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A good Tuesday morning to you. Today we're reading in Deuteronomy chapters 19 and 20, the 62nd
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Psalm and Luke 18. I debated today, do I want to cover this parable that Jesus told in Luke 18 about which man is justified, or do
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I want to deal with Psalm 62? I debated back and forth, back and forth. I should do both, but I try to keep these devotionals a little limited, definitely under 10 minutes, and I don't think
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I'd make it. I want to go to Psalm 62. Have you not discovered this to be true for yourself, your life, that it is difficult sometimes to simply wait for God's deliverance in a trying situation?
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Maybe in a physical malady, a diagnosis that you've received, and you know it's going to be a long haul, recovery from some kind of an accident, or maybe just a really difficult situation at work where co -workers are at each other's throats, or maybe the boss is a little difficult to get along with, maybe a trying, difficult situation at home, parents with a wayward child or children, or maybe in the marriage relationship itself.
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It can be terribly difficult to wait for God's salvation in that difficult situation.
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By the way, let me define the term. When I'm talking about waiting for God's salvation here as David describes it in verse 1, he says, truly my soul silently waits for God, from him comes my salvation.
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He's not talking about that eternal salvation, salvation from the penalty of sin that gives eternal life forever and ever.
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That's not what he's talking about. He's talking about deliverance, deliverance from a difficult situation, deliverance from an enemy of some kind.
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David says he's waiting for God's salvation. I think many of us, most of us, maybe not, maybe even all of us, find it difficult sometimes to wait for that salvation.
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As difficult as that is, how much more difficult can it be to wait in silence?
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He says, truly my soul silently waits for God.
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In verse 5 he says, my soul, he's talking to himself now because he knows the threat, he feels the temptation, he feels the energy rising within him to do anything but wait in silence.
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He says, my soul, wait silently for God alone, for my expectation is from him.
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He has to exhort his soul to wait silently. Yes, it is difficult to wait sometimes.
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It's even more difficult to wait silently. Why? Because when we're going through a difficult situation, we want everybody to know how difficult it is sometimes.
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I'm not saying it's always the case with everybody, but we can just want people to co -miserate with us and just know how miserable we are.
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I've known people who just seem to relish in their misery and sucking people in to languish with them in their misery.
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They don't know how to wait silently. I want to be careful here. I don't want to communicate the idea that we should not ask loved ones, people that we care about, our church family members to pray for us when we're going through difficult situations.
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I think that's perfectly legitimate. What I'm talking about is the mourning, the complaining spirit that is just constantly whining about our difficult situation.
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The psalmist says, my soul waits silently. We often think,
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I don't deserve this, I don't deserve this, or why me?
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That kind of a thing. Instead of that kind of an attitude, let's follow through with what
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David says. My soul waits silently. Why? Because He only is my rock and my salvation.
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He is my defense. I shall not be moved. In God is my salvation and my glory, the rock of my strength, my refuge is in God.
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Trust in Him at all times, you people. Pour out your heart before Him.
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God is a refuge for us. Indeed, He is. I don't know what kind of difficulty you may be going through right now.
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It may be hard to wait for God's deliverance, but He is a refuge for you if you're
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His child. Trust in Him. Pour out your soul to Him.
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Enlist other people to pray for you, to pray with you, not in a complaining and a whining spirit, but just in a spirit that says, my refuge is my
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God. I need my God to interact here. I need Him to intervene here.
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Let's learn from David this principle of being able to wait in silence for the
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God of our salvation. Father in heaven, I pray that you would help us to do just that.
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Sometimes it can be really difficult. Sometimes we just want to lament and say, woe is me, and complain and whine.
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Deliver us from that, Lord. Help us to learn to wait in silence for your salvation.
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We pray it in Jesus' name and for His sake. Amen. All right, listen.