Rest in the Lord and Wait!

What do we do when it seems like the wicked are winning?

• Trust in the Lord
• Delight Yourself in the Lord
• Commit Your Way To The Lord
• Rest In The Lord
• Wait on The Lord

Rest simply means to be silent, still, and/or with calm surrender.  But it’s not just a physical rest, it also includes mental rest:  quietness of mind, renouncing self-help, surrender to God’s will.

“Silence is a rare commodity, even in church worship services. So unless we get silent with God we will never experience His peace.” – Warren Wiersbe

Psalms 37:7 (NKJV) – Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.

“Can you be quiet and allow Him to say something.” – Dr. D’Ann Johnson

God is not always going to intervene for the innocent right away.  Yet, our responsibility is to rest and wait on Him.  When we remember the story of Lazarus, we see that Jesus’ friend is on his death bed and Jesus, instead of hurrying to care for Him, delayed three days.  In our restless thinking, we think that Jesus should have immediately dropped everything.  Yet, God had a bigger plan:  God’s glory in the raising of Lazarus from the dead.

“We can never get to the place of waiting until we learn the art of intentionally waiting.” – Dr. D’Ann Johnson

“God is bigger than your bills.  He’s working something bigger than what you are anxious about.” – Dr. D’Ann Johnson

Psalms 37:34 (NKJV) – Wait on the Lord, and keep His way, and He shall exalt you to inherit the land; when the wicked are cut off, you shall see it.

Wait means to bind yourself to God in expectation.

“Keep His way” here means to guard and protect what God has said for us to do.  Notice that in verse 5, we were to commit our way, but here in verse 34 we are to keep His way.

Psalms 27 illustrates this point.

Verses 1 – 6 – David Praises the Lord

Verse 7 – 13 – David Prays to the Lord

Verse 14 – David has Patience and waits on the Lord