A Waiting God and a Waiting People
(No. 1766)
A SERMON PREACHED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, FEBRUARY 17, 1884,
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"And therefore will the Lord wait, that He may be gracious unto you
and, therefore, will He 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." Isaiah 30:18.
The people were in a great hurry to be delivered from their enemies.
The Assyrians had come up in great force and were covering the land
with their armies. They had already devastated the neighboring kingdom
of Israel and, therefore, the men of Judah were afraid that they would
be swallowed up quickly, even as dry stubble is devoured by fire. The
Prophet bade the inhabitants of Jerusalem remain where they were,
adding, "For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: In
returning and rest shall you be saved; in quietness and in confidence
shall be your strength." But they would not listen to the counsel of
wisdom–they preferred to follow the suggestion of their fears and go
down into Egypt for shelter.
They were impatient because they were unbelieving. They were slow to
obey, but they were swift to rebel and, therefore, the Lord cries to
them by His Prophet–"Woe to the rebellious children that take counsel,
but not of Me." They sent their princes as ambassadors to Zoan to
entreat aid from the Egyptian king! Yes, they sent a great treasure
upon camels as a bribe to Pharaoh to espouse their cause against
Assyria. They would not rely upon their God and so they looked to the
land of the viper and the fiery flying serpent–and were stung with
bitter disappointment–for vapor and emptiness were the help of Egypt.
It seemed as if the motto of the people then was, "We will flee upon
horses; we will ride upon the swift." Again and again Isaiah urged them
to be quiet, saying, "Your strength is to sit still," but they would
not learn that rash haste is but ill-speed. They could not be quiet by
reason of their fear and folly. But the Lord waited and turned not from
His long-enduring patience. In the words of our text, He showed that if
mortals could not wait, yet their Maker could– "Therefore will the
Lord wait, that He may be gracious unto you"–and He assured them, yet
again, that if they would learn to wait, they would find it their
wisdom and happiness, for, "Blessed are all they that wait for Him."
Here is the subject of this morning's discourse. Certain of God's
people are in trouble and distress and they are eager for immediate
rescue. They cannot wait on God's time, nor exercise submission to His
will. He will surely deliver them in due season, but they cannot tarry
till the hour comes. Like children, they snatch at unripe fruit. "To
everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the
Heaven," but their one season is the present–they cannot–they will
not wait. They must have their desire instantaneously fulfilled or else
they are ready to take wrong means of attaining it. If in poverty, they
are in haste to be rich–and they shall not long be innocent.
If under reproach, their heart ferments towards revenge. They would
sooner rush under the guidance of Satan into some questionable policy
than, in childlike simplicity, trust in the Lord and do good. It must
not be so with you, my Brothers and Sisters–you must learn a better
way. I hope that the sermon of this morning may go some way, by God's
Spirit, towards instructing you in the holy art of waiting for the
Lord. "Those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth."
The text divides itself into two parts–first, it introduces us to a
waiting God. And secondly, it speaks of a waiting people.
I. First, we have here A WAITING GOD. I shall not confine our
illustration of this waiting on the part of God to the case of the men
of Judah described in the text, but I shall come home to your own
experience and speak of how the
Lord has waited that He might be gracious to you. Let us behold His
long-suffering towards ourselves. In so doing we shall not be leaving
the Scripture, for the text as truly describes our own experience as
that of the men of Isaiah's day.
The Word of the Lord which is now to be considered opens, first, with a
wonderful reason for waiting–"And therefore will the Lord wait."
"Therefore"–mark that word! The Lord Jehovah does as He wills both in
Heaven and earth and His ways are past finding out, but He never acts
unreasonably. He does not tell us His reasons, but He has them, for He
acts, "according to the counsel of His will." God has His "therefore,"
and these are of the most forcible kind! Full often His "therefore" are
the very reverse of ours–that which is an argument with us may be no
argument with God– and that which is a reason with Him might seem to
be a reason in the opposite direction to us.
For what is there in this chapter that can be made into a "therefore"?
"Therefore will the Lord wait." From where does He derive the argument?
