"I W-A-I-T-E-D patiently and expectantly for the LORD:
and He
inclined to me and heard my cry."
Psalm 40:1
(Warning: the blog below is a bit long. So, should you think it too long to invest yourself in, if you're a wait-er like me that's waiting on something the scriptures toward the end are especially encouraging to the wait-ers of the world! Don't miss them if you don't have to. For after all, His words are always better than mine!)
How incredibly blessed I am by these words above and the truths that they hold. They are not mere words to me that are printed across some random page for me to happen upon to read someday.... they hold great meaning! I have lived those words. I know them. They've spoken to me. They've spoken of me. They tell my story. And they speak of me still. I have "waited" for God. I have waited and waited and waited "patiently" and "expectantly" for the Lord and He HAS inclined His ear to hear the thing of which my cry spoke to Him... That Almighty God (full of all might and all power) heard my sobs, heard my pleas, and heard what my words did say. Do you realize how big that is? Do you realize how HUGE? Do you realize how magnificent? Ah, I know but only a smidgen; but yes, indeed, I do know a glimpse! I've seen it! I've seen Him hear me through His answer. And now (again), I "wait"........... I wait "patiently and expectantly" for my Lord for more things. Different things. Big things! Huge things! Unfathomable! Impossible things... EXCEPT for Him! For all things that are "impossible" just lack the "H" making the impossible Him-possible - with and in and through Him! I haven't a doubt inside this body of mine at all, that my Lord inclines His ear to me, He hears my cries and hears my pleas. He KNOWS my hope! He KNOWS my need! He KNOWS the thing for which I wait.... and the thing for which I BELIEVE Him for! And because of my knowing all of that, I proceed in my "wait"..............
Digging deeper we find:
I W-A-I-T-E-D
[I waited for, lingered for, looked for, expected, collected, twisted & bound together, I grew stronger]
patiently and expectantly
[That same Hebrew word for "waited" above is actually repeated here a second time again. In the Hebrew, where the English wording has "I waited patiently and expectantly", the Hebrew has: "qavah qavah" - to stress and to put a double emphasis on the action that's being or been done... as in:
"I waited, I waited."; I lingered and lingered; looked and looked; expected and kept on expecting; I collected and collected, twisting and bounding (things) together and kept on collecting and twisting and bounding; and I grew stronger and stronger and stronger in my wait]
for
the LORD:
[ Jehovah - "the existing One"... the proper name of the supreme God.]
and He ["the existing One"]
inclined
[stretched out, extended, offered, bent, turned, inclined]
to me
and heard
[He heard, He listened, He gave heed to, consented, agreed, granted (my) request]
my cry.
[my cry for help; what I shouted for, what I asked for in aid]
How about you? You too? Is there something that you have waited and waited and lingered and lingered and looked and looked expecting and expecting for God (the existing ONE) for? All the while (without even realizing it) He (Jehovah, the existing One) was giving you things to collect; twisting and bounding pieces of His answer together that He was going to give you that grew you stronger and stronger and stronger in Him during all of the time of your waiting? Leaving no moment left in vain and without reason. And do you mind me asking you (for those that know what I'm talking about), on the other side of the anticipation for the thing in which you waited, would you now trade that "wait" for "not waiting" at all.... after all of the glory of Him that He showed you and the strength that He grew in you through it, would you chose to miss all of that in order to not have had to "wait"? My goodness, "No!" Oh my goodness, No! For every bit of the weight of that wait was worth the wonder and awe of Him and the strength that He gave and grew in me on the path of the journey of waiting until reality! My goodness, how we often miss the worth of the wait along our life's way!
I recently bought myself and a friend of mine (because we both find ourselves in this place of "wait") a t-shirt from a ShoutLife friend which says:
WAIT TRAINING
The Ultimate in Strength Conditioning
Isaiah 40:31
"They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength."
Dare we not miss the "SHALL RENEW their strength" part of it, because we have too little faith, and not enough trust, and too little patience to "wait" for it! I find that it really is the ultimate conditioning for strength. For it sure isn't easy! And it takes a STRONG man to be able to handle it, hang in there, and endure to the end of the wait.
To finish reading Psalm 40 in its entirety; my goodness at the picture! the scene! the projection! the image! the word-painting! the visual! of the truth that it tells. Read each word carefully, seeing and feeling what has happened here.... and then see if you are able to see in it a picture that tells something of your own story. I know this story. It was penned to tell David's, but I'm sure, that this one tells mine!
"I W-A-I-T-E-D patiently and expectantly
for the LORD:
and He
inclined to me
and heard my cry.
