"Wait"
Robert Pilkington
Table of Contents
"Wait"
Taken from “Selected Ministry from the General meetings Oakbrook, Illinois July, 1986”
I would like to speak this afternoon about something which, I feel, if we can learn when we are young, will be a tremendous help to us. Yet, I know that this characteristic is very needful in older life as well.
Can we turn to First Samuel, chapter 10, verse 6 (This is where they choose a king. Saul is chosen to be the king; Samuel is speaking to Saul): “And the Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man. And let it be, when these signs are come unto thee, that thou do as occasion serve thee; for God is with thee. And thou shalt go down before me to Gilgal; and, behold, I will come down unto thee, to offer burnt offerings, and to sacrifice sacrifices of peace offerings: seven days shalt thou tarry, till I come to thee, and show thee what thou shalt do.”
Saul is told that he will be another man. And, he is given specific instructions (notice in verse 8): “to wait seven days until I come, and I will tell you what you ought to do” ―a very specific command to him. In verse 7 it says, “and let it be, when these signs are come unto thee, that thou shalt do as occasion serve thee.” Perhaps we would say, “As occasion arises, then do what needs to be done.” But in verse 8, it is not so; it is a specific instruction: “wait seven days until I come to offer the burnt offering, and I will tell you what you ought to do.”
Now, let us turn to chapter 13 to see what Saul did; the background is given in verses 5-7: “And the Philistines gathered themselves together to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and people as the sand which is on the sea shore in multitude: and they came up, and pitched in Michmash, eastward from Bethaven. When the men of Israel saw that they were in a strait, (for the people were distressed,) then the people did hide themselves in caves, and in thickets, and in rocks, and in high places, and in pits. And some of the Hebrews went over Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. As for Saul, he was yet in Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling.” Now Saul is in trouble. He is in the right place―Gilgal; that is where he was told to go. But, there is real pressure on him now, because the enemies have come up against him to fight.
Verse 8: “And he tarried seven days, according to the set time that Samuel had appointed: but Samuel came not to Gilgal; and the people were scattered from him.” The situation is getting worse; the people start to get scattered from him. The pressure is becoming greater and greater. Verse 9: “And Saul said, Bring hither a burnt offering to me, and peace offerings, And he offered the burnt offering. And it came to pass, that as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him, that he might salute him.”
The burden of my heart this afternoon is one word―wait. Saul did not feel that he could wait. The pressure was on him―real pressure; real responsibility for the people of God, for they were scattered from him. He didn’t feel that he could wait for Samuel according to his word (he had said, “Wait seven days until I come.”) So, he offered up the burnt offering. And, we see in verse 11, the response of Samuel: “Samuel said, What hast thou done? And Saul said, Because I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that thou camest not within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered themselves together at Michmash; therefore said I, The Philistines will come down now upon me to Gilgal, and I have not made supplication unto the Lord: I forced myself therefore, and offered a burnt offering. And Samuel said to Saul, Thou hast done foolishly.”
Dear young people, and all here present, wait for the Lord. I feel it to be so necessary in these last days of weakness, when everything seems to be going wrong. Look at Saul; think about him:
He had every reason not to wait. He tells Samuel all his reasons―valid reasons; they sounded sensible; but they were in direct disobedience to what he was told to do by Samuel, the prophet of the Lord. So, he said (and I feel for Saul), “I forced myself.” But Samuel is very blunt; he said, “Thou hast done foolishly: thou hast not kept the commandment of the Lord thy God, which he commanded thee.” This is a day of tremendous pressure. I know it is in Hong Kong―just last week a young person said the very same thing to me, “Life is so pressured; I just don’t have the time.” We need to take time to be quiet before the Lord, to seek His mind.
A brother from Hong Kong said, “Don’t be mistaken; God is not a lawyer. Some people treat God as a lawyer, to whom they rush when they have trouble; and when they don’t have trouble, they just simply don’t go to see Him.” You can’t treat God that way; you have to take time to be quiet. Have you ever had the experience like I have? in the morning, of sitting down and opening your Bible; you read the words, but there is nothing there―it doesn’t seem to have any message for you. Have you ever had the experience, where you were under pressure, to act? You feel that you must act; you see the situation around you disintegrating, and you say, “If I don’t act now, it is going to be worse.” But, have you waited for the Lord? When you act, can you say, “I have a direct command from the Lord?” Do you do it in quiet waiting upon the Lord? As you make your decision, do you pray over it? Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly―you didn’t wait.” I know that we can be lazy; like Saul (as has been pointed out to us) sitting under a pomegranate tree. But, often it is so easy to rush about, and not really be aware of what the will of the Lord is. Dear young person, I plead with you: make sure beforehand.