Assuredly it is a reason based on His own Grace and not on the merit of
man! The chapter contains a denunciation of the false confidences of
the people and, because of these, one might have concluded that the
Lord would cast them off forever. If they will have Egypt to lean upon,
let them lean on Egypt till, like a spear, it pierces their side! God
might well say, "Let them alone; they are given to their idols!" But
instead, He cries, "Therefore will the Lord wait." He will let them see
the result of their carnal confidences–He will allow them time in
which to test and try Egypt and see whether Egypt is not a boaster
whose help is to no purpose.
Do you not remember when it was so with you? Perhaps you began your
religious life with the great mistake of hoping to find salvation in
your own goodness. You looked to your feelings, prayers, works and
professions for safety. You thought that your deliverance must come
from yourself and so you sought to "work out your own salvation with
fear and trembling"–without remembering–"it is God that works in us
to will and to do of His own good pleasure." You knew nothing of God's
Grace–you thought too much of your own good works! So many prayers and
tears; so many Church-goings or Chapel-goings; so much of sacraments,
almsgivings and the like–you thought this would make up a
sweet-smelling sacrifice, acceptable to God!
Blessed be the Lord who had great patience with you! He had told you
plainly enough, beforehand, that by the works of the Law there should
no flesh be justified in His sight–and you ought not to have tried
that forbidden way– but as you would try it, He suffered you to run
therein till a gulf opened before you. You worked out a plan of
self-salvation and the net result was bitter disappointment, for you
saw that you could not keep the Law and you felt, also, that if you did
keep it your obedience would make no recompense for the sins of the
past! You perceived that the wrath of God was your righteous due! An
abyss yawned before you! You dared not go further; neither could you
trust the sandy ground upon which you stood. You were in great distress
of mind, but it was for this that the Lord had, in mercy, waited.
I heard, some time ago, of a man who rented horses and carriages. A
person wished to hire and, having heard the price, he went round the
little town to all other persons in that line of business to get
something cheaper, but, as he did not succeed, he returned to the first
person and said he would hire his horse and carriage. "No," said the
other, "I am not going to let you have it. I know why you have come to
me–you have been round everywhere else and if you could have saved a
shilling you would not have come back to me." I do not commend the
tradesman, but I do not much wonder at his conduct. See how much more
patience there is in God than in man–we refuse His free salvation and
go round by way of our own merits and everywhere else to try and find
some other ground of confidence. And then at last, when everything has
broken down, we come back to God and to salvation through Jesus Christ!
And yet we find the Lord lovingly waiting, graciously waiting–a God
ready to pardon!
Further, these people were rebels against God, and the Lord was waiting
to let them fully manifest their rebellious spirit and be made ashamed
of it. The chapter begins that way–"Woe to the rebellious children."
Further on He calls them, "a rebellious people, lying children,
children that will not hear the Law of the Lord"–was that a reason for
waiting to be gracious? Yes, with the Lord, sin shows the need of Grace
and so becomes a reason for Grace. The Lord allowed the people to show
their rebellious character–to let all mankind know what kind of people
God had to deal with–and that they might, in later days, have the
higher admiration of His long-suffering and of His Grace.
I think the Lord permits many sinners to go to the full length of their
tether in order that they may know, in the future, what stuff they are
made of, and may never trust in themselves. Those who, from their youth
up, have been under restraint do not know the evil of their own hearts
and are apt to think that they can scarcely be heirs of wrath even as
others. But those who have developed their innate depravity by actual
sin dare not dream such proud falsehoods, for their actual sins would
cry them down if they did so! When the Lord leaves us to ourselves,
awhile, and just stands back and lets us have our spin, what pretty
creatures we are! Ah me, it makes us blush to remember all! In later
years we have to bemoan and distrust ourselves–and admire the
measureless bounty of the Grace which chose us–and would not alter its
choice notwithstanding all our untowardness! A strange "therefore" is
God's, "therefore"–"therefore will the Lord wait that He may be
gracious"–that the abundant display of the sin within the man may lead
to a more thorough and hearty confession of his fault and to a greater
admiration of the splendor of the Grace which puts that sin away.
