The Necessity of Waiting on God — Phil Beach Jr.

Hearing God Through Waiting

Very simply, and ask Him, in believing Him, to work this. If nothing else is said this morning, if just the next minute is communicated by God to everyone here, in His own way, in His own time, that will be enough.

It really will. Father, we love You, and Lord, we're asking You, I am asking You, Lord, and I know hearts are knit in this, because this is Your heart. I am asking You, Lord, to do a dig amongst Your people, a dig in the sense that You are going to open the ears of Your people.

I'm not speaking about an archaeological dig, but I'm speaking about a dig, Lord, that is revealed in Your Word, and save You. Do this work. There will be no hearing. There will be no receiving. There will be no life.

There will be no change. So I ask You, Lord Jesus, I ask You, Lord, simply, to perform a dig in the hearing of Your people, each and every one, in Your own way and in Your own time. Let them know the excavation work of God.

Let them know the digging of God, because save that dig come to You. You will never hear the Word of God. And the Lord wants to speak to us today. He wants to speak to every one of us. So, Lord, as You work, and only You can do this, I ask You, I ask You, Lord, perform Your Word.

Dig into every ear. I thank You for this. I thank You, Lord. Let me start by reading a couple of passages that are probably pretty much familiar to most of you here. Some of them may well be some of your favorite passages.

So, I'd like to read in Psalm 91, at the end of the psalm, the last three verses. And if you would turn there, I really believe it's important that the Scriptures are in your hands. I believe it's very important that you're seeing what you're reading.

Like Phil said, the Word is something that, the Word grows on you. And to see it, and to read it, and to see it and read it over and over again, there is really something the Lord can do. He can indeed make Himself very real to us.

Okay? Psalm 91, beginning at verse 14. There's a particular word I want you to hear. There's one word that's going to stand out in each of these little passages, and it's very important for us this morning, because the Lord has already made it known in His Word just how important it is.

Okay? Because He hath set His love upon me, therefore will I deliver Him. I will set Him on high because He hath known my name. He shall call upon me, and I will answer Him. I will be with Him in trouble.

I will deliver Him and honor Him. With long life will I satisfy Him and show Him my salvation. Proverbs chapter 8. Beginning at verse 17. Proverbs chapter 8 at verse 17. The Lord is speaking. The eternal Word of God is speaking.

And He's saying, I love them that love me, and those that seek me early shall find me. Verse 20. I lead in the way of righteousness in the midst of the paths of judgment, that I may cause those that love me to inherit substance, and I will fill their treasuries.

Verse 33. Hear instruction and be wise and refuse it not. Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors, for whoso findeth life, pardon me, for whoso findeth me, findeth life, and shall bring forth or obtain favor of the Lord.

The other one is very familiar in John's gospel. At John 14 verse 21. Many of you have that in your hearts, and that's a good verse to have there. John 14 and 21. He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me, and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father.

And I, and in the Greek this is very strong, a very strong word, it's the word ego in the Greek, and Jesus is saying, and I, even myself, will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Or I will love him and make myself known to him.

Or I will love him and reveal myself to him. Or I will love him and make myself real to him. Now there was a word that occurred, that was probably the hallmark word in that passage, in those several passages.

Is there anyone here who can tell me what that one word was? Yes, son? Love. Thanks. Thank you. Love. Keep that word love in your hat band. We're going to come back to it in a minute, okay? I want to speak to you this morning about what the Lord has to say about waiting on the Lord.

The Biblical Meaning of Waiting on the Lord

Waiting on the Lord. I didn't say, I didn't say praying. I didn't say setting forth your agenda before the Lord. I didn't say saying, Lord, I have some refinements on your plan. Will you listen up? I said waiting on the Lord.

Let's hear what God has to say about this, simply waiting upon the Lord. There are many verses here, and I'm just going to go through the scripture. I want to set forth, first of all, that this word appears in scripture, that is something in God's heart.