There is also the other side. I don’t want to distort the whole picture by emphasizing only one side. There have been times in my own personal experience when I would be afraid to say that God told me to do a particular thing―to say, “this is the will of the Lord; I am sure of it.” The reason why the Lord allows this uncertainty is that if I knew what the will of the Lord was twenty four hours a day, I would be the most proud person on the face of the earth. But, sometimes, I am not quite so sure. In such situations, before I act, I like to quietly say to the Lord, “The time is come to act; I am not trying to force Your hand; I think this is what You want me to do. Now, Lord Jesus, I am going to take a step; please feel quite free to step in to my life and hinder me if it is really not Your will.” Then, if I find a roadblock, I really have to think hard; whether it is Satan, trying to hinder me; or, whether it is really the Lord, trying to stop me from doing something that is not His will.
So, we begin with this little story of Saul―he couldn’t wait! I feel it so much in my own heart. I get so busy, and so wound up-like a brother said once, “We are just like little toys; you wind them up, and away they go. You can’t stop them; if they run against a chair, the wheels just keep spinning.” It is so easy to get like that today, because there is real pressure in life. Our lives are very busy, not only in business, but socially. Do you take time out to be quiet with the Lord? You say, “I can’t; I am too busy; it seems there is something every night of the week.” Why don’t you make an appointment with the Lord for one evening? Someone says, “Come over to our house and do something.” You say, “I am sorry, I will be busy that evening.” Where? Quiet with the Lord. Get alone with Him to quietly pray, and read.
I have found it so helpful in my own life, when I am really under pressure in Hong Kong, to get out to the mountains―to the Reservoir Road; away back, where no one else can get in. I like to walk along those quiet tracks; sometimes kneel on the track and pray; sometimes walk along quietly, praying to the Lord and saying, “I am under pressure; I don’t understand the situation; it seems to be getting worse, Lord. Could You talk to me, please, and help me?” I don’t demand that the Lord answer me within five minutes. He is not to be commanded. But, when I have asked Him, I try to make sure that I am listening. When a brother or sister talks to me, or when I am sitting in Meeting, and a verse occurs to my mind, I make pretty sure that I remember what that verse is. And not only that, I go back to the Word of God to look it up, to see what comes before and what comes after that verse. Sometimes I find that that topic of scripture fits my situation fully. Then I can say with assurance, “I feel that this is the voice of the Lord to me.”
Take time to be quiet with the Lord—to wait for Him in your situation. Saul here couldn’t wait, and then Samuel said, “Thou hast done foolishly: thou hast not kept the commandment of the Lord thy God.” What was the result? He said (the end of verse 13): “for now would the Lord have established thy kingdom upon Israel forever. But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the Lord hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the Lord hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which the Lord hath commanded thee.” Sometimes it is not so much that we did the wrong thing, but we did it too fast; we didn’t wait for the Lord’s time. So, I would encourage each one of us, young people especially, learn while you are young to have time to be quiet before the Lord. You can find your own spot. For me it is a mountain side; for you it might be your house or apartment; it might be your room—somewhere where your heart can feel at ease, and quiet. You see, I really couldn’t use my room, because it is piled high with business that is waiting to be done. I would probably sit down, then say, “O.K. I have had my five minutes, now I have to get on with the work.” We must get away from all that is pressuring us, and be able to spend time with the Lord. So, the judgment came quite quickly on Saul, because he couldn’t wait!
But dear young person, I want to sound a warning note. Our brother has spoken to us about the fourteenth chapter, so I would just like to point out two things there: First of all, Saul was sitting under a pomegranate tree while Jonathan was getting the victory. Then, notice verses 18-20: “And Saul said unto Ahiah, Bring hither the ark of God. For the ark of God was at that time with the children of Israel. And it came to pass, while Saul talked unto the priest, that the noise that was in the host of the Philistines went on and increased: and Saul said unto the priest, Withdraw thine hand. And Saul and all the people that were with him assembled themselves, and they came to the battle: and, behold, every man’s sword was against his fellow, and there was a very great discomfiture.” You can see Saul’s attitude here; he calls for the ark of the Lord, but he doesn’t wait for an answer. He can’t wait. Do you know why? Because, I don’t believe that Saul belonged to the Lord; he was not a “saved man.” (I suppose that it is not really correct to use that term in the Old Testament; but you know what I mean―unsaved.) So if you are sitting here this afternoon, and you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, you are just like Saul. It is an outstanding characteristic that a person cannot wait for the Lord, or seek His guidance in his life, if he or she does not know the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior. Saul couldn’t wait. It is a characteristic of the old nature―restlessness; never can wait; either too fast, or too slow; but never on time. Because, an unsaved person does not have the Holy Spirit within them, and they cannot understand the things of God. So I urge you, if you do not know the Lord Jesus, don’t be like Saul: he tried to put on a good front, but it didn’t work. His restless old nature came to the fore all the time. He couldn’t wait for the priest to get the message; he said, “Hold off now, I am off to the battle.” Later on, he wanted to kill Jonathan, the one who had saved the people of God. He was always doing the wrong thing. Dear young people, take a look for your profit at the history of Saul; it is a painful one, really painful. He did the wrong thing at the wrong moment. You will find a division, if you go through the Book of Samuel: Up to a certain point the Bible seems to present his good points; but then, from the time the Lord told him to go and fight with the Amalekites, it seems to me when I read it, that he did everything wrong. It wasn’t that Saul was a bad man; it was just showing that an unsaved person has no power to live for God, or to do His will.
