TRUST IS EARNED | ADAM FRENCH

I'm your host, Adam French. The word that I want to talk to you about today is the word patiently or expectantly. And it comes from Psalms 37, seven. I'll read that verse. Be silent before the Lord and wait expectantly for Him. Now listen, I learned this a long time ago. I can be patient or impatient, but either way, I still got to wait. But each of those have some consequences. If I'm inpatient, I'm going to get frustrated. I'm going to get irritated. I may even act out of anger. I may even say something that I don't want to say or I didn't intend to say because I'm frustrated. I could explode, right? Or I could get it wrong. I could, I mean, I hear something that I need to be hearing because I'm getting so inpatient, right? Now when it comes to patience though, I can have peace. I can have serenity. I can think clearly, I can listen clearly. I can maybe see things that I wasn't thinking of because I have a posture of calmness. I have a posture of relaxation. But here's the thing I want you to understand. When David is writing this Psalm, he's not saying I don't want you to do anything. You see the word picture here, the word in Hebrew actually has this connotation.

It describes a woman in childbirth. She's waiting for something to come. She's expecting something to come or someone to come. And so even though we're not saying that we don't want to sit back and do nothing, we're not trying to force things to happen though. That's what gets you stuck, right? Is when you decide not to trust God. Being still doesn't mean that you're stuck. It means that you're waiting on God to do his part. Now I'm not telling you and giving you a pass 'cause to not do anything, 'cause God's not gonna do for you what you can do for yourself. But as you're seeking God, you're saying God, I'm gonna, I'm needing you to step into this. So you're praying to God. You're looking for God to work and you're taking these actions, expecting this thing to happen because you're placing your faith in him. That is an expectant faith. That's saying, okay God, I'm gonna trust you. I'm not gonna force everything to happen. But I'm gonna allow you to prove that my faith is genuine because even though I didn't think I was gonna get, I was gonna get this release date. I continue to have good behavior. Even though I didn't know if I was ever gonna see my family again or talk to my family, I prayed and I trusted.

I prayed for them and I asked God to search my heart and to change my heart and I wanted to find forgiveness for them even though I don't know if I'll ever have a relationship with my daughter, with my son, with my grandparents, whoever it may be. I'm gonna love them and love everyone. I'm still gonna trust you, God. I'm still gonna be faithful. I'm not gonna walk around angry. I'm not gonna send them letter after letter after letter. I'm gonna pray and say, God, would you do a work in the heart? Would you do something that I may not be able to see, right? But in those moments when we're hurt, when there's all these uncertainty, when we have fear coming up, right? It's hard to sit. Like our thoughts wanna rule us and they want us to take over. But waiting can feel like nothing is happening, but I can tell you, God's always at work. I told you today, listen, today, would you say, God, here is everything that's going on in my life. Here's a situation that I am, but I'm gonna take every step moving forward, trusting that you're gonna do a mighty, mighty work. Thank you for joining a word. Make today a great day.