Then I'd like to set forth that the son of God himself made it a habit to wait, that the scriptures collaborate, that he indeed was one who waited upon the Lord. And then if I could, I would like to come back to that word, love, that I mentioned, because the revelation of scripture, as you know, brother Alan, is progressive, and the Lord hides things even from us.

But as our ears are dug, and as he opens them up, does he not gladly make them known? Does he not gladly make himself real to us? He does. In Psalm 25, there's just a couple of verses there. I just want to look there, because the word wait occurs, and we'd like to just see it, see it with our eye, see what the Lord is saying.

I'm not going to go into great context. I'm simply going to sit and let the Lord, let the Lord and let his word stand. Let them speak. Psalm 25 begins unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul? Oh my God, I trust in thee.

Let me not be ashamed. Let not mine enemies triumph over me. Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed. Down at verse five, this precious brother praying the King David, and I suspect the greater King had very much to say here too, who made it a habit to pray these words.

Lead me in thy truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation. On thee do I wait all the day. Psalm 37, and we're just going to go right through, right through the scripture. Psalm 37 reads at verse, verse seven, rest in the Lord.

That means to, that means to be silent to the Lord. That means to be mute, mute in his presence. And, and wait patiently for him. Over in Psalm 40, verse one, the Psalmist began that Psalm by saying, I waited patiently.

In Hebrew, he really said, he's saying the same thing here. He's saying, wait patiently or in waiting, wait, wait for him. Wait for him. Psalm 40 at verse one. Again, I waited patiently for the Lord and he inclined unto me and heard my cry.

Psalm 62. We're going to move a little more quickly. Psalm 60, 62. The very first verse reads in the King James. It reads like this. Truly, my soul waiteth upon God from him cometh my salvation. It really is rendered this way in the, in the original language.

Only my soul is silent upon God. Now, I do not understand all that said in this one word silent. And I certainly don't understand the depth of being silent upon God. But the Psalmist has been led by the spirit of God to write this word.

Only my soul is silent upon God from him cometh my salvation. He only my rock and my salvation, my defense. I shall not be greatly moved. And he comes down to verse five after he has already set forth the fact that he is in the throes of spiritual conflict and struggle enemies around great conflict.

And he encourages himself by saying these words. My soul, wait, thou only upon God. Wait, thou only upon God for my expectation is from him. Now we've seen the word weight about eight or 10 times. We have barely scratched the surface of scripture concerning this.

We need to see that the Lord himself is one who waits. Turn to Isaiah chapter 30. I believe it's 33. I'm not sure 30. No, chapter 30, verse 18. Listen to the Lord. Listen to the Lord, please. Isaiah is saying, and therefore will the Lord wait.

That he may be gracious unto you. Therefore, will he be exalted that he may have mercy upon you for the Lord is a God of judgment. Blessed. Listen to this. Blessed are all. They that wait for him. There's no one here that can outweigh God.

You can't outweigh him. He's a long suffering father. He's very, very pitiful to those that fear him. He is very faithful. He desires and he will wait and wait and wait. I thank him for this. I thank him from the depths of my heart because he's, he's been very long suffering and kind to me.

And, um, I don't know how he could ever thank him enough. I'll tell you what, can we just stop a minute and thank him? Can we father? We thank you for your long suffering. We thank you that you love us.

We want to thank you for your faithfulness and we're glad that you're waiting. I'm grateful, Lord, that you're waiting. And I thank you for the word you're saying right now. Blessed are all. They that wait for him.

Thank you, Lord. Come back into, uh, Isaiah chapter eight, just roll back about 20 pages, I guess. I said before that the Lord himself was one who waited, waited upon father, made it a point to wait. It was a habit of his life.

And we have testimony in the scripture that this is true. I'm going to pick it up at, uh, verse 13, or I think I'll, I think I'll just pick it up at verse 11. Remember the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

When you hear the spot, the prophet speak, he's not speaking anything other than what's in the heart of the living God. And so he says here at verse 11 and listen carefully. And that's why you have to read this slowly.