He drew me UP
OUT of a horrible pit
[a pit of tumult and of destruction],
out of the miry clay,
and set my feet upon a rock,
steadying my steps
and establishing my goings.
And He has put a new song in my mouth,
a song of praise to our God.
Many shall see
and fear (revere and worship)
and put their trust
in the Lord.
Blessed is the man
who makes the Lord his refuge and trust,
and turns not to the proud or to followers of false gods.
Many, O Lord my God,
are the wonderful works which You have done,
and Your thoughts toward us;
no one can compare to You!
If I should declare and speak of them,
they are too many to be numbered....
You have given me the capacity to hear and obey....
I delight to do Your will,...;
yes, Your law is within my heart.
I have proclaimed glad tidings of righteousness...
I have not restrained my lips,....
I have not concealed Your righteousness..;
I have proclaimed Your faithfulness and Your salvation.
I have not hid away Your steadfast love and Your truth...
Withhold not Your tender mercy from me,..;
let Your loving-kindness and Your truth continually preserve me!
For innumerable evils have compassed me about;
my iniquities have taken such hold on me that I am not able to look up.
They are more than the hairs of my head,
and my heart has failed me and forsaken me.
Be pleased,.., to deliver me;
..make haste to help me!...
...Let all those that seek and require You rejoice and be glad in You;
let such as love Your salvation say continually,
The Lord be magnified!
I am poor and needy,
YET
the Lord takes thought and plans for me,
You ARE my HELP
and my DELIVERER.
O my God, do not tarry!"
You can see in David's story (as I said of mine) that he had had a previous "wait" that he had waited on before and that he knew that God had inclined His ear to hear his lips and heard his cry and answered him; and yet, we find him on the other side of that wait inside the wait of another one already. For we're always (so it seems) waiting on something. One wait answered, leads to the next one that hasn't been yet.
David had been in a horrible pit and God had pulled him up out of it! And because God had "set (his) feet upon a rock" and steadied his steps and had established the places where David was going, it gave David a new song to sing, to sing praise to his King! And then David said that MANY would SEE and FEAR and PUT THEIR TRUST and CONFIDENCE in his Lord, because of the song that he'd been given that told of the praises of his King and what He had done.
Isn't it incredible how we sing the praises of our King after He's pulled us OUT of some pit that we've fallen into, or been pushed into, or jumped into ourselves out of total want and rebellion? We cried to Him there. Pled with Him there. Begged and waited and waited.... expecting the hand of our Father to reach down into our pits to pull us out.... and then after He does and all that He's done we can't help but sing!
No wonder David says, "Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his refuge and trust;" because poor is the man that doesn't! He won't be rescued from his pit, because he won't cry to the One that can save him from it. I can safely say that my Refuge IS in my God! He IS the One I trust! And no other thing, no other person, nor no other false god can pull me nor save me from the things that try to devour and swallow and overwhelm and overshadow me.
God has done MANY WONDERFUL things! And His "thoughts toward us; no one can compare to You! If I should declare and speak of them, they are too many to be numbered."
Who is the God that thinks of us so?! And thinks of us so specifically and individually?! Who can fathom His wonder? Having thoughts "toward" us and FOR us! If we were to be able to declare and speak of all of the thoughts that He has for us, they would be too many to number! Can you fathom that? Can you imagine such thoughts? How awesome is our God!
He HAS "given me the capacity to hear and obey" Him. Because before, though I tried and thought that I did; I didn't and I couldn't. He has given me the will and the want-to. He has given me the capacity to HEAR Him, and with the hearing comes freedom from understanding its Truth. He enables us and empowers us to be able to resist from the sin that once chained us. I "do delight to do (His) will" because His "law is (now) written within my heart!" It's no longer a burden, or a thing that I find that I hate doing; it's a change of heart that He's replaced inside mine and the renewing that it brings is beautiful!
And after such things (along with the song that you've been given to sing), you find that you MUST (or you'll burst from within if you don't) proclaim the glad tiding of Him, proclaim the good news of what all He has done for you. You can no longer "restrain" your lips from telling, nor keep "concealed" the righteousness within your heart. His faithfulness and His salvation must be exclaimed.... for the joy that He's caused inside you. You find that you can't "hide" His love nor His truth.... it's a fire that lights up the soul and shines on the face to proclaim it!