The Lord would wait, again, for yet another reason, namely, to let them
suffer somewhat of the effect of their sin. He permitted them to send
their ambassadors to Egypt that they might come back disappointed. And
He allowed the Assyrians to devastate the land that they might feel the
pinch of famine and learn that it is an evil and a bitter thought to
forsake the living God. It has a purifying effect upon men to let them
bathe in the bitter waters which flow from the foul fountain of their
iniquity! It is well that they should see what kind of serpent is
hatched from the egg of evil.
Perhaps some of us were left in the same way and we shall never forget
what we thus learned–we were allowed to go on in sin and we did so
until we began to feel the result of it! And now we flee from it with
horror. We put our hand into the fire until it was burned–and now we
dread the fire. The quittance of self, the abhorrence of sin, the
clinging to the Lord which come out of our miseries, are all precious
and, therefore, does the Lord wait to be gracious–wait until we set a
just value upon that Grace–and have a due horror of the sin from which
it delivers us.
Once more, I do not doubt that the Lord waited in this case to be
gracious until the people should begin to pray, for that seems to be
the turning point in this affair. The Prophet says, "He will be very
gracious unto you at the voice of your cry; when He shall hear it, He
will answer you." The Lord is listening for the sinner's prayer! How is
it that you have not prayed long ago, O troubled spirit? Why have those
lips been dumb for years? What? With all your sense of sin and with a
clear idea of the misery that will come of it, do you still refuse to
pray? Then you may well wonder that the Lord should wait! It is a
marvel that He should have any patience with a prayerless soul! The
open display of His Grace in your soul in the form of pardoned sin will
not appear to you until it is said, "Behold, he prays!"
Why, then, are you so slow to cry to Him? If mercy is to be had for the
asking, what shall become of the man who never asks? If God says, "Only
acknowledge your transgressions," what must be the fate of him who will
not acknowledge his transgressions? If the Lord sets Mercy's door
before us, and writes over it, "Knock, and it shall be opened unto
you," how can we be excused if we do not knock at once? And yet such
was my condition once–and such was yours, my Brothers and Sisters in
Christ! We did not feel the guilt of our sin! We would not acknowledge
that we had erred! We did not recognize the misery that sin brought
upon us! We did not pray! We did not seek the Lord through Jesus
Christ! Yet all that long while the Lord of Mercy waited that He might
be gracious to us! The reason why He should have exercised such
forbearance and long-suffering is hard to see until we look into the
goodness of His heart–until we see in the heart of His compassion, the
deep fountains of love from which rivers of mercy flow. Behold how the
heart of God yearns towards His people! Was it ever more clearly seen
than in His long forbearance, His waiting to be gracious unto us?
This leads us to notice, in the second place, the singular patience of
God in that waiting. What does it mean when we are told that the Lord
waits that He may have mercy upon us? It means that He kept back the
sword of Justice! It is inevitable that where there is evil, God shall
be angered with it. It is not a matter of arbitrariness with Him, but
it is inevitable that the Judge of all the earth should take vengeance
upon evil and wrong. God must punish sin! This is one of the fixed and
settled principles of His very existence! Here, the attribute of
long-suffering patience comes in and spares the guilty from time to
time, giving space for repentance. Justice waits awhile, that Love may
try her hand and bring the rebel to a better mind. With some of us, the
Lord must have drawn the sword right out of the scabbard! And yet He
put it back, again, into the sheath, bidding it be quiet a little
longer. With some of us the Lord must have lifted up the axe to cut us
down, for we have been such cumberers of the ground–and yet His mercy
has stayed His justice and the axe has been laid by for mercy's sake.