You have to put your eye to it and you have to put your ear to it and you have to believe that God will actually open up the eyes of your heart for the Lord spake thus to me with a strong hand and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people saying, say you not a confederacy to all to whom this people shall say a confederacy.

Neither fear you their fear nor be afraid. Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself. Let him be your fear and let him be your dread. Listen to the promise and he shall be for a sanctuary. Go over to verse very quickly.

I'm just going to turn the page to verse 16. Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples. Here is what the Lord is saying. Listen, and I will wait upon the Lord. That hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him over in Micah, chapter seven and chapter seven.

Michael was a prophet who was a contemporary of Isaiah's. He came a couple of years later, but they were contemporaries. They spoke a similar message to God's people. The Bible says in many, many places, at least five or six that in the, in the, in the mouth of two or more witnesses, the word of God is established.

Do can we have establishment? Can we find it here in verse seven? Micah speaking, he says, therefore, I will look unto the Lord. I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me. Both men spoke the same word in a different place, a different time, but to God's people.

These were men who waited upon the Lord. These were men who made it a point to wait. The scriptures say that it is a good thing for a young man to both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.

That's found in lamentations. That's at the end of Jeremiah. Those five chapters that come at the end of Jeremiah. And there is such hope in that little section of scripture in the midst of great travesty and humiliation.

That's come to God's people. We're living in a day now where travesty and humiliation are going to be our lot and there'll be no other hope in no other place. And you will not find it by running and racing and planning and scheming and, and, and, and, and doing things.

God is not looking for anyone to do today, but he is looking for those who would become, who would simply become whatever he has purposed for them. It is a good thing for a young man to both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.

Habakkuk two chapter five. You all know, most of you are familiar acquainted with this passage. Lord. Thank you. Thank you very much. Habakkuk two. The prophet says, I will stand upon my watch and set me upon the tower and we'll watch to see what he will say unto me and what I shall answer when I am reproved.

And the Lord answered me and said, write the vision and make it plain upon tables, right? The vision and make it plain upon tables that he may run that read a fit for the vision is yet for the appointed time, but at the end it shall speak and not lie.

Though it tarry, wait for it because it will surely come. It will not tarry. The vision for you and I is none other than the Lord Jesus himself. He is the vision. He is the one who desires with a deep desire to make himself known in the song of Solomon.

There's a little phrase in chapter two that says the desire of the beloved, the one who's loved of God. God causes her to say, let me see thy countenance, which is to say, let me see the thing seen. Let me see the thing seen.

Habakkuk is speaking to us a word that God would have us wait because Jesus will not tarry because Jesus will surely come. Paul said, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. Is this not true? Paul said, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.

The heavenly vision of Paul is the it occurring eight or nine times here in Habakkuk two, five. Jesus is the vision. Jesus is the one who wants to make himself known. So Jesus will say things. Vision tarry.

Waiting as Love for God

Wait for it. It shall not tarry. It shall surely come. Wait, I say upon the Lord, the Lord Jesus is saying over and over again through these lit this little word. Wait, wait, wait, listen. Isaiah would go on to say toward the end of this chapter.

Listen to this. Ear have not nor ear perceived, nor have the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. The verse can be rendered this way. Ear hath not heard, ear nor perceived. Now, at the beginning, I said something about, let me introduce this little word with several passages from scripture where the hallmark of each was the word love.

The spirit of God has taken this idea of weight and he has continually reverberated it through the word. He has made it known it's there. We cannot deny it. The scripture says from the prophet, their strength is to sit still.

The scripture says from the prophet in returning and rest is your strength. The scripture says they that wait upon the Lord shall exchange strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not grow weary.

They shall walk and not grow faint. And yet the spirit of God will take this very quiet revelation of waiting upon the Lord and he'll bring us to first Corinthians chapter two and he's going to do something.

He's going to convict every single one of us in this room who's listening. It is intended. God has purposed it. God wants to show us something because we have no clue as to how vital this little word weight is.

Listen to first Corinthians chapter two. Paul is citing the verse from Isaiah 64 and he changes it a little bit, but it's not Paul. It's the spirit of God who's taking the word. He's brought it to Paul and Paul says this word, but as it is written, I have not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for them that that love him, that love him.

