- Courage
- Doubt
- Fear
- Confidence
- Steadfastness
We will be filled with doubts on occasion, we will be alone on occasion, but when we are in the presence of the Lord, we never feel lonely. He satisfies our every need and we feel contentment even in the midst of pain, because our joy is the strength of the Lord. He isn’t chasing happiness, which is self-focused but rather joy, which is other focused. David knew deep down he was being prepared for something way bigger than himself, something which hadn’t yet manifested itself but which he could sense with his intuition through the spirit of the Lord.
- Perseverance
- Patient
- Sadness
- Sinfulness
- Humility
- Confusion
Keep praying and don’t give up! Pray like David, that giant-slaying, shepherd-king of Israel, who earned his Ph.D. in waiting on God. Reading his prayers shows us how it’s done. David teaches us to keep praying and to never give up. He shows us what steadfastness looks like. “I waited patiently for the Lord to help me, and He turned to me and heard my cry” (Psalm 40:1). David had to endure long periods of waiting on the Lord in his life. In fact, in the waiting David was utterly confused and many times cried out to the Lord- Why? What are you doing Lord? But the confusion David experienced was most likely part of God’s plan for David’s life to have him fully surrender his life to God and to wait upon the Lord and trust in his plan. Scholars estimate there was approximately 15-20 years between the time Samuel anointed David to replace Saul as the King of Israel and when he actually became King. That is a long time to wait and many things happened to David during this time that severely tested his faith and belief in God’s plan and most likely led to great confusion and despair, especially when Saul was trying to kill David. But David learned the great lessons that come from waiting on the Lord, especially during those seasons of life that made no sense to him. These times greatly improved his intimacy with and dependence upon the Lord. He learned to find great value in the waiting, which caused him to say things like “Indeed, none of those who wait for You will be ashamed” (Psalm 25:3) and “Wait for the Lord. Be strong and let your heart take courage. Yes wait for the Lord” (Psalm 27:14).
But is waiting on God like hitting the pause button on prayer? Not at all. If anything, the waiting intensifies and should make us more active in our prayers. It should draw us closer to God as we seek Him above all else in our lives. It doesn’t mean it’s easy, but it does mean we have nowhere else to turn when we come to the end of ourselves. That can be a very scary place, but it can also be a place of tremendous growth where we learn total dependence on the Lord. It can be a place where we experience the most growth in our faith. In those times and places of confusion in our life, we are in a place where fear and doubt can overwhelm us, but that is what can be used to turn us to 100% reliance on God to rescue us and show us the higher purpose for which we were born. 2 Corinthians 4:7-10 says that “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. This is a place where all of our inadequacies come to the forefront and so we must depend more deeply on God and His provisions than ever before. Let’s not sugarcoat it; when you are in this place it is very scary and very stressful. However, it will produce endurance and strength if we don’t give up and if we don;t waste the waiting experience. Great wisdom is imparted to us by God during these times. We can feel a direct lifeline to Heaven which courses through our whole bodies and invigorates us when we most need it.
In Psalm 130, David pours out his heart to the Lord and doesn’t hold back: “From the depths of despair, O Lord, I call for Your help. Hear my cry, O Lord! Pay attention to my prayer”(Psalm 130:1-2). David is so authentic in pouring out his heart to the Lord in this situation. He is in distress, he is in despair, and he realizes his only hope is in God himself. He has come to the end of his own strength and is face to face with his own limitations. This is a place of surrender where incredible growth can happen when we don;t try to regain control of a situation, but simply realize how utterly helpless we are without God. Now, is there anything you can think of that is more counter-intuitive and counter-cultural than that? In a world that is constantly telling us how much we need to take control, grab the bull by the horns and make it happen, this message must seem blasphemous. But we will all face situations that are either outside of our control, can you say Global Pandemic as an example, or are greater than we can handle, and that dose of reality will be like a cold slap across the cheek unless we are able to admit we need God’s help. We can either fight against the powerful currents of life that seek to destroy us or we can learn to swim with the tide and put our trust in the Lord, and in him alone. One of the things I most relate to about David’s life and walk with God is that David contemplates his own sinful condition on a continual basis and this leads him to both despair but also to place his hope in the Lord. Psalm 130:3-4 says “ “Lord, if You kept a record of our sins, who, O Lord, could ever survive? But You offer forgiveness, that we might learn to fear You” What an honest assessment and an accurate depiction of the dichotomy of our faith walk. We are always somewhere between trying to take control of our life and do it our way and in our strength, and total despair and surrender when we find our way is not the best way, and our strength is so limited. Isaiah 55:8-9 testifies to this fact, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,”declares the Lord.“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”During this time, we are made aware of just how sinful our life is, and we have an opportunity to repent and draw closer to God- what we refer to as “fearing the Lord,” or we can turn inward and try to hide or run from the Lord. But like David himself found out, I have found that never works out very well or for very long. We quickly realize there is no place to hide from the Lord A few things to consider:
● Consider yourself. As he waits, David reflects and examines the state of his heart and life. “Lord, if You kept a record of our sins, who, O Lord, could ever survive? But You offer forgiveness, that we might learn to fear You” (Psalm 130:3-4). While we wait, we can search our own hearts to confess any sin that may hinder an answer to our prayer. “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends You and lead me along the path of everlasting life” (Psalm 139:23-24). During the difficult wrong periods of our lives, when all hope can seem lost and we can feel utterly hopeless, we are really only left with two choices; We can run to God or we can run from God. In all of our flesh, we may want to blame God for making us suffer or become anxious because the answers we;ve sought haven’t come just yet. i have experienced this level of anxiety before, and it’s not pleasant. But sometimes God can use our hopelessness as a way to humble us and draw us closer to Him. So, before we choose to flee from God, we should really instead pray for more strength to endure the waiting, and to draw closer to Him, realizing that if we run out in our own strength and with our limited knowledge and wisdom, we most likely will make decisions that aren’t very wise. We are usually closer than we think to the answer being provided if we can just hang in there a bit longer. One thing I can say for certain, is that during the waiting periods of my life, I have pleaded with God to provide an answer and to change my circumstances, but often I have come to realize that He is using this period to change me! To grow me and strengthen my faith. This is the lesson that we can also glean from reading about King David during his waiting periods. He eventually surrendered to God and tried his best to seek Him more intimately, even while screaming in his flesh for a resolution to come forth. He looked inward at his own soul, instead of turning outward towards his own fleshly understanding and desire. David learned to be grateful that God hadn’t destroyed him for his past sins during these difficult periods, and turning his attention away from his own desires to an honest repentance and grateful heart that his sins hadn’t been dealt with in a way that they deserved, allowed David to have a grateful heart which sustained him. It turned his attention off of his problems and onto God’s goodness and faithfulness, and that proved to be a cathartic tonic for David’s heart. In my own life, I can honestly say that when I look at myself and my problems, I become anxious and depressed, but when I focus on the goodness of God, I become peaceful and blessed. This battle is ongoing, and it is sometimes a thought to thought and a moment by moment spiritual battle. As CS Lewis said, every square inch, every split second is claimed by God and counterclaimed by satan. The spiritual battle we are facing is that real and that intense. Ephesians 6:12 confirms that the battles we are in are real as believers and our way above our pay grade when it says “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” One thing King David knew and I have also learned through experience is that we cannot win the battle if we don’t understand the battle. While Jesus won the war at the Cross of Calvary, the battles are still raging and many will be casualties because they don’t understand the ferocity of the enemy and the fight we are engaged in. David understood this very well, and so he trained himself to always turn to God, even if he didn’t understand His ways, and even when we disapproved of His methods. He was being human in his authenticity when he complained to God, or complained about God, but he always came back to respecting the fact that God’s ways were ultimately the best ways, and that David’s own pride needed to be broken, and so he ultimately surrendered to God’s ways. Many times this led to him praising God and growing in his humility as he recognized how sinful he was and how great and powerful God was. This is a great mindset for us to have when we are encountering the storms of life and the trials that accompany our waiting periods.
Consider your prayers. The answer may be delayed because we’re asking for the wrong things and for the wrong reasons. James explains that, “Even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure” (James 4:3). Many times during our waiting periods in life, when we are confused about which path we should take, or wonder where God is in the midst of our struggles, it gives us an opportunity to reflect on the very nature of our prayer requests. If our prayers are selfish in nature, or designed around our comfort, God may not answer them in a way we would want because they don’t honor His purposes and they may not be for our own good in the long term. If our prayers need adjusting, God will often use waiting periods to cause us to reflect and to potentially change our desired outcomes. For example, if we are praying for financial blessings for our own comfort, that is very different than if we are praying for financial blessings in order to help someone else with a greater need. It could be we are praying for a new path when God is trying to grow us in our faith and dependence on Him in our current path. David experienced all kinds of confusing circumstances from the time he was first anointed King of Israel to replace King Saul and when he actually came to power. He was at the end of his wits on many occasions while he was running or hiding from a maniacal and jealous King Saul who was trying to kill him. He had every right to wonder why God was allowing this to happen. Had Samuel been wrong about his anointing? Had David’s sin disqualified him from being King? Had David missed something? These are all natural thoughts that David had and they are the same for us when we are struggling to hear from God or to see the path we should take, or to wonder if God is still working on our prayer requests. Dr. Charles Stanley offers some good advice when we are going through the doubt that the “nevers” of our faith walk can bring. Will it never work out, will I never get healed, will my relationship never get fixed, will I never beat this addiction? He says to remember during the long waiting periods that can be excruciating we must focus on the promise that God will never let us down. David came back to this point on many occasions to help rescue himself from the emotional pit of despair. Let’s face it, we all will require this type of perspective at some point in our life and it helps to have legends of the faith like King David to learn from and to draw from their similar circumstances and responses to help us to endure ours. We can look at each of the 75 or so Psalms that David penned and pull some wisdom from each one.