The following is a manuscript of the sermon presented by Senior Pastor Dr. Roger Patterson on Sunday, June 4, 2023 at our West U Baptist campus. To view the sermon in full, check out the link below.

How hard is it for you to wait…for anything?

Do you know what I have discovered?  Waiting is hard.

In life, there is so much outside of our control. There are circumstances that are just a part of life and then there are forces that come against us.

• We have bosses that we can’t stand and who don’t respect us, and they make our lives miserable.
• We have people whom we love and cherish that make choices that concern us and hurt us.
• We have forces that come against us because of our Christian faith and we are tempted to become like them in our responses to their actions.

And yet, we find ourselves unable in all of our striving to bring relief, move hearts, or be free from the oppressor.

We get stuck. Have you ever been stuck?

Have you ever wondered if God was going to move:

• to restore a relationship,
• to remove the oppressor,
• to recognize the prayers you have prayed over and over again?

Waiting is hard. Being stuck isn’t fun.

Did you know that the Bible is full of stories of waiting? 40 days, 7 days, 3 days! If you find yourself in a season of waiting how do you wait faithfully?

We wait in seasons, and we wait in moments. If we are going to wait, how shall we then wait? If we are going to wait…by the way, you will have to wait:

• If Joseph had to wait while in Potiphar’s home, in prison, and during the 7 years of abundance, you too will have to wait.
• If Jacob had to wait for Leah for 14 years, and another 6 years before he could return to the promise land, you may just have to wait as well.
• If Israel had to wait for a deliverer to free them from slavery and bondage of the Egyptians, you may just have to as well.
• If Moses, who grew up as a prince in Pharaoh’s home had to wait for 40 years as a shepherd in Midian, you may too, as a person of faith find yourself waiting for what seems to be forever for you to really step into God’s purpose for your life.
• If David, anointed King well before he took the throne, had to wait for years for Saul’s reign to end, don’t think that you won’t be subject to the feeling of being stuck, frustrated, and a bit unfulfilled.

If it is the case that we will wait, and waiting is hard, how shall we then wait?

My Answer: wait in faith.

Psalm 37 is a Psalm that speaks to how we are to wait in faith.

We can’t read the entire Psalm today, as it is 40 verses long. So I want us to read the first eleven verses together. This Psalm is classified as a wisdom poem because it teaches truth about both God and humankind.

3 General Themes are Found:
1) The Providence of God

2) The Punishment of the Wicked

3) The Reward of the Righteous

One writer says of this Psalm, “It is not so much a psalm as a collection of proverbs.”

The only evidence we know of David at this point in his life is found in verse 25, which states:

Psalm 37:25

I was young and now I am old,

         yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken

         or their children begging bread.

We don’t know how old David is, but he isn’t a young man any longer. An interesting fact about this Psalm is that it is an acrostic Psalm. An Acrostic Psalm begins each line with a consecutive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. 22 letters, these Psalms must both say something meaningful and follow the letter sequence of the alphabet.

Let’s read Psalm 37:1-11 together.

Psalm 37:1-11

         1      Do not fret because of evil men

         or be envious of those who do wrong;

        2      for like the grass they will soon wither,

         like green plants they will soon die away.

         3      Trust in the LORD and do good;

         dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.

         4      Delight yourself in the LORD

         and he will give you the desires of your heart.

         5      Commit your way to the LORD;

         trust in him and he will do this:

         6      He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn,

         the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.

         7      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.

         8      Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;

         do not fret—it leads only to evil.

         9      For evil men will be cut off,

         but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land.

         10      A little while, and the wicked will be no more;

         though you look for them, they will not be found.

         11      But the meek will inherit the land

         and enjoy great peace.

There is for David a theology of waiting, a waiting in faith, that he has had to learn. Now that he is older, his kingdom is establish, and he has come through so much in his life, he shares the theology of waiting – waiting in faith, with us.

Here is how I am outlining this passage today, answering the question, “How shall we then wait?”

How Shall We Then Wait?

1) Wait Peacefully

2) Wait Proactively

3) Wait Expectantly

Let’s look at verses 1 & 2 again as we consider waiting in faith by, waiting peacefully.

1. Wait Peacefully: In waiting peacefully, I am choosing to submit my circumstances to God’s care.

Psalm 37:1-2 

         1      Do not fret because of evil men

         or be envious of those who do wrong;

        2      for like the grass they will soon wither,

         like green plants they will soon die away.