Let us just follow him to the end, chapter 28, verses 5, 6: (the same situation―enemies; pressure): “And when Saul saw the host of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart greatly trembled. And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets.” Now he is in real trouble. As was said before, many people treat God as their lawyer; when they are in trouble, they get in contact with Him; when they are not, they stay away from Him. But the Lord will not be treated in that fashion. So it says, that the Lord would not answer him, “neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets.” No answer for Saul. There is no answer before you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior—you must be a saved person to enjoy communion; to enjoy the connection with the Lord. No wonder you do not get an answer if you are not saved, if you do not belong to Him. He loves you, yes; but you have nothing to do with the will of God. You must come to Him as a poor sinner, and say, “Lord Jesus, I submit to you as my Savior and my Lord.”
What did Saul do? He is really foolish this time. He goes to see a woman who has an evil spirit. Turn to verse 15, where Samuel comes up: “And Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou disquieted me, to bring me up? And Saul answered, I am sore distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me, and answereth me no more, neither by prophets, nor by dreams; therefore I have called thee, that thou mayest make known unto me what I shall do. Then said Samuel, Wherefore then dost thou ask of me seeing the Lord is departed from thee, and is become thine enemy? And the Lord hath done to him, as he spake by me: for the Lord hath rent the kingdom out of thine hand, and given it to thy neighbor, even to David: Because thou obeyedst not the voice of the Lord, nor executedst his fierce wrath upon Amalek, therefore hath the Lord done this thing unto thee this day. Moreover the Lord will also deliver Israel with thee into the hand of the Philistines: and to morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me: the Lord also shall deliver the host of Israel into the hand of the Philistines. Then Saul fell straightway all along on the earth, and was sore afraid, because of the words of Samuel: and there was no strength in him; for he had eaten no bread all the day, nor all the night.”
That is the end! No hope for him! Why? He didn’t belong to the Lord.
It all began with that little point that I want to stress this afternoon―wait for instruction from the Lord; it is so necessary in all the details of our lives. Wait for the Lord. It takes real energy to wait quietly; just to wait for the Lord. So this is Saul: he said, “I couldn’t wait; I forced myself.” There are always excuses, but God does not accept excuses. You may feel that you are forced to act; but try, always, to get quietly with the Lord so that you can understand what He wants you to understand, and so that you can ask about His time and His way in situations.
Now, let’s just look at a second person, in Second Kings, chapter 6. This is the story of Ahab; and there is a great famine because the king of Syria has come up and besieged Samaria. Verse 25: “And there was a great famine in Samaria: and, behold, they besieged it, until an ass’s head was sold for four-score pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a cab of dove’s dung for five pieces of silver. And as the king of Israel was passing by upon the wall, there cried a woman unto him, saying, Help, my Lord, O king.” Notice his answer: “If the Lord do not help thee, whence shall I help thee? out of the barn floor, or out of the wine press?” He said, “If the Lord doesn’t help you, who will? I can’t.” Another unsaved person! So, he learns about the two women with their two sons, and he is appalled by the condition that the people of God have come to. Verse 31 is his reaction: “Then he said, God do so and more also to me, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat shall stand on him this day.” So, he is going to cut off the head of Elisha to solve the problem. Now, verse 33: “And while he yet talked with them, behold, the messenger came down unto him, and he said, Behold this evil is of the Lord; what should I wait for the Lord any longer?” (Or, as in the New Translation, “Why should I wait for the Lord any longer?”) Terrible thing to say, isn’t it?― “this evil, or this situation in my life, is of the Lord, why should I wait for Him any more? He is not solving my problem; He is not helping me at all.” Of course you and I who know and love the Lord would never say a thing like that; but this is the answer of someone who doesn’t know the Lord. “This evil is of the Lord (he recognized the fact); why should I wait any longer? I had better take care of myself.” But, even if he wanted, he couldn’t do anything about the situation; the enemy troops were around the city; he had no means of changing the situation. So, he said, “Behold, this evil is of the Lord; why should I wait any longer?” I want to encourage each one of us to wait on the Lord. In some situations it is necessary to calm ourselves, and to be quiet, and to just wait for the Lord to work.
