Waiting Upon the Lord

Order of Service

• Call to Worship — Revelation 15:3-4
• Hymn — Gates of Beauty (#163)
• Prayer of Invocation
• Catechism Reading — Westminster Larger Catechism, Questions 24–26
• Hymn — Give Praise to God (#220)
• Pastoral Prayer
• Sermon
• Hymn — The Lord Will Provide (#246)
• Benediction — 2 Corinthians 13:14

Sermon Title: Waiting Expectantly Upon the Lord

Scripture: Psalm 40:1

I. All Believers Will Find Themselves in the Pit

• A. Psalm 40 was written for people in trouble — sickness, financial hardship, loss, conflict, and spiritual enemies (the world, the devil, and the flesh).
• B. Even the greatest heroes of faith found themselves in the pit.
  1. David, Jeremiah, Joseph, and Abraham all experienced the pit.
  2. Christ himself entered the pit on the cross, crying out in Matthew 27:46, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
• C. Psalm 40 as a whole is two poems joined together.
  1. Verses 1–11: a testimony of past deliverance — David celebrates how God brought him out of the pit.
  2. Verses 12–17: a lament and petition — David finds himself in crisis again and cries out to God.
• D. David places the testimony of deliverance first to remind himself that God's past faithfulness is the foundation for present hope.

II. What It Means to Wait Patiently Upon the Lord

• A. The Hebrew construction in verse 1 is emphatic — "waiting, I waited" — indicating the most complete, earnest form of waiting.
• B. Patient waiting is not primarily about the length of time.
  1. Joseph waited many years for God's promise to be fulfilled, but patience concerns the quality of trust, not only duration.
  2. Sudden crises also demand patience — an unexpected call, a sudden conflict, a temptation that appears without warning.
• C. Patient waiting is not stoic indifference.
  1. Peter acknowledges in 1 Peter 1:6 that believers are grieved by various trials — emotional distress is not faithlessness.
  2. David himself cried out in anguish: Psalm 6:2-3, Psalm 13:1, and here in Psalm 40 — God hears a cry, not composed silence.
• D. True patient waiting is expectant, hopeful waiting.
  1. Psalm 130:5-6 illustrates this: the psalmist waits for the Lord as watchmen wait for the morning — with certainty that dawn will come.
  2. The distinction between sinful complaint and righteous complaint is hope: sinful complaint rejects God's action; righteous complaint trusts who God is even amid confusion.

III. Why We Can Wait Expectantly

• A. David waited expectantly because he knew the character of Yahweh, even before experiencing his first recorded deliverance.
• B. God "inclined" to David — he turned, bent down, and drew near, like a parent crouching to comfort a crying child.
• C. God heard David's cry, just as he heard Israel's cry in Egypt (Exodus 3:7).
  1. God promises to hear our cry: "Brother, sister, Christian — I have heard your cry."
  2. His answer comes in his own time and way, but it is always the right answer — working all things for the good of those who love him (Romans 8:28).
• D. The distinguishing mark of those who wait in faith rather than in sin is that they continue to speak to God.
  1. They continue to pray and cry out to the Lord.
  2. They continue to open his Word and listen for his answer.
  3. They continue to gather with the saints for fellowship, counsel, and the proclaimed Word.