The Confidence of Patience

I wait for the Lord, my soul does wait.

And in His word do I hope.

My soul waits for the Lord

More than the watchman for the morning;

Indeed, more than the watchman for the morning.

Psalm 130:5-6

After Psalm 119, the longest Psalm and longest chapter in the Bible, there is a group of short Psalms from Psalm 120-Psalm 134.  Each of these short Psalms contains great and profound truths, and this is a great section of the Scriptures to read and mediate upon.

In Psalm 130 we see a wonderful example of patience, and the Psalmist paints a picture for us of someone who is not only patient, but confidently patient. In these verses we see three keys to this confident patience.

1. 
   
   The object of our patience.  The object of our patience, the One on whom we are waiting is the Lord.  Our realization must be that the Lord is sovereign and in control, and will work our situation out according to His timing.  He is neither too early nor too late. We know that when the fullness of time came He sent forth His Son (Galatians 4:4), and at the right time Christ died for the ungodly (Romans 5:6). We see that the timing of the most important event in the history of mankind was under the control of God.  It is the Lord whom we wait upon and His timing is always perfect. It is perfect in completing His plan and pupose for us. So if our desire is for His will to be done in our life, we can be content and wait for the unfolding of His will in our life. This kind of waiting is an active submission to the Lord's will and plan for our life, and puts our will in its proper place.
2. 
   
   The ground of our patience.  The ground of our patience is the word of God. The word of God is yay and amen. His yes is always yes, and His no is always no. In Jeremiah 1:12 He tells us that He stands over His word to perform it. In Isaiah 55:10-1 the Lord tells us that His word will not return to Him empty, without accomplishing His purpose. So we know that we can stand on whatever He says, for He will fulfill it. His word is a lamp to our feet and a light for our path. It not only guides us, but it is our ground to stand on when we are having to be patient and wait for the Lord. His word literally guides us into patience, and aids us and strengthens us to remain in that state of patience that looks unto the Lord.
3. 
   
   The confidence of our patience.  I really love the picture of confident patience the Psalmist paints here. His soul waits for the Lord to a greater degree than the watchman waits for the morning. How does the watchman wait for the morning? Confidently, very confidently, because he knows that the morning absolutely will come. In fact, the morning cannot be stopped from coming...at the exact time it should come. The Psalmist is saying that He is more confident in the Lord, and has a better ground of confidence than the watchman who knows the dawn is coming. In the darkness of the night, the watchman may not know how much longer before the dawn, but he knows, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that it is approaching nearer with every beat of his heart. His is a knowing anticipation of the dawn breaking no matter how long or dark the night. This is a firm ground of confidence. Our confidence should be greater and more secure than this watchman's because it is the Lord we are waiting upon, and we have His word as our guarantee. 

This is faith in action, faith being put to the test and being strengthened and refined. This is the faith the Lord wants to develop in you. This faiths is an active trusting that is willing to wait for the Lord no matter how dark or long the night because it knows the breaking of the dawn is certain. This is the faith that endures as seeing Him who is unseen. This is the faith of one who knows their God.

Let us wait upon the Lord with confidence in His care and concern for us, and the knowledge that His plan is always the best plan, because we have a faithful God who will always stand by His word.