In waiting peacefully, I am choosing to submit my circumstances to God’s care. There are two words here I want us to understand.

• Fret
• Envy

Fret: The word FRET means to be constantly or visibly anxious.

• To burn, to be kindled, to be angry, to be inflamed.

Envious: The word ENVIOUS means to be jealous.

• Be jealous
• To admire enviously

Who are we to not fret over or be envious of?

Evildoers – those who deliberately do evil, those who beat and cheat the system.

Wrongdoers – those who do wrong – those who fail to adhere to moral principles, to commands or laws.

Now, if you are like me, you are beginning to pay attention to the political races for the presidency. Reflecting over these past years, and looking at the Executive orders, legislation, and court rulings, you might easily conclude that the leadership in Washington at every level is full of those who do evil.  You might conclude, as I have, that there are many in various leadership positions of both parties who are failing to adhere to our Judeo-Christian ethic that this country has been founded upon.

I remember using this verse, Psalm 37:1, when talking about the Supreme Court Ruling on legislating gay marriage.

There are many in power who are evildoers and wrongdoers. And experiencing this reality can lead us to one of two responses that are not responses of faith.

It can lead us to fret- to be anxious all of the time – to burn with anger that has us visibly agitated, or it can lead us to envy (to be jealous) of their success such that we finally change positions, accept defeat, and join forces.

Most of us though, are given to this first word, fretting. We know how to be angry and anxious. We know how to allow other peoples’ feelings, actions toward us or our faith, and opinions of us to bind us up in hostility. Though we preach a faith that brings peace, seldom do we experience this peace ourselves.

A waiting faith, my friends, involves our doing as the Scripture instructs and making a responsible choice to not fret. How do we do that? How do we wait peacefully? How do we make a responsible choice to not fret?

1. We Pray: we turn to our Lord and share with him our concerns:

• We tell him what hurts us.
• We tell him what haunts us.
• We tell him what is keeping us hung up.

2. We Give it to Him: Psalm 55: 22 states

Psalm 55:22

Cast your cares on the LORD

         and he will sustain you;

         he will never let the righteous fall.

1 Peter 5:7

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

• Have you prayed and given over to God your anxiety related to this country?
• Have you prayed and give over to God your concerns about this city?
• Have you prayed and given over to God the frustrations of your marriage?
• Where are you stuck?
• Where are you feeling defeated?
• Where do you find yourself anxiously waiting?

FRET Not!  ENVY Not! Because God can and will handle it. That is what verse 2 says! God has obligated himself to deal with evildoers and those who do wrong. Look at Psalm 37:2

Psalm 37:2

for like the grass they will soon wither,

         like green plants they will soon die away.

Friends, a theology of waiting, a waiting of faith, requires us to pray and give over our circumstances to God’s care. Remember: He Cares For You!

Waiting in Faith, because we will all wait, requires us to Wait Proactively.

How Shall We Then Wait?

1) Wait Peacefully

2) Wait Proactively

3) Wait Expectantly

II. Wait Proactively: In waiting proactively, I am choosing to cultivate my relationship to the Lord and to others, in the very place I feel stuck.

Look at Psalm 37:3-5

Psalm 37:3-5

         3      Trust in the LORD and do good;

         dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.

         4      Delight yourself in the LORD

         and he will give you the desires of your heart.

         5      Commit your way to the LORD;

         trust in him and he will do this:

When most people think of waiting, they equate it to waiting for a table at a restaurant, waiting for an elevator, or waiting in a doctors’ office. It is mindless exercise of just letting time pass by.

But waiting in faith is very active. As a matter of fact it is Proactive. Notice the challenges of active faith in verse 3-5 of Psalm 37.

Psalm 37:3

• Trust
• Do Good
• Dwell
• Enjoy safe pasture (cultivate faithfulness)

Psalm 37:4

• Delight

Psalm 37:5

• Commit
• Trust

If I could summarize verses 3-5 it would be this:

“When you find yourself waiting on the Lord, you are right where God wants you, to do what He plans to do. So, enjoy Him and where you are, while you wait.”

Let’s look at this call to wait proactively.

1) The first Proactive word is Trust.

TRUST: To have a strong confidence or reliance upon.

Who are we to trust in? Who are we to have strong confidence upon?

We are to Trust the Lord! This is the covenant name of God – Yhwh – the God of Israel.

David’s challenge is to put your confidence in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

2) The second Proactive challenge is to be found doing good.

