Waiting on God - An Investment We Neglect

by Dr. Ken Matto

 

Whenever we look at investments we always factor in the time it takes for that investment to begin to bear fruit. Whenever you speak with a good financial planner they will tell you that any good investment takes time. There is no such thing as instant wealth unless you receive a call from an estate lawyer telling you that you inherited 10 million dollars but such is the exception and not the rule. The earlier you start an IRA the more time you give it to grow by re-investing the dividends and capital gains and early investment allows your fund to weather any serious down turn in the market giving it sufficient time to rebound and recoup your paper losses. What am I talking about here? The essence of investment is time.

 

I am not selling any investment products here but what I am selling is the substance of time. It was Benjamin Franklin who said, "Do not squander time for that is the stuff life is made of." Isn’t it interesting that we will wait for our investments to begin to bear fruit yet when it comes to the things of God we refuse to wait. We refuse to wait on God as He works out situations and events in our life to bring about a desired effect. Let me give you a spiritual principle which you can claim for yourself. WAITING ON GOD IS AN INVESTMENT NOT A WASTE OF TIME SINCE IT IS GOD WHO GIVES YOU YOUR TIME. The Psalmist knew that God was his strength and was working things out in his life for his benefit which resulted in some good things happening to him. Let us look at some verses which bring to light the stark reality that waiting on God should be an integral part of every believer’s life. After all, what is the rush? Can you hurry someone into salvation? Can you learn the Bible in a hurry? How much can you learn in a fifteen minute sermon? Have you ever eaten something too fast and then felt nauseous? Same thing with our spiritual life, you can’t rush it.

 

(Psa 40:1-3 KJV) I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. {2} He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. {3} And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.

 

I waited patiently for the LORD

Here David tells us that he waited patiently for the Lord. Actually the Hebrew word which is used here carries a meaning that David completely hoped in the Lord. This is something which should characterize the people of God in that we not only wait upon God but in that waiting is our hope in the person of God. Our trust in God must be implicit to the point that we are willing to wait patiently on God no matter how long He takes in working out a situation in our life. Sometimes we stay in the furnace of affliction longer when we try to help God speed His plans along. (Psa 130:6 KJV) My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning. Notice that David does not begin this Psalm with his troubles instead he begins it with faith. As God’s children, if we undergird our problems with faith in God, the problems will be like mole hills in comparison to mountains. If we blend our problems with faith, the two will homogenize and then we can pour it out before the Lord as we wait on Him for the answer.

 

and he inclined unto me and heard my cry.

Here is another great Hebrew word which tells us that whenever we pray or call on the name of the Lord, we have the confidence that He will "turn aside or bend down" to hear us. Of course, this is figuratively speaking but the assurance we have is that God hears our prayers the first time we speak, even if it seems like our prayers are just hitting the ceiling and bouncing back. (Dan 10:12 KJV) Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words. Whenever we petition God, it is incumbent upon the believer to factor in a waiting time for the answer of that prayer. Daniel’s prayer took a long time to answer, almost 500 years. The end of the sentence in our verse really states that God heard David’s cry for help as he does ours also.

 

He brought me up also out of an horrible pit

In the Hebrew it describes the pit as a pit of tumult or raging. What is the horrible pit that all children of God were saved from? It is Hell! (Psa 86:13 KJV) For great is thy mercy toward me: and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell. Today we see the world in a tumult as our day and age is the day of confusion because the world is lacking absolutes because it has rejected the only book with absolutes, the Bible. (Isa 17:12-13 KJV) Woe to the multitude of many people, which make a noise like the noise of the seas; and to the rushing of nations, that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters! {13} The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind. God has delivered us from the tyranny of the world with all its snares. The world continues to rush on but the believer can be calm in the face of any storm because we have been delivered from the horrible pit, not only hell but the world system also.

