Psalm 40:1-11
Preaching
A Journey Through the Psalms: Reflections for Worried Hearts and Troubled Times
Preaching the Psalms Cycles A, B, C
Object:
There is an unwritten law in lines at the local supermarket. The law states that if you change lines you will wait longer. No matter how carefully you check it out to see which line is shorter or how many things your neighbor has in their shopping cart, if you break ranks, if you step out of the line you're in and move to another line, it is decreed from somewhere that you will have a longer wait than if you had stayed in the line you first chose.
It's about patience -- and it's no secret to anyone reading this that patience is in short supply in contemporary culture. Think about it. Wait just one second after the stoplight changes and someone behind you honks the horn. Walk down most any urban sidewalk and smell the rush and crush of getting wherever it is that has to be gotten in less time than is humanly reasonable. Hurry hurry, push push, and God help anyone who makes us wait. Patience is indeed in short supply in our daily lives.
Yet, patience is one of the magic elixirs that propels life forward with greater ease and joy. It is the patient person who usually succeeds with troublesome children. It is the patient person who wins the confidence of others who are caught up in the stress of the moment. It is the patient person who awaits the right opportunities for a host of things in this life. Whether it's the right job or the right relationship, patience is a universal assistant.
The benefits of patience are no less present in our fumbling attempts to reach for the holy. The spiritually impatient -- a description which fits many -- fire off a quick prayer and wonder why God hasn't answered. The too-often operative expectation is that God will morph God's self to meet our expectations. How does that old Janis Joplin song go? "Oh, Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz...." If the new car doesn't come, and quick, faith is shaken.
But "waiting patiently for the Lord" offers 1,000 different benefits. Primary among them is that waiting usually requires quietude. We may not like it much, but there you are, waiting. And quietude makes it possible to hear things not usually audible in the daily rush of doing what we think is important.
What is it that patience brings? What comes when patience attends prayer? Perhaps it is patience that will provide; patience that will give space for God to "incline God's ear."
It's about patience -- and it's no secret to anyone reading this that patience is in short supply in contemporary culture. Think about it. Wait just one second after the stoplight changes and someone behind you honks the horn. Walk down most any urban sidewalk and smell the rush and crush of getting wherever it is that has to be gotten in less time than is humanly reasonable. Hurry hurry, push push, and God help anyone who makes us wait. Patience is indeed in short supply in our daily lives.
Yet, patience is one of the magic elixirs that propels life forward with greater ease and joy. It is the patient person who usually succeeds with troublesome children. It is the patient person who wins the confidence of others who are caught up in the stress of the moment. It is the patient person who awaits the right opportunities for a host of things in this life. Whether it's the right job or the right relationship, patience is a universal assistant.
The benefits of patience are no less present in our fumbling attempts to reach for the holy. The spiritually impatient -- a description which fits many -- fire off a quick prayer and wonder why God hasn't answered. The too-often operative expectation is that God will morph God's self to meet our expectations. How does that old Janis Joplin song go? "Oh, Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz...." If the new car doesn't come, and quick, faith is shaken.
But "waiting patiently for the Lord" offers 1,000 different benefits. Primary among them is that waiting usually requires quietude. We may not like it much, but there you are, waiting. And quietude makes it possible to hear things not usually audible in the daily rush of doing what we think is important.
What is it that patience brings? What comes when patience attends prayer? Perhaps it is patience that will provide; patience that will give space for God to "incline God's ear."