This is the idea of being morally excellent in the midst of our frustration.

Be Good in our actions.

Be Good in our attitude.

Be Morally excellent in our words.

The word “do” carries the idea of “manufacturing”.

We are to manufacture that which is good, pleasing, beautiful and morally excellent. Our tendency in times of waiting, frustration, and offensive encounters is to just get quiet. To do or say nothing. We take a Passive/Aggressive position.

The Scripture instructs us to manufacture that which is morally excellent.

What are you manufacturing while you wait?

3) Dwell in the Land

The Proactive path of waiting involves being willing to commit to wait! Sometimes we go to our favorite restaurant, but when we get there, there is such a crowd, and we are so hungry that we aren’t willing to wait. We even ask, “Hey, how long is the wait?” If it is too long, we are out of there.

Waiting in faith involves a commitment to wait.

Dwell: The word dwell means to settle or reside. Some of you need to hear this word: Dwell in the land.

Don’t forget where you are.
Settle where you are.
Lie down and reside right where you are.

But if we don’t wait peacefully, we won’t wait proactively.

Why are we to dwell there? Because there is safety there. There is good grazing there. Whether we recognize it or not, there is safe pasture.

Remember, David is a shepherd who knows the proclivity of his sheep to wander off and graze in other places. So

4) We are told to enjoy safe pasture.

The NAS translate this as “befriend faithfulness”

The idea is that we are to find enjoyment in our faithfulness, even if we feel stuck and see evildoers advancing.

Verse 4 helps us enjoy ourselves even in waiting because we focus our delight in the Lord himself. Wait proactively by

5) Delighting in the Lord and in your relationship to Him.

Let him work on your heart, your desires, your time line. Let him teach you faithfulness, patience, and endurance.

6) Commit Your Way To Him.

Even if part of that way is to stay and wait, trust him entirely and be proactive.

And when you do, you can wait expectantly. How then shall we wait?

How Shall We Then Wait?

1) Wait Peacefully

2) Wait Proactively

3) Wait Expectantly

III. Wait Expectantly

In waiting expectantly, I am looking for God to do beyond what I could hope or imagine.

It’s Hard:

• You know it is hard to wait expectantly when you feel stuck.
• It is hard to wait expectantly when you get disappointed repeatedly.
• It is only human nature that after being disappointed over and over again that we taper our expectations to protect our hearts.

Joseph must have felt this way. A beloved son of Jacob and Rachel, Joseph dreamed of the day when his bothers would bow down to him. This dream came to him twice. He didn’t handle it well or steward it well. Sharing it caused his brothers to despise him even more and caused his dad to rebuke him.

I don’t know how expectant Joseph was all of those years. Sold into slavery and being imprisoned, I am sure that was the formula for the death of a dream. But at every place in Scripture that speaks of Joseph in this season it states:

Genesis 39:2

The LORD was with Joseph and he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master.

Genesis 39:5b-6

The blessing of the LORD was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field. 6 So he left in Joseph’s care everything he had; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate.

Let’s quickly keep this in perspective. Here is a young Hebrew with a dream. He is now stuck as a slave. Later he will be stuck in prison. Yet look at his peace and his proactive life.

Now, why should we wait expectantly? Because God honors expectant faith. Look at Psalm 37:5-6 again.

Psalm 37:5-6

5      Commit your way to the LORD;

         trust in him and he will do this:

         6      He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn,

         the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.

I love that last phrase of verse 5. “…He will do this.”

Psalm 37:6

         6      He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn,

         the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.

This is the blessing of God.

As the Scripture described Joseph, it says “The blessing of the Lord was on everything Potiphar had…”

Q: Have you ever wondered what Potiphar lost when Joseph was falsely imprisoned? And who would ever dream of a slave going to prison and then to Pharaoh’s courts?

Or, with David. Who would ever imagine a shepherd boy, being passed over by his father to become the greatest King of Israel’s’ history?

Expect God to move. Don’t fret. Don’t despair. Don’t lose heart. Pray long, over and over again, but with great exaptation.

Because making your right-living to shine like the dawn, or the justice of your cause to shine like the sun at high noon is only what God can do. Wait Expectantly!

Let me close with Psalm 37:7-9

Psalm 37:7-9

7      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.

         8      Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;

         do not fret—it leads only to evil.

         9      For evil men will be cut off,

but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land.

How Shall We Then Wait?

1) Wait Peacefully

2) Wait Proactively

3) Wait Expectantly