Waiting on God's Word

[Read Psalm 130]

Rachel and I were watching a war movie the other night. At the beginning of the battle, one of the platoons runs off into the woods after the enemy only to encounter a much larger force than they expected. All at once, completely unexpected, they were being attacked from every side. They dropped to the ground, tried to find cover and take a defensive position, then immediately radioed for help. But the problem was, the other platoons were also under heavy fire. They couldn’t get to them right away. The platoon was going to have to wait. 

As the battle wears on and the sun drops in the sky, the platoon asks again when support is going to come and pull them out of this deadly situation. They hear the hard words: Too dark for a rescue mission. They’re going to have to figure out a way to make it through the night and wait for help to come in the morning. 

This platoon sits there all night long, pinned down by enemy fire, constantly being attacked throughout the night, constantly having the enemy sneaking up on them, trying to take them by surprise. Obviously, they are constantly on edge—wondering when the next attack is going to come, and where it’s going to come from. They are constantly concerned that they will not make it through the night. And, they are constantly keeping their eyes on the horizon, longing, looking for the sun to break over the horizon because they know that when the sun comes up, help will be on the way. 

Once again, it seems like this is where the Psalmist finds himself. He says, “Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD!” (Psalm 130:1, ESV). That means he feels trapped in the depths, in the deepest darkest parts of the earth. He’s trapped in that dark place with only one place to turn.

That’s why he’s crying out for mercy from God. He says, “O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy!” (Psalm 130:2, ESV). From the darkness he cries out to his God. He pleads with God to hear his voice—to hear his cries for mercy. You can hear a tone of desperateness in this voice. You can hear the pain and agony he is experiencing in that place. He’s not just praying. He’s not just talking with God. He’s crying out to God for mercy. 

And we know that sin has something to do with his struggle. He says, “If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?” (Psalm 130:3, ESV). He doesn’t tell us what sin he is struggling with, but he alludes to the fact that there is some sin in his life that has gotten him into this situation. Part of the reason why he is in the depths, in the darkness, crying out for mercy is because he has wandered away from God into sin. And he knows it could actually be worse. He knows that even in his sin that God hasn’t given him what he deserved. If God had given him what he deserved from his sin, he could never stand—he would never last in the depths or the darkness, he would never make it through the night.

So what does he do? He waits. Actually we read something a little different. We read, “I wait for the LORD, my soul waits…” (Psalm 130:5, ESV). He doesn’t just wait for the Lord, his soul is also waiting for the Lord. That’s really important to understand because there are different types of waiting, aren’t there? There’s fake waiting and then there’s real waiting.

Let me give you an example of fake waiting—it’s the waiting that I do when trying to get out the door with my family. Fake waiting is where you are constantly reminding people that you’re waiting. Fake waiting is where you are trying to look like you’re waiting on the outside, but your fingers are twitching and your foot is tapping and your body is shaking. Fake waiting is when you are trying to look like you’re waiting on the outside, but on the inside there is not waiting happening. To connect this with something I taught a while ago, fake waiting attempts to separate the body and the soul—trying to have the body wait but not the soul. 

True waiting, however, includes both body and soul. Not only is our body physically waiting, but our soul is also at rest—at peace—and is also waiting. True waiting takes place when BOTH our body and our soul are still.  Again, John Calvin has something beautiful to say about this: ”The Prophet trusted in God even with the deepest affections of his heart. From this we also gather that he was not only patient and constant in the sight of men, but that even in the inward feelings of his heart he had maintained quietness and patience before God; which is a very evident proof of faith.” (Calvin, 133). 

Last week we asked the question: What should we do when we find ourselves under God's judgment, burdened by the consequences of our sin, mocked by those around us? The answer was: Rest in Christ, Pray to the God who answers, and wait in faith. This week we find the Psalmist in a similar situation. He’s crying out for mercy from the depths and darkness. What do you do when you feel like you’re stuck in the darkness, trapped in the depths, longing for God’s mercy? You still follow last week’s advice, but this Psalm adds another dimension to the answer. 

Here’s what we read from the Psalmist, “I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;” (Psalm 130:5, ESV). How is the Psalmist able to wait in the depths and darkness? He’s able to wait because he has hope. He has hope that God will hear his cries, that God will show mercy, that God will offer forgiveness, that God will lift him from the depths, that God will be the God of his salvation. He has hope in all of these things, which strengthens him to wait. But notice what he says he hopes in God’s Word. That’s where he finds his hope to wait in the depths and darkness. He finds that hope—he finds that strength to keep waiting—in God’s Word.

So, we can fill out our answer a little more. What do you do when you feel like you’re stuck in the darkness, trapped in the depths, longing for God’s mercy? Rest in Christ, Pray to the God who answers, Read your bible, and wait in faith. 

Here’s why reading our Bible is so important as we wait. As we read our Bible, we are repeatedly reminded of who our God is and what He has done. We’re repeatedly reminded of the unchanging character of our God and we’re reminded of the ways he has acted throughout history. And those are things we need to be reminded of when we’re in the depths and darkness. Those are the things that give us hope and strength to endure. Those are the truths that allow us to truly wait—to wait with our body AND our soul. 

And we’re not talking about some fluffy hope that is groundless. I hear people say things with this fluffy hope all the time: “I hope this or that will happen” but they have no reason to hope in those things. That’s not real hope. It’s fluff that gives us no strength to keep on waiting. 

