Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 February 1918 — Waiting Till the Answer Comes [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Waiting Till the Answer Comes

By REV. HOWARD W. POPE

Moody Bible Institute. Chicago

TEXT—I waited patiently for the L>-dl and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.—Psalms 40:1. Riding on the street car recently, I read the Fortieth Psalm two or three

times through, and .this Is what It taught me. This psalm Is evidently an epitome of David’s life, or possibly a single chapter in his history which is not yet concluded. In either case, it is a good illustration of Christian experience. .It naturally divides into five parts. 1. Regeneration. Verses 1-3. David not only prayed,

but he waited patiently for the answerMany people miss the answer because they cannot w’alt God’s time, forgetting that he has other people to attend tobesides them, and that he has hindrances in his work as well as they. On one occasion Daniel prayed three full weeks before there was any token that God had even heard him. Then carafe a messenger from God who told him that from the first day that he began to pray, God had heard him, but that the “Prince of the kingdom of Persia (that is the one who had chargeof Satan’s forces in Persia), had withstood him onfe and twenty days,” but finally he had broken through his ranks, and was there to answer Daniel’s prayer. Remember that patient waiting is just as important as praying. “ —■

David’s patient waiting was well rewarded, for God did four things for him: (a) He brought him up out of a horrible pit? that is out of a condition of despair and doubt; (b) he set his feet upon the solid rock of assurance; (c) he set him going in the way Of Christian service; (d) he put a song of praise into his mouth —all sure signs of a regenerate heart, and every such life is a mighty'testimony to God’s redeeming power. More than sixty years ago George Muller of Bristol Orphanage, England, began to pray for a group of five friends. After five years one of them came to Christ. Five years later two more were converted. He prayed on. for twenty-five years and the fourth man was saved. For the fifth he prayed until death, often expressing full confidence that he too would be brought to Christ eventually, “because,” as he said, “my life so far as I know is right in God’s sight; I am praying for dsomething which is according to God’s word, and I believe according to God’s will, and I am praying in faith, believing that God will fulfill his promises. 2. Reflection. Verses 4-5. From his own experience, David reasons that any man who puts his trust in God will be similarly blessed, and then his thoughts reach out to the wonderful works which God has’dQne for his children, and his more wonderful thoughts, - which have not yet been put into action. 3. Consecration. Verses 7-i). An hour’s honest reflection on what God* has done for us, is pretty sure to lead to a whole-hearted surrender to him. It is not sacrifice or even service that God desires so much as ourselves. The best return we can make to him is that which David made: “Lord here am LI delight to do thy will, O my God.” 4. Expression. Verses 9-10. Any one who thinks he has a .good thing, naturally likes to talk about it, and a genuine Christian experience is sure to find expression in testimony. David did not hide God’s goodness and righteousness in his own heart, but boldly and persistently proclaimed it to oth- . ers. “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.” 5. Petition. Verses 11-17. Because David, had given himself wholly to Gbd, he felt free to call upon God to help him, not in the sense that he had earned a reward, but with the confidence of a surrendered life, which has no hesitation in asking God for anything it'needs, because it knows that it would gladly render unto him any service or sacrifice that he might desire.

David is evidently in sore trouble, for he says, “Innumerable evils have compassed me about.” If it be said, that this does not harmonize with the early part of the psalm, which is so hopeful and jubilant, let it be remembered that changes in life come often' very suddenly, and most of us live under “April, skies, and not unclouded blue.” No one is so fully delivered from trials dhd testings as to be for- ■ ever exempt. Furthermore it is not sb much outward trials that trouble David as the consciousness of his own shortcomings. “Mine iniquities have tdken hold upon me so that. I am not able to look up.” A believer may be wholly delivered from the guilt of sin, and largely from the power of sin, but there can be no deliverance from the presence of.sin qntil Jesus comes to set us free. Hence we should expect trials until that time, 0 but we should also expect deliverance. “In the world ye. shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have over* come the world.” '