Waiting for Salvation

[Read Psalm 25]

Christmas is one of those times of year when it seems like everything is amplified a little bit—or a lot-a-bit—especially emotions. There are periods during the Christmas season when our experience of joy and fulfillment and peace are amplified as we gather with family and sit with a cup of hot cocoa or decorate our houses. In these moments we experience these emotions differently than we have throughout the rest of the year. They are amplified. 

The same goes with some other emotions as well—emotions we don’t always appreciate. As Christmas approaches, some feel an increasing weight of grief encroaching upon them, as they remember those who are no longer with them to celebrate. Some feel an increasing weight of loneliness as they are reminded of their separation from family or lack of family. Others feel an increased sense of anxiety, because they are reminded of all the things they need to get done, or all of the presents that need to be wrapped, or all of the food that needs to be cooked, or… Others are reminded of family feuds and tensions that are amplified as they gather on this holiday. All of these emotions are amplified as well. 

Then we come to this Psalm and realize that people have felt this way before and have experienced these same griefs and burdens and weariness before. The author of this Psalm was feeling many of the same difficult emotions I just described. He says, “I am lonely and afflicted.” (Psalm 25:16, ESV). He says, “The troubles of my heart are enlarged…” (Psalm 25:17, ESV). He says, “Consider my affliction and my trouble…” (Psalm 25:18, ESV). He says, “Consider how many are my foes, and with what violent hatred they hate me.” (Psalm 25:19, ESV). It’s important to remember that someone has walked this path before. This man has also felt the pain of loneliness. This man has felt the difficulty of affliction. He has felt that pain in his heart, of despair and sadness. He’s been attacked and maligned by enemies. He’s faces health issues and trials. He’s faced all of these amplified emotions before. The question is, “What did he do in the midst of them? How did he respond?” 

One of the first things he does is remember his God. He reminds himself who his God is and what He has done. We read, “Remember your mercy, O LORD, and your steadfast love, for they have been from of old.” (Psalm 25:6, ESV). Yes, he’s asking God to remember these attributes, but he’s also reminding himself of God’s attributes. He’s remembering that God’s mercy and steadfast love have been from old—they have existed from eternity and they aren’t going anywhere now. He also says, “Good and upright is the LORD…” (Psalm 25:8, ESV). He reminds himself that God is good and upright, God isn’t taking pleasure in this pain and difficulty. He says, “All the paths of the LORD are steadfast love and faithfulness…” (Psalm 25:10, ESV). He reminds himself that God is faithful and steadfast, that He will never leave him nor forsake him. He also seeks God for forgiveness, saying, “Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me…” (Psalm 25:7, ESV). Again, he knows that God is a God who forgives our sins and cleanses us. So, he remembers this about God and asks for it. And as he remembers these things about God in the midst of his loneliness and sorrow and trials, something is happening within him—faith is being stirred and hope is being strengthened. 

It struck me that we can see all of these attributes of God present on Christmas morning, in the birth of Jesus Christ. In the birth of Jesus Christ we can clearly see God’s goodness shining forth, as he gives us good gifts and blesses us. In the birth of Jesus Christ we’re reminded of God’s mercy, because he’s not giving us what we deserve, but caring for us in a unique and powerful way. In the birth of Jesus Christ we’re reminded of God’s steadfast love and faithfulness, because we’re reminded that God never gave up on his people and never turned away from his promises. God had promised to bless his people and make them a blessing to the world, and not matter how much they tried to mess that plan up, God didn’t give up on them, but stuck by their side and patiently kept working to fulfill his promises, eventually accomplishing that through Jesus Christ. In the birth of Jesus Christ, we are also reminded that our God is a God of forgiveness. That’s why Jesus Christ was born—that’s why we’re celebrating this morning. Jesus Christ was born so that he could live and die and rise again for the forgiveness of our sins. Christmas is a reminder to all of us—but especially those feeling lonely and despair and grieving and weary—that God is good and upright, that God is merciful, that God is a God of steadfast love and faithfulness, and that God is a God of forgiveness. 