Yet His tender mercy is forever more needed! You now realize His lovingkindness and His truth that preserves you! You can't leave home or live without it. "Innumerable evils" continue to work at you, because our enemy (the devil) continues to prowl around looking for whom he may devour.... and he hates your new look! So he strives to strike against it! If you are saved, then it is so; but (the enemy thinks) don't dare let the face show it! For the enemy doesn't want it to look pleasing on you so as not to be able to attract anyone else to it. For dare another notice your look, and begin to want what you've got! The enemy hates it! So he schemes to fight against it!
So we'll evermore need the mercies that are "new every morning"..... because of the iniquities that tempt to overtake us daily. We'll still have need of our Savior. Still run to Him as our Refuge. Still have need for the One that we Trust in! We'll still have need of our Lord to deliver us! Still need for Him to help us! We'll still "seek" and "require" Him, still rejoice and be glad in Him; and still say continually, Let the "Lord be magnified!"... for dare we magnify another!
Though saved, we still find that we "are poor and needy, "YET," we're told, "YET, THE LORD TAKES THOUGHT AND PLANS FOR ME!" He IS our Help! He IS our Deliverer! And though we "wait"; we cry a constant plead asking, "O my God, do not tarry" for the things in which I'm waiting for!
Whoa! He IS our Wonder!
Did you hear that? Were you not stumped by that? Awed? Humbled? Honored? That "The Lord takes thought and plans for me!" In the KJV, "the Lord thinketh upon me."
The Lord thinketh upon me! The Lord thinketh upon you! What might He be thinking of you? Wonder what He thinketh upon over me? It says, "I am poor and needy; YET the Lord thinketh"..... "takes thought and plans" for me! And He "thinketh"..... "takes thought and plans" for you!
"Poor" means just that "poor". It means: "afflicted, humble, wretched, weak, lowly, and needy." It's root is a word meaning: "oppressed, put down, depressed, downcast, mishandled, humiliated; it's something that bestows labor upon any thing."
What has afflicted you? What wretched thing has cause you weakness and made you needy? What thing has oppressed you? put you down? depressed you? and caused your face to fall in its downcast position? What mishandled you and left you humiliated? And what do you "labor" so over because of what has been robbed from you leaving you poor and needing?
"I am poor and needy"..... "Needy" meaning: "in want, in need, chiefly poor, needy, subject to oppression and abuse; needing help, needing deliverance from trouble (especially as delivered by God); often used of one who suffers undeservedly; it is something in the sense of want (especially in feeling)."
What do you want for? If asked, what would define your need? What area do you lack and find yourself poor in? What subjects you to oppression in your life? What need leaves you feeling abused? What do you need help in? What trouble do you need deliverance from? What has happened that now has you suffering though you didn't deserve it? What feeling has left you lacking and has great need of some sort of filling to fill that empty feeling? What is your poverty and the thing that you have such great need of?
Whatever it is (no matter the what that it is), we have a God, a Lord, that "thinketh upon" you in that very area of emptiness! Our Lord "takes thought and PLANS for me!" Our Lord takes thought and PLANS for YOU! - in that very need!
"Thinketh".... Our Lord "thinketh upon".....- thinks about (ponders - as in determining what to do next; centering one's thoughts on), plans, esteems (values), calculates (figures out), invents (fabricates - to produce (as something useful) for the first time through the use of the imagination or of ingenious thinking and experiment), makes judgment, imagines, counts, devises, imputes, reckons, values (finds worth), regards, thinks upon, considers, and is mindful of. It means thinks upon, meditates upon. The primary idea seems to be that of computing and reckoning;.... Perhaps it be that of mixing, whence a weaver in colored figures (properly, one mixing threads and colors); thinks out, invents, composes (as songs); whence, as artificer (one skilled or an artistic worker or craftsman) - a weaver... To make much account of, to esteem, to prize."
"The Lord thinketh upon me." He sees and knows and hears the plead of my needs in my want in my poverty and so He inclines Himself and leans in toward me and "thinketh upon" me! He ponders upon my specific situation and certain circumstance and determines what to do next! He plans for it and toward it. Because He values me (and found me worth enough to send His Son to die in order to save me... while I was still in my sin!), He figured it all out; and He invents and fabricates ways to produce something useful in me for the first time through the use of His imagination and ingenious thinking!.... as if He is "mixing" colors in threads, weaving a tapestry and composing a song, because He esteems me, He makes much of me, and He prizes me! Sounds a bit like that "in ALL things God works for the good of those who love Him" Scripture so often quoted from Romans 8:28, no?