This is not meant to bring any type of condemnation. I'm over 30 years with the Lord. I was 25 years and I knew nothing about this. I can honestly say, brother, I remember preaching a message on waiting on the Lord as a young pastor and I had read some of Andrew Murray's books because he wrote a great book on that subject, waiting on the Lord.

And I remember starting out the message with Vim and vinegar and I said, I use the Star Trek. Remember the Star Trek prologue, you know, the, you know, space, the final frontier. And I said, waiting the final frontier.

I didn't know anything about waiting at the time, but there I was up there pontificating, not knowing one word about the subject, not even having an idea. And yet the Lord would say, but as it is written, I have not seen nor heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them that love him.

Now, I wanted to simply present the testimony of the Lord. I wanted to show forth that the Lord himself waited. And I wanted to show you that I've heard brother Phil say that waiting on the Lord is a discipline.

And I've heard others say that waiting on the Lord is indeed an act of obedience. But there's more to wait on the Lord to wait on the Lord. Evidence is your love for him. It evidences our love for him.

Practicing Stillness Without an Agenda

Now, I grant we're busy people and I grant we do have many things on our mind, but I just want to take a few minutes. I'm going to change the course of this thing. If you don't mind, I just want to take a few minutes.

I guess I take this out of here. I asked the Lord yesterday about trying to make this thing meet, but not necessarily through my lips, but through the lips of others in the body. But before I do that, I just want to say, well, let's ask the question.

What is it to wait on the Lord? What is it really to wait on the Lord? It's just that you wait on the Lord. You don't come and pray. You don't come and worship. And that's wonderful, is it not? To sing.

But to wait on the Lord is to wait. The psalmist says, rest in the Lord, be mute, be still, be silent. Wait patiently for him. Now, here's what will happen. If someone here has tried, but they can certainly testify to this.

You've tried to wait on the Lord. You've seen this in scripture and God has even, even prompted you to wait. What will happen to you? You'll, you'll, you'll no sooner get into a posture, either a chair, or maybe on your knees, or perhaps on your bed.

And you'll begin to wait for the Lord. And you'll, you'll try to close off the door. And you'll try to turn off the phone. And a rush of thoughts. And, and, and the tyranny of the urgent will creep in.

Oh, I forgot to do this. I need to do that. And you will be two or three minutes into your wait before you're overwhelmed by all kinds of thoughts and concerns and the kids and the job and the list goes on and on.

Right? But the Lord would have us wait patiently. Don't try to wait for five minutes if you've never been able to wait for a moment. Should these thoughts come, simply ask the Lord for a scripture and, and just, and just go into it and repeat the word.

Many times as I wait upon the Lord, I simply run through all these scriptures I've just given with you and many, many more. And I use the word wait. I speak it back to the Father. Their strength indeed is to sit still.

In returning in rest is thy strength. Wait patiently for Him. In waiting I waited. And I'll just continually bring this before the Lord. And the Lord, and He can, He will, He'll bring you into a posture of waiting.

You'll begin to wait on the Lord. Now I know there are some here who are waiting on the Lord. I know there are some here who could probably give a, a far deeper, a richer testimony on what it is to wait on the Lord.

I'm going to give some, some people some opportunity to wait. To share that. To share that so that we can all participate. So that the body can minister life to one, to its parts, its members. And, you know, let me just share.

I don't know if I should maybe wait for the others to share. Maybe I'll do that. I'll wait toward the end for this. But, to wait on the Lord is to simply wait. There's no prayer. There's no agenda. There's no song.

There have been times, in fact, you may have to, you may be on your knees reading the Scripture in your devotional, and the Lord might just prompt you to wait. And, you want to know something? That word at that time will be the preeminent thing to do.

As wonderful as the Word of God is, there will be a time where you will wait on God. And He has His reason. It's a good reason. Many reasons. They're perfect. See, let me tell you this. To wait on the Lord isn't any different than to, to do what Peter did.