 

out of the miry clay,

(Jer 38:6 KJV) Then took they Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah the son of Hammelech, that was in the court of the prison: and they let down Jeremiah with cords. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire: so Jeremiah sunk in the mire. If you have ever tried to walk in soggy or slushy mud, you find that walking is quite difficult. The mud actually hinders your effort and if you are not careful you could slip and fall and hurt yourself. We see in this passage that faithful Jeremiah was thrown into a dungeon of miry or soggy mud because he spoke precisely what the Lord had told him to. When we look at the miry clay we see this representing the dire circumstances of David. Remember how David was pursued by Saul for the purpose of killing him? Yet, even when David had the chance to retaliate he refused and let God handle the circumstances. This is a great lesson for us. Sometimes when we seem to be stuck in the miry clay and we see a possible solution which we believe could get us out of trouble or circumstance, yet in our spirit we know it is not right, then you may have identified a satanic substitution to God’s answer to your situation. Then you know that it is best to continue to wait on God because the next part of the verse tells us why.

 

and set my feet upon a rock

As God delivered Jeremiah out of the dungeon, He will also deliver you out of the miry clay. No faithfulness on the part of God’s children ever goes unnoticed by God. God may change the situation or He may change you in the situation. Always keep in mind that God has set our feet upon a rock. (Psa 18:31 KJV) For who is God save the LORD? or who is a rock save our God? That Rock is the Lord Jesus Christ and no matter what circumstance we face, God is always working out the details. Even though it doesn’t seem like it when we go through hard times or even a long period of hard times but God has planted us on the Rock. (Psa 27:5 KJV) For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock. Notice that the Scripture states that we shall have our feet set upon the rock. This means that with the help of our Lord Jesus Christ we will be able to stand in the midst of the trials. In essence standing teaches us that we can live above our circumstances instead of underneath them. A person who is stooping is normally carrying their own burdens but when a person stands, their back is free of the weight because they have transferred the burden to the Lord Jesus Christ. God’s children always land feet first.

 

and established my goings.

When we wait upon the Lord and let Him set our feet on the rock, not only will we stand above our circumstances but God will establish the pathway through those surroundings and we will walk through them. (Isa 43:2 KJV) When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. Waiting upon the Lord during hard times is a wise investment especially since He is the one who establishes our steps in the life. Whenever we try to help or run ahead of God, we will always run into trouble and it may cause us to stay in the furnace of affliction longer. I know this principle well since a long time ago I was going into work and I had planned on quitting my job that day simply because I could not take it. I was riding up the interstate on my way to work listening to Dr. Cook on WFME. His exact words were, "someone is going to quit their job today, don’t do it as it is always too early to quit." Guess who didn’t listen? I quit my job that day and was unemployed for 12 months following and then I found out that the company was sold and I would have received a $2000 bonus plus the company was not going anywhere. HOW MUCH CLEARER COULD GOD HAVE BEEN IN THAT BROADCAST? BUT DID I LISTEN? NOOOOOOO!!!! When we get to heaven and if we are able to review our Christian life, I think we would be shocked to find out how many times we have truncated the blessings of God by our own stupidity.

 

And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God:

Whenever we wait upon the Lord and give Him the opportunity to work us out of our situations, we will come through with songs of praise in our mouth. We will sing of the greatness of God because we will have experienced His masterful touch upon our life. How many times have we been in situations which looked bleak and then all of a sudden circumstances started turning the bad situation into a good one above and beyond what we could think of. (Eph 3:20 KJV) Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, One of the great results of adversity is to see how God works in our life to bring us through the valley and when we see how He did it, we will then sing His praises, verbally as well as musically.

 

many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.

Giving God the time to work things out in our life will actually be a testimony to others of our trust in God. When others see that God can be trusted in the midst of adversity and that He is capable of working out our adversities, then others will realize that God can be trusted and it is this kind of testimony that can help draw God’s elect to Him. It is also the testimony that can be of great comfort to other believers who are going through rough times. More Christians should reveal to others how God has worked out circumstances in their life as this would be a great help to those who are in the midst of adversity.

 

Summary

Waiting on God is an investment and not a waste of time. We have the evidence of Scripture and if each believer would look back on their life we could recall how God has worked things out in our life. It is important that each of us understand that God is the one who created us and gave us the time on earth and He has the right to manage it anyway He chooses. All we have to do is trust God during the night hours and He will guide us to morning.  (1/7/01)

 

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