Because of the intercession of the Lord Jesus, the Lord has put the
lifted thunderbolt down–and here we are, still the living–the living,
I trust, to adore our long-suffering God! There are some dear friends
before me who must forever highly honor the forbearance of God in
sparing them through so many years of sin till, at last, their gray
heads bowed before His Grace! It could have been easy enough for God to
have destroyed them when they were running riot in their
youth! Yes, easier to destroy them than to spare them! Have not some of
you been in positions where, if you had been killed, it would have
seemed only according to the order of Nature that you should be? But
your being spared was a miracle of Providence! A special interposition
of goodness! The brand in the fire will be consumed by being left
alone. And if it is to escape, it must be plucked from the burning.
Well, then, bless that God who waited and held back the punishment that
was due to you! Bless the Judge who was so slow to call you to account,
who postponed the day of trial! Yes, and issued a reprieve to let you
live when you were already condemned!
This patience of God signifies more, however, than delay in
punishment–it means the continuance of privileges, for the Lord told
these people that although He might give them the bread of adversity
and the water of affliction on account of their sins–yet He would not
take away their teachers from them! They would still be instructed,
warned and invited to come to Him. Now, if God were to send a word of
mercy to a man, once, and that man willfully refused His message, it
would be perfectly just on God's part if He said, "I will never send
another ambassador! It was condescension on My part to invite this
rebel to be at peace with Me and since he declines to do so, he has
made his choice of war–and surely I will contend with him. As he has
made his bed, so shall he lie in it! As he prefers to be My enemy, so
let him be, to his own destruction."
Ah me, how long does Mercy linger! How earnestly she pleads with men to
be kind to themselves! Instead of hasty wrath against His people when
they rejected His Word, the Lord sent Prophet after Prophet to them.
And when they stoned one and slew another, He even sent His own Son,
saying, "They will reverence My Son." Still did the heralds of
salvation cry, "Turn you, turn you, why will you die?" Has it not been
so with some of us? We heard the Gospel when we were quite young and we
have continued to hear it till we are quite old, so patient is the
Lord! It may be that I speak to some who have continued to hear that
Gospel every Sabbath and have determinedly refused it throughout a long
life. Shall it continue to be so? Dare we always provoke the Lord?
Still the white flag is hung out and the silver trumpet knows no note
but, "Mercy, mercy, mercy!" Oh that man would hear that note and turn
to the Lord! O my Brethren, the man who loves not the Lord Jesus is
already "Anathema Maranatha!" All holy intelligences say, "Amen" to his
being held accursed and yet the Lord permits him to tread His courts
and hear His Word–and gives him space in which to repent of his evil
deeds! He waits that He may be gracious unto you, therefore He bids His
ministers wait upon you in hope and proclaim to you, over and over
again, the loving-kindness of the Lord! So singular was God's patience
that He even increased His holy agencies to lead the people to Himself.
He says–"Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, This is the
way, walk you in it."
Do we not remember how, when their public ministry seemed to miss us,
we began to be bothered by an inward force more powerful than visible
ministries? Conscience cried aloud and accused us from within doors. I
remember well when it dogged my heels wherever I went–it would not be
at peace with me until I was at peace with God! Do you not remember in
your own case when it began to be very hard to sin? The drags were
clapped on and you could not gallop down the hill as you wished to do?
You found it hard to kick with naked feet against the sharp pricks of
conscience! You found it difficult to go to Hell–you had to leap fence
and rail and ditch–and you were tired of such steeple-chasing. The
voice of Jesus from without seemed echoed from within! You could hardly
tell where the voice came, but it was always following and crying,
"This is the way, walk you in it."
O the devices of infinite Love! What patience was shown by the Lord to
send this inward monitor! Why did He not say, "They have Moses and the
Prophets; let them hear them"? Though we had Moses and the Prophets,
the Scriptures to read and the Gospel to hear, yet He added to all this
the still small voice! In addition to a summons from without, He added
a pleader within! Did we contend against even this? Alas, we did, for
we seemed determined to destroy ourselves! Behold, what manner of
patience the Lord has exercised towards us according to the abundance
of His Grace.
