Waiting — E.A. Johnston

One of my first public preaching occasions occurred over 30 years ago. I was invited to preach in a maximum-security federal penitentiary. Myself and another evangelist were led by a prison guard down several corridors to a sealed-off room with about 50 wooden chairs in it and a podium.

And I stood nervously at that podium while the guard let the prisoners into that room to hear me. I was preaching that night out of my text today, which is Psalm 40. And I tried my best with my limited ability to give those men hope who were stuck in prison.

Hope in a God Who Hears and Delivers

They were in prison because the justice of the law had been carried out to punish the crime they had committed while on the outside. But I wanted to give them hope in a God who heard prayer and who could still deliver.

And I want to bring before you, friends, a message of hope today about a God who hears prayer and who can still deliver if you're stuck in some kind of prison of your own. Turn in your Bibles, friends, to Psalm 40, and we'll be just in the first few verses.

David’s Experience of Hardship and Waiting

King David knew firsthand all about being in a jam. God had allowed him to be hunted among the rocks like a flea by King Saul. He knew all about the hardships of life. He'd seen little lambs killed by fierce beasts.

When he was a shepherd lad, tended the flock, he knew about being in tough places with no way out. And this particular psalm is about such a hard place, so difficult and overwhelming and seemingly hopeless that all David could do was to pray and wait and wait and pray and wait while he hoped in his God, whom he knew personally as a deliverer.

Waiting for God’s Deliverance

I can tell you this, friends. God is a God who delivers. He may not and probably won't deliver you in the fashion you'd like him to and on your timetable. But if you stay upon the Lord, he is a God who delivers.

And this is what this psalm is about, deliverance. Well, let me read us at this time this striking passage of God's Word. And may the Spirit of the Lord be pleased to attend the reading of His Holy Word.

Waiting for the Lord Rather Than an Answer

I waited patiently for the Lord. Let me pause here, friend. What is David waiting for? Does he say, I waited patiently to be delivered? Does he say, I waited patiently for a financial windfall? Does he say, I waited patiently for this or I waited for that in answer to my prayer?

No, David is not waiting on a thing but a person. I waited patiently for the Lord. If you miss this, friend, you miss entire meaning. In purpose of Psalm 40, all throughout the Bible, you will find a constant running stream of glory flowing right through it.

And that is the glory of God. God answers prayer so he may receive glory. In John 14, 13, Jesus states this very principle. And whatsoever you shall ask in my name, that will I do that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

Don't ever forget that, friend. God moves in answer to prayer to bring glory to himself. He shows mercy to be exalted. David has learned the lesson that one doesn't make a thing needed the primary subject of prayer.

In this case, his deliverance from an impossible situation. No, David is waiting. He's waiting for the Lord to show up. The Hebrew wording is, in waiting, I waited. Who's he waiting for? The Lord Most High.

And when God shows up, friend, then whatever it is you thought was important takes a secondary place to his glory. David has had to learn in the school of hard knocks that obedience is better than sacrifice.

God’s Past Deliverances and the Church’s Impatience

And David has a first-hand knowledge of God's mighty deliverances in his past. Whether it was a lion, or a bear, or a Goliath, or the host of Philistines, he knew if he was to be delivered, then God would have to show up.

I believe we have forgotten this important principle of prayer in our churches today, and it's a crying shame. We miss God and his movements that should attend our prayers, should attend our answers to prayer, because we grow impatient and use human methods to get out of our jam.

Why should the church today wait on God? It's not necessary when money and manpower can get the job done quicker. So here our text says, In waiting, I waited. I read the story of a Baptist preacher whose only son went to World War II.

And when the war ended, all the families rushed to the train station in that Texas town to wait for the train carrying their loved ones. This preacher said, The train finally appeared and stopped, and the soldier boys, one by one, jumped down from that train car.

And he said, My eyes searched all their faces, but my heart did not jump until I saw my son. Are you waiting upon God like that, friend, with the expectation of seeing him show up in your life in answer to your prayer?

God Hears the Cry of His People

Now listen to the rest of verse 1. And he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. This is an anthropomorphism about God having an ear. It pictures the Almighty leaning over his throne, and he cups his hand to his ear to better hear the cry from below.

He's inclined unto me, it says, and heard my cry. I know it seems at times, friends, that heaven is like brass, and our prayers don't seem to reach any higher than the ceiling. But God is listening to you, friend.

You may think he has forgotten about you, but that is a great mistake. He hears your cry. And in verse 2, we see David describe his situation by comparing it to a bottleneck prison. He speaks of a horrible pit and miry clay.

The Horrible Pit and Miry Clay

In the time of the Old Testament, it was common to encounter a bottleneck prison. This was a pit dug out of the earth with narrow sides and a wide bottom. It looked like a bottle, narrow at the top and wide at the bottom.

If you were thrown in there like Joseph was by his brethren, you'd never climb out. The only way out was if another pulled you out. The prophet Jeremiah was cast into such a miry pit as this, and he had to be pulled out by ropes, and when he was, he was covered in mud.

All water rushes down into these pits, and hence the usage of the word horrible pit, which is translated pit of noise, as in rushing, gushing water. If a person was thrown into this bottleneck prison, all you could do was to shout at the top of your lungs, hoping someone would pass by and hear you.

Trusting God’s Word in the Pit

A pit of noise, a pit of mire. David is resolved to continue believing in his God and hoping in his word that God will be who he declares himself to be, and that is a deliverer. Are you trusting God's word like that, friend?

Are you hoping in God like that? David speaks of being delivered here in verse 2. He brought me up. Oh, friends, what words those are that contain the glory of God Almighty. He brought me up. The glory of God is seen in the gospel of salvation, where he brings me up from death and gives me life in his Son.

The glory of God is seen in those four words. He brought me up. God has come. Hallelujah. He has come. And in doing so, he sets David on a firm foundation of faith and testimony. He establishes his goings and puts a new song in his mouth.

And that should be our case, friend. When God comes in answer to our prayers, we will have a shouting party. Praise his holy name. God is a God who hears and answers prayers. Let all praise be to his glory.

Let us pray.