Psalm 37: 1-11 " Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong; for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away. Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret—it leads only to evil.
For evil men will be cut off, but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land. A little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look for them, they will not be found. But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy great peace."
A few years ago, as in the Spring/Summer of 2007 I was in the prayer chapel waiting on God. Remember when Jon Eubanks had the monthly prayer watches? Well mine was 12-midnight. Well, I waiting on God to see if I was coming to Israel for an archaeological excavation. I felt the opportunity of a lifetime and God had not given me a yes or no...and definitely no funds.
So I turned in my Bible to Ps. 37:4 "Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart." Now, I'm sure we've all taken that verse out of context, and I remember telling God, "I've been faithful, I've put my trust in you. This is my desire! This is my desire. Why aren't you blessing it??" Basically...give me, give me, give me. Selfishness!
While praying I felt like God told me to read down a bit and I "stumbled" upon verse 7! "Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him." Now, I may have taken this out of context, but I knew that God was speaking to me and telling me to wait. And in that patient waiting is where I found God. He really revealed himself to me! Man, he's good!
After a little research, I found out that these verse from Ps. 37 can actually be a guide for waiting on God. David was looking at the enemy around him. He was looking at the "godless" people and asking God, why do they always get what they want, when I follow you and I don't. While today we may not be looking at "godless" people but it may be the situation at hand: visas, support raising, new chapter in life, etc.
God tells us through Ps. 37 what we should be doing while we are waiting on his answer. Moping around and saying "God hasn't answered me yet" is not an option.
Verse 3: "Trust in the Lord and do good!" Trust! Trust that God has our best interest in mind. (I forget that a lot) He is going to work all things out for our good! He cares that much!
Verse 4: "Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart." Delight! Be glad in the things that God has given you. Be glad of the things he is going to give you in the future. Be glad of how he's provided over and over for you!!
Verse 7: "Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him." Wait! We should be honored just to wait on the King of Kings, Creator of the Universe to answer us. We should feel privileged just to be able to enter his throne room and ask of him. He may not answer immediately, but he will answer in his own time.
If we wait in this way, we will find so much joy in the waiting than ever before!
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