He walked on the Word. Did he not? He walked on the water. Well, to wait on the Lord isn't any different than that. You walk on that Word. Because God performs that Word. He works that Word in you. You might say, oh no, I'm an anxious type.

I could never get quiet. Oh no. Therefore, will the Lord wait that He may be gracious unto you. Therefore, will the Lord be exalted that He may have mercy upon you. For the Lord is a God of judgment. Blessed are all they that wait for Him.

Testimonies About Learning to Wait

And in prayer yesterday, the Lord said that I'm just going to be bold now. I'm going to speak boldly. I'm going to speak and I hope the Lord will honor this. Colette, I have been asking the Lord deep in my heart that He would cause you to come into a depth of waiting that you've never known.

And I believe He wants to do that. But if He's begun that, I would love you to come and share in a minute a little bit of what He's done in this area of waiting upon Him. Spring, I believe you're a waiter on the Lord.

I don't know why, but I believe you know something about what it is to wait on the Lord. And if you have anything that you can add or anything that you can share or anything that might help someone who's struggling, whatever it is to even begin to wait, I'd love you to share that.

Phil, I'd love you to share also. And if there's any others who want to augment or add to what it is to wait, please, the mic, please come and share. It's a wonderful thing to wait on the Lord. And some of these brethren will probably share just what some of that wonder is.

And I'd like to I'd like to add to that if I can. Okay? So, Collette, would you like to come?

I'm so thankful that Harry has this burden for me. I'm thankful that he has faith because I don't have much faith. But I know God can help. I thank God for the faith that Harry has. And just stand with Harry and pray for me that I can learn to wait on him.

Thank you. Thanks, Collette. I just wanted to tell you, Collette, the Lord Jesus slept in alleys on garbage cans.

He really wasn't concerned. He waited patiently for the Lord there. Spring, do you want to say anything? I think he's busy working in our lives in that matter. I do remember one thing that when I was first saved, after Alan and I were together, we went to the fellowship he was going to and the lady asked me to say something.

And I remember saying something to this effect. When you see a need, meet it. And we went home and he said to me, yo, this is watch out here. That's not necessarily the way of the Lord. That could be my nature.

To act in this matter. And if anything, I think that's where the Lord is working in my life, thanks to my wonderful husband, is to be able to wait on the Lord and not just to act out of if your nature is one of doing something right away, even if it's a good thing, it might not be what the Lord is doing.

And I think that's the thing in all these years of children and schooling and all those things. The hardest thing for me is to sit and wait. I think maybe the Lord has brought that doubt this morning between Collette and I is that it's so hard for us to wait.

But that's his ultimate plan for us.

Is there anyone who would like to share something about waiting on the Lord? Bill? Keeping us on the rock and strong and stable in him as we still go through the things that we need to do. Basically what I'm saying, do all these scriptures really mean waiting in terms of silence and nothing going on in our mind?

You're saying that waiting in motion is kind of like where it's at. OK.

Let's listen to the word a couple of times. OK, let's listen. But their strength is to sit still. They that wait upon the Lord shall exchange strength. It doesn't mean, it doesn't say they shall renew their strength.

That's not it at all. That's the worst thing that could happen. But they that wait upon the Lord shall exchange strength. Later on in Isaiah, it says, it talks about what's there. Wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times.

Strength of salvations. The fear of the Lord, his treasure. They that wait upon the Lord shall exchange strength. They shall mount up with wings of eagles. They shall run and not grow weary. They shall walk and not grow faint.

Though the vision tarry, wait for it. It will not tarry. It will surely come. It is good for a young man to both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. Let me give you this verse a little bit more deeper.

It is good for a young man to both hope and quietly wait for the person and work. Even the Son of God. For the Savior and his salvation in our life in many varied ways. It is good for a young man to both hope and quietly wait for the salvation.

The King, Bill, the King, David, in Psalm 128, I believe, he says, I quieted and behaved myself as a child that is weaned from its mother's breast. The picture is not necessarily of a child who comes into a place of acceptance because he is no longer going to be able to get to mother's breast.