No, this is not all, for all this while God was passing by our
rejections of Him, blotting out our sinful refusals and insulting
despising of His goodness. You know how it would be, even with your own
child, if you were to say to him, "My Child, I am ready to forgive you
if you will confess your fault." If he would not acknowledge that he
was wrong, but held out stubbornly, you might have considerable
patience, but I question if that patience would last for days and
weeks. Your rod would soon be spoken with. Men that have been very
famous for bearing insults have, at last, been compelled, in
vindication of their own honor, to put an end to the provocation. How
grievously far have you and I carried our insults of God!
Do I not speak to some who are carrying the provocation a long way even
now? You will not accept the Son of God by whom alone you can be saved!
To save you it was necessary that Jesus should die, but you trample on
His blood! It was not possible for you to enter Heaven unless the Lord
Jesus should be your Substitute and bear your sin–and you have heard
all about that wonderful Truth of God–and have yet acted as if it were
nothing to you. You have not believed on Jesus! You have rejected the
Father's testimony concerning Him and resisted the witness of the
Spirit of God! This you have done for many a day. The tears have
started in your eyes, but you have wiped them away and they have gone
as the dew of the morning disappears in the heat of the sun. You have,
at times, been driven to your chamber and to your knees, but you have
forgotten your hurried prayers and, again, the dog has returned to his
vomit and the sow that was washed, to her wallowing in the mire! This
cannot always last–men cannot always thrust their fingers into God's
eyes at this rate! The wonder is that it has lasted so long.
Please remember that all this while God has been waiting and everything
has been ready, ready for the sinner to come to Him. Listen to the
Divine Words–"My oxen and My fatlings are killed, and all things are
ready: come unto the marriage." Alas, they would not come! So it was
with us who are now brought in to enjoy the provisions of Grace–and so
it is with many who are still outside the banquet hall–they do despite
unto the love and mercy of God and the provision of His boundless
Grace. Of multitudes Jesus says sorrowfully, "You will not come unto Me
that you might have life." I wish I could better set forth the singular
waiting of the Lord that He may have mercy upon us, but I pray the Holy
Spirit to bless my feeble utterances to all that hear me this day.
I must now notice a most remarkable action which follows upon the
waiting. After the Lord had displayed His patience to His people, He
resolved to go further, and He proceeded to a most notable matter which
is thus described– "Therefore will He be exalted, that He may have
mercy upon you." You and I would have turned the text round the other
way and said–"Therefore will He have mercy upon you, that He may be
exalted"–that would be true, but it is not the Truth here taught. The
picture represents the Lord, as it were, as sitting still and allowing
His people, through their sin, to bring suffering upon themselves. But
now, after long patience, He awakens Himself to action. I think I hear
Him say, "They will not come to Me. They refuse all My messengers. They
plunge deeper and deeper into sin, now will I see what My Grace can
do!"
He rises as one who means to put forth His power. He stands ready for
action. And now, as if that were not enough, He says to Himself, "I
will be exalted. I will go up to My Throne that I may have mercy upon
them. I will manifest My power. I will take the ensigns of My dominion
into My hands and act as a Sovereign. I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy–and where sin abounded shall much more Grace abound." Oh,
how I love to speak of the Lord exalted in Christ Jesus upon the Throne
of Grace! Glory be to His name! Do you see what a wonderful thing is
the work of Grace in saving men–"Therefore will He be exalted, that He
may have mercy upon you." He will take to Himself an absolute
Sovereignty, mount to the Throne, and display His reigning Grace! Where
else is there any hope for men?
It also bears this meaning. When a man is about to deal a heavy stroke,
he lifts himself up to give the blow–he exalts himself to bring down
the scourge more heavily upon the shoulder. Even so the Lord seems to
say, "I will put forth all My might. I will exercise all My skill. I
will display all My attributes up to their greatest height, that I may
have mercy upon these hardened, stiff-necked sinners–I will be exalted
that I may have mercy upon them." As if He would, in some way, make His
greatness to be more illustrious than it had ever been seen before, by
doing the most splendid act He had ever done, namely, by having mercy
upon these provoking sinners for whom He had been waiting so long! Oh,
but this is a surpassingly glorious text!