And as we meditate on these attributes of our God—and these aspects of Christmas—faith is stirred in us and hope is strengthened. Once we’ve been reminded that this is our God, we’re also reminded that our God is trustworthy, which means we can place our faith and trust in Him. That’s why the Psalmist begins by saying, “To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul. O my God, in you I trust…Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame…” (Psalm 25:1–3, ESV). He trusts in his God because His God is trustworthy, because His God has never left him nor forsaken him, because his God is a God of steadfast love and faithfulness, because his God is a God of mercy and forgiveness. So, rather than looking in all the wrong places—putting his hope and trust in all the wrong places, in places that will continue to let him down over and over again—he puts his trust in the God he trusts. 

Then he says something interesting. He says, “Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame…” (Psalm 25:3, ESV). It seems like he’s getting at one of those fears that creep up on us as we face loneliness and despair and difficulty. In this verse he talks about “being put to shame”—this idea of being mocked for waiting on the Lord in the midst of our difficulties. And this comes from the fear that we will wait in vain—that we will wait and wait and wait and wait and nothing will ever come from it. We fear that all of our waiting—all of our trusting in the Lord—will be worth nothing in the end. We fear that nothing will ever come from it. And the longer we are stuck in our difficulty, the more we wonder if it’s all meaningless and pointless. Or, we fear that we won’t have the strength to make it through. We fear that if we keep on waiting on the Lord—trusting Him—that we will run out of strength to keep on. Or—and I think this is one of the biggest ones—in the midst of our difficulties we fear that they will go on forever. We fear that we will be lonely forever. We fear that we will be depressed forever. We fear that we will continue on in struggle and difficulty and grief and sorrow forever. And that we will just keep waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting forever, with no result in the end.

But, because the Psalmist has reminded himself who God is and what He has done, and because he’s been reminded that God is trustworthy and comes through on his promises, he has put his faith and trust and hope in God. And that’s why he can counter all of these fears by saying, “None who wait for you will be put to shame,” or another way of saying that is, “None who wait for you will wait in vain.” He can say that because he knows the same God who sent his Son to be born on Christmas morning. This is the God who sent his Son into the world because he loved us and he knew we needed to be saved from our sin. So, he knows that God will never leave him in this place of difficulty forever, that he will never have to wait in vain, God will eventually come and rescue him. God did it on Christmas morning and He will do it again. So he waits—not in fear of waiting in vain, but in hope of God’s salvation.

And as He waits on the God of his salvation, he does more than just cry out, “Save me! Save me!” He says something much deeper. He says, “Make me to know your ways, O LORD; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long.” (Psalm 25:4–5, ESV). I think this is a really powerful statement. He says, “I know you’re the God of my salvation. So, I trust you and I’m waiting on you all day long—I’m waiting on you as long as I need to wait because I trust you. But, as I wait, I need you to teach me how to wait and how to live in this world. I need you to teach me how to walk on the path you’ve laid out for me.” This is a major theme throughout the entire Psalm. As he waits on the Lord, he keeps his eyes on the Lord, longing to live the way God has called him to live, longing to wait the way God has called him to wait. Since I talked about this in my sermon last week, I’m not going to spend much more time on it this morning. If you want to hear more on this topic, you can find last week’s sermon online in various places. 

But, before I move on, I think it’s important to see how he connects this way of living with the idea of waiting. He says, “May integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for you.” (Psalm 25:21, ESV). There’s a connection between living the way God has called you to live—or waiting the way God has called you to wait—and persevering. He has confidence that if he lives the way God has called him to live and waits the way God has called him to wait, he will persevere—he will make it to the end. He has this confidence because he knows that the ways of the Lord are firm and steadfast, they do not fade away. So, he has confidence that if he keeps his eyes on his God, follows him, and waits on the Lord, he will make it through to the end of the difficulty. 