Oh, if we only knew! Oh, if we only had an inkling! Oh, if only we could see! Oh, if only we believed!.... that in our "cry" from the thing that has made us "poor and needy" that He not only hears, but HE THINKETH UPON us... And He plans for a way to not only get out of wherever it is that we need help from, but He also fabricates ways in order to make something beautiful of it! Just hear a few Scriptures that tells us of Him:
"For I am the LORD,
your God,
Who takes hold of your right hand
and says to you,
Do not fear;
I W-I-L-L HELP Y-O-U."
Is 41:13
"We wait
in HOPE for the LORD:
He is our HELP and our Shield."
Ps 33:20
"Israel, no other god is like ours --
the clouds are His chariot
as He rides across the skies
to come
and HELP us."
Deut 33:26 (CEV)
"Then Asa called... and said,
"LORD,there is no one like Youto HELP the powerless against the mighty.
Help us, O LORD our God,
for we rely on You,
a-n-d i-n Y-o-u-r n-a-m-e
we have come against this vast army.
O LORD, You are our God;
do not let man prevail against You."
2 Chr 14:11
"Be strong
and courageous.
Do not be afraid
or discouraged
because of the king of Assyria and the vast army with him.
With him is only the arm of flesh,
but with us
is the LORD our God
to HELP us
and to fight our battles."
2 Chr 32:7-8
"When
the righteous cry for help,
the Lord hears,
and delivers them out of all their distress and troubles."
Ps 34:7
"The Lord HELP them and delivers them;
He delivers them from the wicked
and saves them,
because they
take refuge in Him."
Ps 37:40 (AMP)
"Be pleased, Oh LORD,
to save me;
O LORD, come quickly
to HELP me....
"I am poor and needy;
YET
the Lord thinketh upon me;
Thou art my HELP and my Deliverer;
make no tarrying,
O my God."
Ps 40:13,17 (NIV & KJV)
"Why are you cast down, O my inner self?
And why should you moan over me and be disquieted with me?
HOPE in God
and w-a-i-t expectantly for Him,
for I SHALL YET praise Him
my HELP and my God."
Ps 42:5
"Arise
for our HELP,
and redeem
us
for Thy mercies' sake!"
Ps 44:26
"God is our Refuge and Strength,
a VERY PRESENT HELP in trouble."
Ps 46:1
"Behold,
God is mine HELPER:
the Lord is with them
that uphold my soul."
Ps 54:4
"For He SHALL deliver the needy
when he crieth;
the poor also,
and him that hath NO help!
Ps 72:12
"HELP us, O God our Savior,
for the glory of Your name;
deliver us
and forgive our sins
for YOUR name's sake."
Ps 79:9
"From heaven the LORD looks down
and sees all mankind;
He watches all who live on earth -
He Who forms the hearts of all,
Who considers everything they do...
But the eyes of the LORD are on those Who fear Him,
on those whose HOPE is in His unfailing love,
to deliver them from death
and keep them alive in famine.
We w-a-i-t
in HOPE for the LORD;
He is our HELP
and our Shield.
In Him our hearts rejoice,
for we t-r-u-s-t
IN His holy name.
.. we put our HOPE in You."
Ps 39:12-22
"Blessed is he
whose HELP in the God of Jacob,
whoseHOPE is in the LORD his God
(for He's) the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them-
the Lord, (after all) remains faithful forever.
He upholds the cause of the oppressed
and (He) gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets prisoners free,
the Lord gives sight to the blind,
the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down,
the Lordloves the righteous.
The Lord watches over the alien
and (He) sustains the fatherless and the widow,
but He frustrates the ways of the wicked.
The Lord reignsforever.... for all generations."
Psalm 146:5-10
Oh my goodness.... after all of that (how GOoD He is!), can't we just "wait" a minute? Can't we give Him a minute? Can't we trust Him a little while? After all, is it really all that long? Can't we give Him time to do the thing that He "thinketh" and "thought" and "planned" on about you? Why do we whine so much in our wait? (And I am a guilty as anybody.) Can't you hear Him bending over and looking so intently at you to you in your face and saying, "Wait on Me, will you? Trust me here! I'm doing a thing! I'm working it out! I really can make beautiful! Look at Me, will you just wait on Me here?" Won't we "wait" on Him? Too many of us are too weak from being too skinny (in strength) and we need to put a little "wait" on! It's time to gain some "wait"! And oh wow, after all that.... I just might make my list a little longer... for He's so capable and able to handle it!
"I W-A-I-T-E-D patiently and expectantly for the LORD:
and He
inclined to me and heard my cry....."
Hmmmm... just curiously wondering, what are you waiting for? And before you read and think that I am pointing any fingers, KNOW that I am mostly speaking and reminding myself! "We wait... in hope for the LORD!"