I remember thinking, "Surely, if God saves me, He will be a God,
indeed!" He did save me because He is a God, indeed. Here is the proof
of it–"Look unto Me and be you saved, all you ends of the earth; for I
am God." Because He is God, He saves those who look to Him! Somebody
here says, "Well truly, if the Lord were to crown His patience by
bringing me to Himself I should think more of His glorious Grace than
ever I have done before." Just so, and He means to make you think after
that manner! Our Lord intends to make you stand at His feet weeping, as
that woman did who had been a sinner and who so loved Him that she
washed His feet with tears–and wiped them with the hair of her head
because she had sinned much and much had been forgiven. Jesus loves to
make converts like these. "Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us
exalt His name together!" is a fit speech for a great sinner!
But how can we magnify the Lord? He is already infinitely great–how
can we magnify Him or make Him great? We can do it by our thoughts–we
can greaten Him in our own esteem and in the esteem of our fellow men.
We can cry out in wonder at His exceeding mercy–"Who is a God like
unto You, that pardons iniquity and passes by the transgression of the
remnant of His heritage?" We never cry out, "Who is a God like unto
You?" until we see Him forgiving sin! Then is He robed in an excellent
and surpassing Glory! The Lord is exalted when He has mercy upon
sinners in Christ Jesus because by this deed of Grace He glorifies
every attribute, reveals His wisdom, displays His power, honors His
justice and displays His love! His power is more resplendent in saving
souls than in making worlds! His justice is more honored in the
Sacrifice of Christ than in sending offenders to Hell! And His love is
more resplendent than is all the gifts of His Providence!
If you would see the Sun of Righteousness at seven times its ordinary
strength–behold it shining with Grace and the Truth of God upon men
who deserve to be thrust into outer darkness–if God has magnified His
own name in our salvation, let us magnify it, too! O you saints of His,
remember forever those words, "His Glory is great in your salvation:
honor and majesty have you laid upon Him." One thing more before I
leave this waiting God and that is, there is a final success to all
this waiting. When the waiting turns to a glorious transaction of Grace
upon the sinner's heart and conscience, then the time of love has come.
Observe that it is written, "He will be very gracious unto you at the
voice of your cry." When God has waited for the soul–that soul is
brought to wait on Him. God's patience is not in vain towards His
chosen. When God deals with His redeemed, He does not deal in vain! The
Almighty is not defeated. Jehovah is an Omnipotent God–He works out
His own pleasure upon men and we see Him, by His patience and Grace,
causing men to pray–yes, and to weep!
That is implied in the 19th verse–"They shall weep no more"–then they
did weep till He forgave! Their tears and prayers are flowing, for He
declares, "He will be very gracious unto you at the voice of your cry."
Now, also, they listen eagerly to the Gospel, for they count it a
privilege that "their teachers shall not be removed into a corner any
more." They value their ministers and look at them with careful love,
as it is here written–"Your eyes shall see your teachers." Those whom
they formerly despised, they now esteem and delight in! They begin,
also, to obey the voice of the Lord, for they hear the voice behind
them saying, "This is the way." This great change comes to
transgressors when God deals with them in His own effectual
manner–then they mourn for sin, pray for mercy, listen with attentive
ears to the message of love–and then they bow themselves down before
the present God and desire nothing so much as to lie at peace with
Him.
Meanwhile, one of the chief and most evident tokens of their change is
their casting away of the sin they formerly loved. "You shall defile,
also, the covering of your graven images of silver and the ornament of
your molten images of gold: you shall cast them away as a menstrual
cloth. You shall say unto it, Get you hence." See what free Grace can
do? It is no enemy of holiness, but the direct cause of it! The love of
God reigning in the heart makes a man hate his sin! God never forgives
sin without making us forsake sin. When He casts our sins into the
depths of the sea, He causes us to do the same. When the Lord says to
our sin, "Be gone from My memory," we say to it, "Be gone from my
heart." Repentance, faith, holiness and zeal all follow upon the
effectual working of Divine Grace. Oh, that all of you were under its
power! Forever blessed be the Lord who waits to be gracious! And then,
being gracious unto us, makes us gracious and causes us to bring forth
the fruits of righteousness to His honor and praise.