And so, he waits on God. That’s been the theme of this entire Advent series: Learning How to Wait on God. Yes, waiting on God sometimes means waiting for good things to come, but often waiting on God means waiting for bad things—difficult things—to end and for better times to come. Most often, when we read about waiting on God in the Bible, it’s talking about how we respond to difficulty and trials and suffering in this life. And often we have to wait on God in these moments because there’s nothing we can do to get ourselves out of the mess. We can only wait and trust and hope in our God. 

And as we all know, that can be extremely difficult, which is why I’ve reminded us that waiting is a battle. It’s a battle for our heart and mind and soul. When we begin to feel the anxiety of waiting well up within us, we need to take those anxieties and burdens and lay them at God’s feet in prayer, because we KNOW he is a God who hears our prayers, bears our burdens, and answers. So, we throw our anxieties on him. That’s part of the battle of waiting. When we begin to feel doubt creeping in, wondering if we’ve been waiting in vain, we need to remind ourselves who God is and what he has done—we can do that by reading our bibles, or in a whole host of other ways. But after we remember who our God is and what he has done, we can begin to feel the doubt slip away, and our faith stirred, and our hope strengthened, and we’re able to keep on waiting because we trust our God. 

There’s one aspect of most Christmas services that seems to resonate and stick with people the most—the candles and the candle-lighting. There’s something about standing around in a circle, holding onto those candles in the darkness, that resonates with something deep within our souls. Or there’s something about the Advent Wreath, where one candle is lit each week, representing the light of Jesus Christ slowly breaking its way into the darkness. It’s powerful imagery. Yet, none of it would be powerful or gripping without the darkness. There’s something about the darkness that makes the light more beautiful and bright and hopeful. 

And so, I don’t want to ignore the darkness that comes around Christmas. I don’t want to pretend that Christmas is all sunshine and roses for everyone. That’s not helpful. There’s a reason why Christmas is celebrated close to the darkest day of the entire year. It’s a reminder to us that Jesus Christ was born in the midst of a dark world—full of despair and difficulty and trials. He entered into that darkness as a baby, but also as the light of the world, that would push back the darkness and eventually overcome the darkness. 

And so when we enter into our own periods of darkness and loneliness and despair and struggle, we can wait in faith for God’s light to break in. We’ve seen him do it before and we know he will do it again. So, we wait and we trust and we have hope. 

And as we wait, we can be reminded that God doesn’t sit back and watch us waiting in the dark. He’s not some removed deity, sitting on the sidelines watching us suffer. No. He’s the God who sent his Son to be born in the midst of darkness. He sent his Son on a rescue mission into the darkness. He’s the God who enters into the darkness and gets his hands dirty. He’s right there with us in the darkness as we wait. He’s right there giving us everything we need to keep on waiting. So, we have hope, that our God is with us and will not forsake us, so we keep on waiting. 

Christmas also reminds us that God brings salvation at just the right time—which is not always the time we think it should be. Imagine God’s people waiting for the Messiah to come. They had seeds of this promise going all the way back to Adam and Eve. They knew someone was coming and would deliver them. And they waited and waited and waited and waited and waited. Then, God delivered on his promise. Jesus was born at the perfect time. And not only did salvation come in God’s perfect timing, but when that salvation came, it was far more than anyone had asked or imagined. That salvation was way better than they ever expected. 

It’s the same for us. As we wait in our own seasons of darkness, we need to always remember Christmas because it reminds us that God will bring salvation in his perfect timing—not our timing, but his perfect timing which is way better than our own. And when God does finally bring about salvation, it’s always better than we expected or imagined. So, we keep on waiting and trusting and holding onto hope, because we know that God’s light will eventually break into our darkness in his perfect timing, and when it does, and we can finally see what’s been going on around us, we’ll be amazed and thankful for the way God has provided for us. But until that day, we keep on waiting and trusting and hoping and praying with our eyes on the God we trust. As God’s people, we will never wait for him in vain, God will act in his perfect timing, and he will bring salvation, we have to wait in faith.