Now, let us pass on to two people who had to wait in the book of Genesis. First, Abram, in chapter 12. Here the Lord called Abram, when he was seventy and five years old, out of the land of Haran into the land of Canaan. And, the Lord promises that He will give to Abram a son by Sarai, his wife. But the time becomes long; let us just skip over to chapter 16: “Now Sarai Abram’s wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the Lord bath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.” Sarai also recognized the hand of the Lord in her circumstances. I don’t believe that there is a person here this afternoon who would not admit to the fact that our lives are in the hands of the Lord. However, we forget this sometimes. We should remind ourselves of it and then, perhaps, we wouldn’t fall into Sarai’s mistake. She said, “The Lord has kept me from bearing.” So, she had a solution to the problem; it was a painful solution—it brought pain and suffering to that family. Why? Because she couldn’t wait! Abram was also responsible; but it was Sarai who couldn’t wait. Sometime, when you have the time, look up and see the all trouble that resulted from Abram taking the Egyptian maid.
Verse 4: “And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes.” Results come quick! If you do not wait for the Lord, results come quick; and they are quite painful. I have just one thing to say to you this afternoon: wait for the Lord. And if you must act, it is a danger sign if you act from a sense of desperation. If you do not know clearly the mind of the Lord, you should either not act at all, or act with a broken spirit in great humbleness, because you do not know the mind of the Lord. He wants you to know His mind; He is willing to communicate it to you. Often it takes time for the Lord to clear some of the obstacles out of the way before He is willing to communicate His mind to us. It surely is a great mercy of the Lord, when He sees in my heart, and knows me through and through—even better than I know myself—and He says, “If I tell you to do something, I know that you will rebel against it. Your first reaction is going to be outright rebellion against what I tell you to do; and you are going to disobey, and get into trouble.” So, sometimes, He keeps from us a sense of His will; He does not tell us what His will is, because He knows that we have to be prepared first of all. He has to break down our will, so that when He does say, “Please, do this for Me,” or, “This is the way I want a situation handled,” then we will be willing instruments in His hands. That is the key, I feel, in understanding the will of the Lord; we have to say, “Lord, I have to know what to do; but any other things You would like to tell me about, I will be happy to hear.” But, I am warning you, they may be quite painful sometimes; because He will talk to you about yourself, and your stubborn will. And, He has His own methods, and His own ways, of breaking that stubborn will. He has His own method of making our ears willing to hear what He has to say. So here, Sarai acted; she couldn’t wait. The Lord had promised, but she couldn’t wait; and she brought a lot of pain and suffering into that family.
Turn to chapter 17: “And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.” Verse 6: “And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.” Ninety nine years old! How long have you waited for your prayer? Abram left when he was seventy-five; so he waited twenty four years. How long have you waited for the Lord in your life―24 hours? That might seem awfully long sometimes. Twenty four months? Two years seems a very long time to be waiting for the Lord. Abram waited a long time; but he got the blessing in the end! Sure, there was Hagar and Ishmael―a trouble and a pain. But, through the grace of God he was kept and preserved so that he might wait until the end. By the grace of God may each of us have the patience to be quietly waiting on the Lord, knowing that His choice is best; and that He will do it in His way, and in His time; and it will be perfect then.
Once there was a brother in an Assembly who was having problems in his marriage. Another brother had never spoken to him; but he wanted to, because he loved him and had enjoyed a very close relationship with him. A third brother was just moving at that time, and they both were helping in the move, and had worked late. They left about 10:30, these two brothers and another helper. They dropped off the helper, and the two brothers were left together. The one wanted to speak but knew how rash he was, and how quick to talk. Instead, he prayed quietly in his heart: “Lord, I could talk now; there are just the two of us, but I want You to open the opportunity.” So, they drove for ten minutes. They talked about everything under the sun, except what he wanted to talk about. When they were only about three or four minutes from his home, the brother with the problem brought the subject up. He said, “Did you know about us, and the problems in our marriage?”
Now he was so glad that he hadn’t spoken before, because then the brother told him some things that were very useful in understanding the situation, and it helped him to speak wisely in giving advice. Do we wait on the Lord for our opportunities? Then we can speak with a quiet heart; not unprepared; not rushing in.