II. Now learn the lesson of the whole subject. Under our second head we
have A WAITING PEOPLE–"Blessed are all they that wait for Him." God's
waiting people wait only upon God. They are not trusting to the arm of
flesh, nor looking to the changeable creature. They do not rely upon
themselves, nor depend upon their own experiences, or their mental
acquirements. Here is their song–
"My spirit looks to God alone My rock and refuge is His throne! In all
my fears, in all my straits, My soul on His salvation waits."
Dear Friends, you can judge whether you are the people of God or not by
this–Can you say, "My Soul, wait only upon God, for my expectation is
from Him"? "Trust you in the Lord forever: for in the Lord Jehovah is
everlasting strength." God's waiting people wait upon God expectantly.
They are looking for everything from Him, for He is their All in All.
They have had a great deal from God, but they expect more from Him.
They already swim in a river of Grace and
they are floating on to an ocean of Glory! They know that they have
nothing in themselves and they rejoice that they have everything in
their God. Every morning they see that the light of the day comes from
above and so, for spiritual things, they lift up their eyes to the
hills, where comes their help! They are not waiting in despair, nor
even in hesita-tion–they are waiting in hope–a joyous and assured
hope of blessedness in reserve. They confidently expect to find their
way in the Lord grow brighter and brighter and still brighter–from the
twilight of the morning to the shining of the perfect day. Oh, my
Brothers and Sisters, let us wait and watch, even as men look for the
dawn because they know that it will not fail them.
"But," you ask, "what are they waiting for?" I answer, God's people are
waiting upon Him patiently for many things. Sometimes they wait for the
tokens of His Grace–they are believing in the Lord Jesus Christ and
yet they may not, for the moment, enjoy the peace and comfort which are
theirs by faith. If they had more faith their peace would at once be as
a river, but it is well if they have faith enough to wait for that
peace. At times faith may be very weak and then it is well if it clings
and abides in its place. A man may believe and be saved and yet he may
not be sure of his own salvation, nor discern the safety and
blessedness of his condition in Christ Jesus. Oh Soul, if you cannot
get out of the dark, believe in the dark! If you have light enough just
to look to Christ by faith, though you cannot perceive all His beauties
and His glories, yet remember you are bid to look and are saved by
looking, however dim the light may be!
If you can but look to the Cross so as to trust wholly to the Lamb of
God, He has taken away your sin! All the joy of the Lord and all the
peace and all the rest that come of faith do not come at once–you must
wait for them. These are the ripe ears of corn and you must plow in
hope and sow in faith before these can be reaped. The Graces of the
Christian character–the assurance of faith, the strength of courage,
the mellowness of experience–all these are peaceable fruits of
righteousness which will come in their season and not before. Surely
some of the Lord's people appear to attain to joy and peace at once and
keep it all their days. These are favored, indeed! I wish that we were
in the same case, but if we are not, let us not despair, but still
trust in the Lord our Righteousness–
"And when your eyes of faith are dim, Still trust in Jesus–sink or
swim! When darkness fills your inmost soul, Still all your griefs on
Jesus roll."
If He has never yet given you a comfortable word, still cling to Him as
she did whom He likened to the dogs, but who yet replied, "Truth, Lord.
Yet the dogs eat of the crumbs that fall from their masters' table." It
is yours to look to Christ–it is His to give you the Light of God! If
your face, as yet, is not lightened, yet keep it towards the sun, even
Jesus the Lord. "Who is among you that fears the Lord, that obeys the
voice of His servant, that walks in darkness and has no light? Let Him
trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon His God." It must, in the
end, be well with the man who trusts in God and waits for Him! Yes, it
is already well, for the Lord in our text pronounces all such to be
blessed, and blessed they are! Let us wait for those spiritual delights
and inward joys which are the portion of Believers. And if they come
not immediately, let us solace ourselves with this present
benediction–"Blessed are all they that wait for Him."
