Notes:

Wait On The LORD And He Will Cause You To Inherit    See Session Slides Here

David knew how to wait on the LORD:

• He never killed Saul when he had the chance to.
• God prevented him and his men from assisting the Philistines in Saul’s downfall.
• Even when he became king of Judah he did not force himself on Israel. He was wise and patient.
• He endured the consequences of the selfish ambitions of opportunists, motivated by pride.
• During a long civil war (2 years) David waited.
• Ish Bosheth was assassinated. That which is gained by stealth of man’s scheming is usually short-lived.
• Abner tried to merge the 2 kingdoms. Abner wanted David to enter into a covenant with him, but when David became king he entered into a covenant with the people (2 Sam.5:3).

Throughout the Bible we find God purposed things to people for which they had to wait in order to receive:

• God promised Abram and Sarai a child, but they had to wait 25 years to get him.
• God made Jacob wait 14 years to get the wife he wanted.
• Joseph waited a long time to see his father and did not go back to the Promised Land until after his death.
• The Israelites had to wait 430 years in Egypt, before returning to the Promised Land.
• The OT saints waited for us before they could see the promises of the New Covenant (Heb. 11:39-40).
• For 2,000 years, saints have been waiting for the Lord’s return and the coming of His Kingdom.

God is not in a hurry. God is bigger than time and has a reason for our waiting:

1) Waiting on God is a test of faith and obedience

• In times of waiting for God many have failed in their faith and obedience.g. Saul. Abraham and Sarah.
• Why is it so hard? Because we want to take matters into our own hands, to follow our own schemes.
• Satan often attacks in times of divine delays. He suggests to us that God either does not know about us, or does not care about us. He wants us to doubt that God’s promises will ever be fulfilled.
• Then he seeks to get us to act independently of God to obtain these things by our own power and means.

 2) Waiting on God binds us closer to Him

• The Hebrew word for ‘wait’, qavah, means ‘to bind together’ (as by twisting strands to make a rope); to ‘wait patiently’, and ‘hope, expect, or look eagerly for’.
• Many of the psalms were written during times of waiting, (e.g. Psalm 130:5-6; Psalm 27:14).
• The ability to wait on the Lord stems from being confident and focused on who He is. It is confidence in His person: confidence in His wisdom, love, timing, understanding of our situation and that of the world. It means to know and trust in God’s sovereignty, (e.g. Psa. 39:7; Psalm 40:1-2; Psa.37:34; Psa.37:9).

 3) Waiting does not mean passivity

• Waiting means acting at the right time.
• David waited many years to reign over all Israel, but that was a very busy time in his life. David did much more than merely flee for his life. He was engaged in many things which had a bearing on his future.

4) By means of waiting God prepares us for that which He has promised us

• David knew that while he was waiting God was preparing him. The lion and bear God prepared him for Goliath. Success before we are ready will end in failure.
• David has gone through many different experiences, all of which would make him a better king for having endured them. He was now much better prepared to reign as Israel’s king. ‘So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart, and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands’ (Psa.78:72). Sheep symbolize God’s people. David’s faithfulness qualified him to tend God’s flock. ‘I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living’ (Psa.27:13).

‘…do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises’ (Heb.6:12).