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Calling and Waiting on the Lord
CCC Sermon, October 16, 2022
1 I love the LORD, because he has heard
my voice and my pleas for mercy.
2 Because he inclined his ear to me,
therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
(Psalm 116:1-2)
20 Our soul waits for the Lord;
he is our help and our shield.
21 For our heart is glad in him,
because we trust in his holy name.
22 Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us,
even as we hope in you.
(Psalm 33:20-22)
OUTLINE
(1) CALLING CLEARLY
A. Call early and often because He listens and answers
B. Two mistakes
1. Approaching God with fear and timidity instead of boldness
2. Approaching God with presumption and entitlement instead of humility
(2) WAITING WELL
A. There are two kinds of waiting: active and passive
B. Three mistakes
1. Waiting impatiently
2. Waiting with lazy hopelessness instead of expectant readiness (unhealthy passive)
3. Taking over for God instead of waiting with peaceful trust (unhealthy active)
(3) BEAUTIFUL BALANCE
A. Call Clearly: Boldly, not out of fear.
Humbly, not entitled
B. Wait Well: With patient peace and hopeful readiness
C.
You can't have one without the other!
Introduction
Good morning.
It is a privilege to have this opportunity to fill in for our beloved Pastor.
And I want you to know that I feel the weight of these few precious moments that I've been entrusted with.
But I also have a confidence that our God who is faithful will take my imperfect effort here this morning, and somehow perfect it in our hearts through the power of the Holy Spirit.
So, LORD, may it be so for your people in this place, in this moment.
Amen.
Well, our family just got back from Lancaster, Pennsylvania where we watched an epic stage play on the life of King David.
It was put on by a remarkable production company, Site and Sound Theater, and I'm not even embarrassed to tell you that this is our second time going down this year to see the play.
It was that good.
One of the things I really loved about the production was how they weaved many of David's Psalms into the story that was being told.
And I bring this up because it reminded me that so many of the Psalms provide us with examples and instruction concerning our topic today.
So, I will refer to a few of them as we go.
But the passages we just read at the beginning provide a good setup.
Psalm 116:2 - "I will call on the LORD as long as I live."
And then Psalm 33:20 - "My soul waits for the LORD."
These themes are so prevalent in the Psalms, that I bet if we picked one out at random, we'd find one or both ideas, calling on the LORD and waiting on the LORD, expressed in some way.
And this morning I really want to talk about these two together, because calling and waiting are meant to be in some sort of harmonious balance.
For example, listen to David express these two ideas together in Psalm 130:
1 Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD!
O Lord, hear my voice!
2 Let your ears be attentive
to the voice of my pleas for mercy!
...
5 I wait for the LORD, my soul waits,
and in his word I hope;
6 My soul waits for the Lord
more than watchmen for the morning,
more than watchmen for the morning.
(Psalm 130)
What we have here is calling and waiting together, living in perfect harmony.
And that is my aim for us this morning-to understand what faithful calling on the LORD and waiting on the LORD look like together.
Now, this might initially seem like a trivial exercise.
I mean, what's the big deal?
Is this so complicated?
Call on the LORD, and then wait for Him to answer.
Done.
Pack it up.
Let's go home.
And yet, if I'm honest with myself, I don't think I'm very good at either of these activities.
And furthermore, as I've been reflecting on this theme, I think we sometimes gravitate toward one activity to the exclusion of the other.
Meaning, in some cases we might be quick to call on the LORD, but then have a hard time waiting for His answer.
While at other times, we might wait for God to act, but we're hesitant to call on Him for help.
And we can't really do either of these well unless we are doing them both together.
That is to say, if we call but don't wait...or wait but don't call..., something will be out of balance, and the whole scale topples over, so to speak.
So, with that introduction, we'll go for the 'ol classic 3-point sermon here this morning.
First, we'll look at what it means to CALL CLEARLY on the LORD.
Second, we'll look at what it means to WAIT WELL for the LORD to answer.
And third, we'll explore what it means for these to be in a BEAUTIFUL BALANCE.
(1) Calling Clearly
A. Why we call
Let's start with calling on the LORD.
I want to begin with this simple question: why?
Why should we call on God?
And I think David gives us a very simple, foundational reason in one of the Psalms that was read at the beginning.
Psalm 116:1-2 declares,
I love the Lord, because he has heard
my voice and my pleas for mercy.
2 Because he inclined his ear to me,
therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
(Psalm 116:1-2)
"I will call on the LORD" why? "Because He hears my voice and inclines his ear to me."
In other words, because he listens.
Now, if all God did was listen to us, that would not be a sufficient reason to call out to him.
But listen to what David says in Psalm 34:
4 I sought the LORD, and he answered me
and delivered me from all my fears.
...
6 This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him
and saved him out of all his troubles.
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