Waiting on the Lord and Growing in Faith
Psa. 40:1 I waited patiently for the LORD;
he inclined to me and heard my cry.
Psa. 40:2 He drew me up from the pit of destruction,
out of the miry bog,
and set my feet upon a rock,
making my steps secure.
Psa. 40:3 He put a new song in my mouth,
a song of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear,
and put their trust in the LORD.
Psa. 40:4 Blessed is the man who makes
the LORD his trust,
who does not turn to the proud,
to those who go astray after a lie!
Psa. 40:5 You have multiplied, O LORD my God,
your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us;
none can compare with you!
I will proclaim and tell of them,
yet they are more than can be told.
A lot of people believe a lot of things for a lot of reasons. The more you talk to people, the more far out things you’ll find there are to believe. This prayer from the Psalms says that God “set my feet upon a rock,” and as you grow in your faith, you find this happens in more ways than one. Faith in Jesus, rooted in the scriptures, brings stability to your life beyond your circumstances and beyond hopeful make-believe.
You also grow to see the Lord work in longer spans of time than you do when you were younger in your faith. Praying for something in your teens or twenties has an impatient expectancy about it. Praying for things in my forties seem to have a lot more trust and patience to them. (Maybe somebody can comment on patience and prayer in your 50s, 60s, 70s?)
This whole section is full of ways to build up and strengthen your faith in God. Thinking about His works all day long increases our faith. Telling other people, in particular the next generation about His great works in our lives and in the scriptures increases our joy and confidence in Him.
Rooting our decisions in wise counsel and the scriptures is another way to “make the Lord our trust.” As we see the wisdom in God’s ways and the teachings of Christ, we can live out the truth that leads to the best way of life.
- Loving our neighbors (Mark 12:31)
- Forgiving those who do us harm (Matthew 18:21)
- Looking out for orphans and widows (James 1:27)
- Not judging people by their race (Galatians 3:28)
- Go teach everyone everywhere everything Jesus taught (Matthew 28:18–20)
And the best part that proves true was the opening: wait for the Lord.
If we get mad at a restaurant for bad service, it’s because we expect to be served by the waiter. God is the greater one in our equation. He is not here to serve us! But in His great love, He cares for us and is patient with us.
He will wait longer on us than we will on Him, but if we do wait for Him, He will also prove to be more faithful than we could ever imagine.
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