But rather, this is a King of Israel saying, I am reconciled to what God is doing in my life and everything. And I yield to that. And I bow myself to that. And I receive from the Lord. So the King says, I quieted and behaved myself as a child that is weaned from its mother's breast.

Quiet. Silence. Waiting. The Lord would have us learn to wait. The Lord would teach us that in the waiting many wonderful things happen. But let me just share some of these. When you wait upon the Lord and you begin to spend time in His presence where you say nothing and your thoughts are all of a sudden just nullified and that's hard.

I'll confess and I'm not the mother of seven and eight or nine children respectively and I don't know what it's like to bear that weight and bear that concern. But the Lord is saying in the waiting time there is an exchange that happens.

The exchange is something that is not natural. It's not understood with the natural mind. The Lord says and will say to you he that hath my commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father.

And I too will love him and will manifest myself to him. The Lord desires to make himself known. He desires to come to one of us in a waiting posture. And he desires first of all to affirm love like we have never known.

He desires to manifest himself the living Jesus to our spirit. He can do so many things. In that place of waiting in that place of quietness in that place of loving and obedient to the Lord he will quicken his word.

He will show himself. He will call and he will he will offer repentance and confession but it will be in such a place of such perfect love and acceptance and there will be such a forgiveness and healing that flows.

It will be purely redemptive. The Lord wants to teach us what it is to wait. Not discipline only not an act of obedience more much more far more evidencing our love for the Lord. We can profess to love him.

We might love him. But do you know how much it is to love the Lord? Do you know how much the Lord longs for any one of us? Do you know that I read in scripture recently and I don't know if you've ever done this Phil I'm sure you have.

You get something from the Lord and you forget to write it down. I've done it many times. But I read I can only do it this way and maybe some of the mothers can understand and the fathers too. Picture a stretched out hand shot through with love longing and desiring for someone.

That's God. This is the living God for any one of us. He wants so much He wants so much to bring any one of us into a fellowship a communion an intimacy. You know the Lord Bill can meet you many times in the course of a day if you'll hear his voice.

You can stop Colette what you're doing and you can go somewhere and say girls I need to be alone for a few minutes. But let the Lord lead you. The Lord can impress upon you as you wait upon him to do something.

You want to do something? Then let him make it known what you're to do. You like doing something? You're one of these action-packed people? You're driven? You're self-propelled? Well I'll tell you what you just quiet and you say Lord the tyranny of the urgent has enslaved me and now I ask you to make yourself known.

I ask you to cause me to come into a deeper love of who you are. I want to love you. I want to fall in love with you all over again. I want to evidence my love by waiting. The treasure the treasure remember?

The Lord said and I will cause those that love me to inherit substance and I will fill their treasuries. When the Lord says I will watch out. Watch out. And he says I will many many hundreds and hundreds of times in his revelation of himself.

It is good for a young man now that can be that man there is generic a young woman a young girl to both hope and quietly wait for the person and his working in your life for the salvation of the Lord.

It is one thing to come and worship the Lord in the sanctuary corporately. It's one thing to pray in your chamber. It's one thing to to serve another. It's quite another to have the Lord begin to direct to direct your very life because he has so much that he wants to do.

Waiting for God's Word and Direction

One of the joys that the Lord will probably bring to one of us this hasn't happened to me. I don't know that much about this but the word the Lord says this in his word he says a man hath joy by the answer of his mouth and a word spoken in season how good it is.

And yet if you look at the really true what's there what's in italics what's really there it says this a man hath joy by the answer of his mouth and a word spoken in his season how good this can happen.

I want this to happen in my life that the Lord might so teach me. You're active as a mom and you're busy Colette. Me, I was always a talker. My mother used to say to me when I was a little kid Carrie your mouth is your own worst enemy.

And I got in more trouble with my mouth and I'll tell you I'm still on the learning curve because I didn't know the Lord as a kid and then when I come to know the Lord my mouth was even worse and it's still worse because the scripture makes it very clear what's in my heart.