WAIT ON THE LORD
GOD’S PROTECTION AND GREATNESS
ECCLESIASTES 1:2, 12:8 PSALM 27 AND ISAIAH 40
INTRODUCTION:
VANITY OF VANITIES… (ECCL 1:2, 12:8) FAST FOOD, INSTANT GRATIFICATION
Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity. (Ecclesiastes 1:2)
Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all is vanity. (Ecclesiastes 12:8)
1) DAVID’S RELIANCE ON GOD (PSALM 27:1-14)
A. DAVID’S LORD IS LIGHT, SALVATION AND STRENGTH (27:1-3) V1
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?2 When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.3 Though a host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.
B. DAVID’S DESIRE (27:4)
One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple.
C. DAVID’S GOD OF PROTECTION (27:5-13)
For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.6 And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord.7 Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice: have mercy also upon me, and answer me.8 When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek.9 Hide not thy face far from me; put not thy servant away in anger: thou hast been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation.10 When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up.11 Teach me thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies.12 Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies: for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty.13 I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
D. DAVID WAITS ON THE LORD (27:14) HE COULD WAIT BECAUSE HE KNEW WHO HIS GOD WAS AND TRUSTED IN HIM
Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.
2) COMFORT FOR JERUSALEM (ISAIAH 40:1-31)
A. CONTEXT: PROPHECY AFTER BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY
B. COMFORT FOR JERUSALEM (40:1-2)
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.2 Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.
C. JOHN THE BAPTIST PROPHESIED (40:3-5)
The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:5 And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
D. THE WORD OF GOD SHALL STAND FOREVER (40:6-8)
The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field:7 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass.8 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.
E. BEHOLD YOUR GOD (40:9-11)
O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!10 Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.11 He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.
F. GOD ASKS RHETORICAL QUESTIONS (40:12-14)
Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?13 Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his counsellor hath taught him?14 With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding?
G. ALL NATIONS BEFORE HIM ARE AS NOTHING… (40:15-17)
Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.16 And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering.17 All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.
H. WHO IS LIKE GOD? (40:18-22)
To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him?19 The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains.20 He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved.21 Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth?22 It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:
J. GOD HAS POWER OVER LEADERS (40:23-24)
That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity.24 Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble.
K. GOD IS… (40:25-31) HOLY ONE (40:25), CREATOR, STRONG IN POWER (40:26), FAINTETH NOT, NEITHER IS WEARY (40:28), GIVETH POWER TO THE FAINT, INCREASETH STRENGTH (40:29)
To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One.26 Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.27 Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God?28 Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.29 He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.
L. JERUSALEM AND JUDAH COULD WAIT ON THE LORD BECAUSE OF WHO HE IS (40:30-31)
Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
CONCLUSION:
1) READ GOD’S WORD
2) KNOW WHO GOD IS
3) DESIRE GOD
4) WAIT ON GOD TO DO HIS WILL IN YOUR LIFE
Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001 chaplain@alaskaseniors.com
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