Verses 17, 18: “Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old bear? And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!”
The old problem―because he wasn’t willing to wait. Dear young people, you can ruin your whole life; you can spoil the leading of the Lord, if you rush. Try to spend time with Him alone, in quiet prayer, discovering what the will of the Lord is. Wait for the Lord; don’t run before Him. Here Abraham is amazed that the Lord would be able to help him. Sometimes in our lives, we feel that there just is no solution to our problem. But we don’t know what the Lord is able to do; how He can heal; how He can guide and direct for blessing. Wait for Him!
Chapter 21, verses 5-7: “And Abraham was an hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him. And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me. And she said, Who would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah should have given children suck? for I have born him a son in his old age.” The end of the story―by the grace of God! It can be the end of the story for you also in your problems, and in your life.
“Seek ye the Lord, while He may be found.” Wait for Him. Covet the sense in your heart to know what the Lord’s mind is for you in your life, and in your situation. Sarah said, “who would have thought, who would have ever said to Sarah that she should have a child?” There are many older ones here who can say by the grace of God, “That is my story―I would never have dreamed of the grace of God in my family, and the blessing of God in my life.” I want to encourage you: God is good. He wants your blessing; He wants to make your life full; He wants to make you a blessing to the friends around you. Wait for Him in every situation! Now the last person, whose story is, perhaps, the most beautiful of all―Joseph. He had a lot of waiting to do, too. Turn to Psa. 105, verses 17-20: “He sent a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant: whose feet they hurt with fetters: he was laid in iron: until the time that his word came: the word of the Lord tried him. The king sent and loosed him; even the ruler of the people, and let him go free.” We all know the story of Joseph; time won’t permit our reading it all. Joseph had a dream that his brothers and mother and father would bow down to him. He was rebuked for it; despised for it; hated for it. So, he went in love to look for his brothers; and they took him, and threw him into a pit. What had he done wrong? Nothing. This Psalm tells us that God sent him. Dear young person, quite often in our situation we might say, “I would rather not be here. I don’t like to be in a small Meeting; I would like to be in a big Meeting, where there is lots of fellowship.” God sent you; He has put you into that situation. Maybe it is a job; whatever it is, He has put you in that situation; wait for Him. He has planned a blessing for you, and for others. Wait for Him!
So Joseph is sold, and taken down into Egypt. Turn to Genesis chapter 42, verse 21 (his brothers are speaking): “And they said one to another, We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us.” The brothers say, “We saw the anguish of his soul.” Sometimes we get into anguish, too―when we feel as if we are trapped in circumstances. Joseph is not one who did not feel the circumstances. Notice, when he was in the prison, and explains the dream to the chief butler, chapter 40, verse 14: “But think on me when it shall be well with thee, and show kindness, I pray thee, unto me, and make mention of me unto Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house.” Then, in verse 15, we get a little look into his heart: “For indeed I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews: and here also have I done nothing that they should have put me into the dungeon.” Can you see into his heart? He felt that he was in prison, but wrongly so. But, wait for the Lord.
What is the end of the story? Our time is up, so just drop down to chapter 45, verse 5: “Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.” What, Joseph: Do you mean to say that God sent you to be sold by your brothers―betrayed? Did God send you into those dark dungeons? “Yes, God did send me.” Dear young person, I comfort your heart―many situations which now you don’t understand, when you get older, and turn around and look back, you will understand; you will see the purpose of God in your life. Wait for Him; trust in Him!
I also want to leave with you that little word in Proverbs, chapter 3, verses 5 and 6: It says, “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart.” Then, “Lean not unto thine own understanding.” Don’t make it a tendency to lean to your own discernment. “In all thy ways acknowledge Him.” This is something you can do: in all your ways―in the little details―acknowledge Him; put Him first. Then the promise, “He shall direct thy paths.”
In closing, turn to Romans, chapter 5. Read from verse 3 (these are the results of waiting): “And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also:” Trouble―we glory in it; we are happy for it. “Why are you happy for trouble?” Because, we know “that tribulation worketh patience (or, endurance).” It is lovely to see a person who can go on quietly under fire, and not break down―just going on quietly, walking with the Lord; doing good to those around him; happy; content to be where the Lord has put him. We know that tribulation worketh endurance; and that out of endurance (patience) comes experience. What is the good of experience? Because, out of experience comes hope. You look back and say, “The Lord provided for me in that trouble; I waited for Him and He delivered me―He straightened out the situation.” So, there is hope. “And hope does not make ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given to us.” We might not be sure of the will of the Lord; but we are sure of one thing, and that is that He loves us. Let us wait for Him!