Real hope has roots. Real hope is built upon the foundation of God’s character and actions throughout history and we read about those things in His Word. That Psalmist ends by shouting, “O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption. And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.” (Psalm 130:7–8, ESV). How does he know these things about God? How does he know that with the LORD there is steadfast love? from his word. How does he know there is plentiful redemption in the Lord? From his word. How does he know that God will forgive our sins and redeem our iniquities? From his word. 

And because he knows these things about God from his Word, he has hope! He has hope to keep waiting in the depths and darkness because he knows who his God is and how God works in the world. So, as he waits in the depths of darkness, he puts his hope in God’s Word—he meditates on God’s Word, he reminds himself who God is and what He has done—and that allows his body and soul to sit in stillness, waiting for the Lord. 

Is this how we respond when we’re in the dark? I think it’s really important to ask yourself this question—make it really personal. Where do you turn when you feel like you’re in the depths of darkness? Do you turn to God’s Word? I don’t think many people do that—and it’s a shame because this is where we find hope and comfort and reminders of who God is and what He has done. I think many people quickly turn to other people for help—only to be let down by those people. I think many people turn to drugs and alcohol for help—only to be let down by those substances. Some people turn to work or any other form of distraction. But I don’t hear many people say, “When I’m in the depths of darkness, when I can’t see a thing, I open God’s Word and I start reading. I keep reading until I’m reminded of who my God is and what he has done. I keep reading until my hope is restored and my body and soul are able to find rest and strength to keep waiting.” If we are truly going to learn how to wait in the dark, it’s essential that we’re reading our bibles while we’re in the dark. 

I also think it’s essential that we’re reading our bibles in preparation for the dark. We need to be prepared when the darkness comes—when we fall to the depths. We need to prepare for those moments and train for them by reading God’s Word every single day. That isn’t just something that we do as Christians. That’s something we do so that we can LIVE, so that we can have hope and strength and peace. We need to be reminded over and over and over and over and over again who our God is and what he has done. We need to be reminded of those things because we easily forget them. We need to be reminded of those things so our hope is constantly stirred and our strength is constantly renewed. One sermon a week is not enough for this—it’s really important, but it’s not enough. You need daily bread. You will not be able to truly wait in the darkness—body and soul—unless you are reading God’s Word daily and putting your hope in the God it reveals to you.

But, even when you’re doing all these things—resting in Christ, praying to God, reading your Bible—you still have to wait. All of these things strengthen us in our waiting—help us to truly wait—but we still need to wait. Yet, it trains us to wait differently. We read, “My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.” (Psalm 130:6, ESV). Because he has read his Bible, because he knows who God is, because he knows what God has done, he waits differently. He waits with his eyes on the horizon. He knows the sun will come up in the morning, he is confident that the darkness will eventually pass. With that same confidence—or more—he knows God’s light will break upon his darkness.

So, like that platoon trapped in the darkness, attacked from every side, weary and exhausted, never knowing when the next attack will come, he waits with his eyes fixed on the horizon waiting for the sun to rise. He waits with confidence and hope, that God is the God of his salvation. He knows that because he has read it in His word in the past, and he’s reading it again right now. So, as he waits, his eyes are continually scanning the horizon for the God of his salvation to come. He doesn’t look at the horizon wondering IF God is coming. He looks at the horizon wondering WHEN God is coming. 

This is how God’s people waited for the Messiah to come, isn’t it? They too felt like they were in the depths, that they were in a period of darkness. How were they able to keep waiting? Where did they find their hope and strength? They found it in God’s Word. They knew that God had promised to never leave them nor forsake them. They read that God would send a prophet who was better than Moses, a priest that is better than Aaron, and a king that was better than David. They knew that a child had been promised to be born of a virgin and born in Bethlehem. They knew these things because they had diligently and faithfully read God’s Word. God had promised these things and God always comes through on his promises. So, they grabbed hold of these promises of God, rested in the unchanging character of God, found their hope strengthened, and they waited like watchmen waiting for the morning—with their eyes on the horizon, not wondering IF the Messiah would come, but wondering WHEN the Messiah would come. 

It’s the same for us today as we wait for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. I know many people who feel like they’re in the depths, trapped in the darkness. I know many people who feel like they’re being attacked, weak and worn out, wondering if they’ll make it through the night, not knowing where to look for hope and strength. We must wait the same way God’s people have always waited—by putting our hope in the God who is revealed in His Word. He has promised that he has overcome the world. He has promised that he will build his church. He has promised that he will never leave us nor forsake us. He has promised that he will give us everything we need for life and godliness. He has promised to forgive our sins. He has shown us that he is a God of steadfast love and plentiful redemption. So, we grab hold of those promises, remind ourselves of these things over and over and over again, allow them to stir hope and strength in us as we wait, and then we keep our eyes on the horizon waiting for the morning—not wondering IF Jesus is coming again, but wondering WHEN he is coming again. 

I think sometimes we think waiting is a passive thing—kinda like sitting around doing nothing—but that’s not accurate. I think the Bible teaches us that waiting is a battle—it’s a fight that requires the appropriate action. We don’t just wait. We pray and wait. We read our Bibles and wait. That is the fight of waiting. When we feel anxiety rising up within us, we don’t just passively wait for it to go away. No way, we actively take that anxiety and cast it on the Lord as we wait. When we feel like our strength is failing and our hope is weak, we don’t just wait, hoping that those things will return. No. We fight for them by opening up God’s word, reminding ourselves who God is and what He has done, and we keep on reading until we feel that hope rising within us and our strength returning to us. We keep on reading until we begin to lift our eyes to the horizon wondering WHEN our God’s light is going to break into our darkness.