Pentecost 6 Sermon: Wait for the Lord

Preached on Psalm 27
6th Sunday After Pentecost — Proper 11C
20 July AD 2019

Title: Click to hear the MP3 of Wait for the Lord.

Summary: Patience is a virtue. However, as I sometimes joke, when you ask God for patience, He doesn’t give it, He teaches it. Yet it’s patience that allows us to accept what happens to us in life while trusting that our times and our seasons are in the Lord’s hands. And what God teaches is that when we patiently wait for Him, all our anxieties and troubles belong to Him and He will deal with them for us.

Since we can’t fix anything important in our own lives, particularly not our relationship with God and our way through life’s difficulties, we need to patiently wait for His deliverance. He will lead us out of trouble and into His everlasting presence.

Text:

The Lord is my light and my salvation;
   whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the stronghold of my life;
   of whom shall I be afraid?

When evildoers assail me
   to eat up my flesh,

my adversaries and foes,
   it is they who stumble and fall.

Though an army encamp against me,
   my heart shall not fear;

though war arise against me,
   yet I will be confident.

One thing have I asked 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 gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
   and to inquire in his temple.

For he will hide me in his shelter
   in the day of trouble;

he will conceal me under the cover of his tent;
   he will lift me high upon a rock.

And now my head shall be lifted up
   above my enemies all around me,

and I will offer in his tent
   sacrifices with shouts of joy;

I will sing and make melody to the Lord.

Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud;
   be gracious to me and answer me!

You have said, “Seek my face.”
    My heart says to you,
   “Your face, Lord, do I seek.”
Hide not your face from me.
   Turn not your servant away in anger,

O you who have been my help.
   Cast me not off; forsake me not,
   O God of my salvation!

For my father and my mother have forsaken me,
   but the Lord will take me in.

Teach me your way, O Lord,
   and lead me on a level path
   because of my enemies.

Give me not up to the will of my adversaries;
   for false witnesses have risen against me,
   and they breathe out violence.
I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord
   in the land of the living!

Wait for the Lord;
   be strong, and let your heart take courage;
   wait for the Lord! Psalm 27:7-14

Scripture quoted from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Audio: Click to hear the MP3 of Wait for the Lord.

NB: A few people have had problems trying to play the inline audio with Windows Media Player. If this occurs, you can either change to QuickTime or another default browser player, copy and paste the link directly into a selected player, or download it to your computer, where it seems to work regardless of which player. Several folks have suggested VLC Player from VideoLAN.

Other Readings: Genesis 18:1-10a (10b-1); Colossians 1:21-29; Luke 10:38-42