You have read of those charming seasons which are enjoyed by choice
saints in communion with Jesus. And you have said, "Oh, that I knew
where I might find Him!" Trust you well and wait, for the Lord will
reveal Himself to you. Possibly you are looking back to your own past
history and sighing–
"What peaceful hours I once enjoyed, How sweet their memory still!"
Those years which the locust has eaten shall be restored to you–only
be you hopeful, trustful and obedient. Lean heavily upon your God! It
is a poor faith which only believes as far as the eyes can see. Believe
that your Lord loves you when He smites you! Believe that He loves you
though He slay you! Do not doubt the Lord nor limit Him. He cannot
change! Hang on His arm even when He lifts it to chasten you. If you
cannot rejoice in the light of His Countenance, yet rest in the shadow
of His wings.
Yes, we must be a waiting people and, assuredly, we may not complain,
for we caused the Lord to wait for us many a day. What patience He has
had! Cannot we be patient? Sometimes God's people have to wait for the
fulfillment of His promises. Every promise will be kept, but not today
nor tomorrow. God's Word has its due season and His times are the best
times. We may also have to wait for answers to our prayers. Prayer will
be heard–yes, it is heard the moment it is uttered–but it may not be
answered just yet. The bread cast on the waters of prayer will be found
again, but it may not
be till after many days. Watch unto prayer, if it is long that you have
sought a favor from your God. Wait upon the Lord and so renew your
strength.
There is a benefit even about hungering and thirsting when it is for
the bread of Heaven and the wine of the kingdom. Pray on! Wait on!
Knock! And if the door is not opened, knock again! And if the door is
still closed, knock again with greater earnestness than before! "Men
ought always to pray and not to faint." If your importunity is worked
up to the pitch of enthusiasm, it shall be well with you, for "the
kingdom of Heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force."
Frequently we may have to wait for temporal blessings. It may not be
safe for us to obtain the desires of our heart because our heart is, as
yet, too much occupied with the world and the things thereof. We may
have to wait for deliverance from trouble, for, as yet, the furnace may
not have accomplished its refining work. You may be ill, and you may
pray God to make you well, but He may still allow His Beloved to be
sick–to you, sickness may be healthier than health!
You are very poor and you would like to struggle out of abject penury.
By all means struggle on, but do not murmur if you should not be
successful. Poverty may be a richer state for you than wealth! There
may be something in your character which cannot be perfected except by
suffering and labor–and it is better that your character be perfected
than your substance increased. None of us can come to the highest
maturity without enduring the summer heat of trials. As the sycamore
fig never ripens if it is not bruised; as the corn does not leave the
husk without threshing; and as wheat makes no fine flour till it is
ground, so are we of little use till we are afflicted! Why should we be
so eager to escape such benefits? We shall have to wait with patience,
saying, "The will of the Lord be done."
He waited to give Grace to us! Let us wait to give glory to Him!
Brothers and Sisters, wait cheerfully. If God sees fit to say, "Wait,"
do not be angry with Him. Why give way to hurry and worry? O rest in
the Lord! Your strength is to sit still. One of the most lovely flowers
of the new creation is entire submission to the Divine Will–he who has
it is not far from Heaven. Yet you will have to wait, a little, for
Glory which is yours by a Covenant of salt. Do you not, at times,
suffer a heavenly homesickness? Do you not grow weary of these
wildernesses and long for the mountains of spices and the gardens of
the blessed? Do you not long for the wings of a dove? I am afraid you
would not manage them if you had them–dove's wings would hardly suit
this cumbrous clay!
It is not easy to long for Heaven and yet to wait! Yet we are better
where we are waiting than attempting to fly where the Lord has not
called us. Wait, for there is yet more business to be done for your
Master. Would you go to your rest before your day's work is fairly
finished? Wait, for it is necessary for others, if not for yourself.
Wait and work on! How many years were wasted before you came into the
vineyard? How little have you accomplished since? Wait! For the vision
of Glory is sure–as sure as though it were tomorrow, or today at this
very hour!–
"Hea ven is nearing! How much further? Count the milestones one by one!
No, no counting–only waiting Till the glory has begun."