, his enemies, could be praying that he would be swept away by a foreign woman, that he would return evil with evil, that he would devise his own plans in pride or forsake God's commands during a trial.

They might be hoping that he would fear them and please them instead of his God.

And that's no different than us today.

We we have opportunities to respond in fear in the midst of trials, clap back, say things with with harshness, with with pride.

Things aren't going well.

I'm gonna do it my way.

I've tried it this way time and time again.

I'm not getting the result that I want.

I'm gonna do it my way.

They got the Frank Sinatra song on repeat in their mind.

Friend, fear God.

Don't fear man.

Man has man has his plans, their wills, but it's it's God who is in complete control.

Only the sovereign, only the sovereign has David in his hand, and he does you.

Trust in that.

Trust that the God who made you is the God that will sustain you, the God that is going to be with you in every trial, in every season, through heartache, through suffering, through real feelings of abandonment, people saying you're dead to me, people rejecting you for your stand for Christ.

Know that God is with you.

Wait on him.

Trust in his goodness.

Trust in his faithfulness, friend.

David's David's heart and his faith can sometimes be seen as overly optimistic.

He's got too much sunshine in his life.

He sees the silver lining in every every turn, every every trial.

But we would do well to follow David's lead.

Verse 13 draws our attention to look upon the goodness of the Lord.

His hope and his faith looks to his God and he sees if I live, if I live to see tomorrow, it's because God did it.

I believe that he will.

The etymology of the Greek means true sense.

This is what etymology means, a true sense of this word.

There's there's a tension, there's there's an intensity baked into this word, an eager and patient wait.

The Hebrew word is kava, to wait with hope.

And it's the same word that we see in Isaiah chapter 40, verse 31.

Isaiah 40:31

But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

God is strengthening us.

His purpose for us is to make us stronger, to grow us more into the image of Christ as we wait.

Hurry up and wait.

Hurry up and be made more into the image of Christ.

Something's going on.

You might not see it, friend, but there is there is action taking place.

There is a substance in in the waiting.

I've been waiting for this my whole life.

Finally, relief, finally.

The moment we've all been waiting for is here.

And the thought, the imagery that comes into mind when I would apply this and say this in my own words, it can't be more true than when I see my savior face to face.

That is the moment for every believer that we've been waiting for.

We've been waiting for his return, waiting for him to destroy sin, to destroy death permanently.

That's what we wait for.

We wait for the Lord.

And while we wait for his return, God is faithful to grow us, to make us stronger, to make us more like his son.

And the strain of the waiting in this word, the strain is strength.

We we feel sore after we exert ourselves or go for a long run or lift heavy weights or train, and our bodies feel sore.

It's a result of the tension and stress we've placed on our soft tissue.

And God is through the waiting making us stronger, growing our faith, growing our hope and our trust in him.

And for what purpose?

To make us stronger, to make us more useful tools for his glory, to make us more like Christ.

And what a privilege that is to wait, to be grown, to be molded by our God.

It is his delight to do that.

It is his delight to make us more like Christ.

That's what the Spirit accomplishes in us as we grow and as we mature as Christians.

It's it's what we'll do continually until Christ returns or he calls us home.

And for that, that's that's worth waiting for.

It's worth worth waiting a lifetime to see Christ and to dwell with him for eternity.

What a great privilege it is to wait, to be uncomfortable, to endure a season of stress, of strain, relationally, emotionally, financially, vocationally, whatever season that you're in, you may be waiting, but I hope that you see that God is strengthening you.

I hope that you see that God is with you.

Write this down for point number three, please.

Wait on the Lord with eager anticipation.

He's coming back.

Will you be waiting for him when he returns or calls you home?

Will you see him face to face?

Do you have an eager expectation this morning to see your maker, to know him, to be with him?

Can you say with David, Be strong, let your heart take courage.

I'm gonna wait for you.

You're my salvation, you're my help.

You show me the path, and I'm gonna follow you.

I'm gonna seek your face.

Can you say that this morning as you wait?