The Blessings of Waiting

THE BLESSINGS OF WAITING Spring Valley Mennonite; November 6, 2022; Isaiah 40:27-31 Do you like to wait? If you do, you are a rare bird indeed! We live in a culture which values instant gratification. We dislike things that take time to develop. We fill our schedules full and become irritated when delays occur. An article entitled "The Culture of Impatience and Instant Gratification, points out, "Instant gratification is the need to experience fulfillment without any sort of delay or wait. Waiting can be really hard, and when people don't get what they want, the psychological reaction is anxiety. To capitalize on that desire, companies are taking consumer anxiety and sprinting with it, offering same-day delivery services, eliminating the need to wait for a taxi and providing the ability to stream full seasons of TV shows within seconds. Such demand for instantaneous feedback has repercussions beyond internet usage and purchasing habits; a society that experiences fewer and fewer waits in its daily habits will slowly possess less and less patience. In certain fields, a lack of patience is fine, but when raising children, teaching others or climbing the professional ladder, there is no way around slow, sometimes excruciating periods of growth."1 But whether we like it or not, waiting is part of life. From God's perspective, waiting is a positive experience. In Isaiah 40 the prophet is seeing into the future when the nation of Israel is exiled in Babylon, conquered by a pagan nation because of their sin of idolatry. As they mourn and complain under the bonds of slavery, they cry out "God, have you forgotten us? Have you fallen asleep toward the injustice we are suffering? We are tired of waiting for Your salvation. How long, Lord?" Sin always creates doubts about the goodness of God. Years ago I saw a bumper sticker (they were popular in the 70's and 80's!)-this bumper sticker said, "If you feel far from God, guess who moved?" Sin creates distance between God and man, and it is we who have moved. For a believer, when we yield to Satan's temptations, he whispers that God is angry and doesn't want anything to do with us. Remember Satan is the father of lies. But God's love and grace is constant, and although sin has consequences, God's forgiveness is always available. God doesn't forget or move away from us. The Holy Spirit may be grieved by our sin, but He will never will leave or forsake us. God answered Israel's questions of "Why", as He does to us, with a glimpse of His magnificent character as Creator God. He who knows the name of the billions of billions of stars and keeps them all in order also knows every intimate detail about us. He cannot and does not forget His children. He calls us to belief through His grace and indwells and never forgets His own. We are secure in His hand. And while we may not know how things are going to personally work out in our lives, He calls us to wait for both His personal plans for me to unfold, as well as His perfect plan for the judgment and salvation of the world. There is great blessing in store for us as we wait upon the Lord. Let's read this wonderfully encouraging passage in Isaiah 40, beginning at verse 27 (Read through 31). I. THE BLESSING OF WAITING BEGINS WITH UNDERSTANDING GOD'S SUPERIORITY God is not like us. Our problem with understanding God is that we lack adequate categories. With our limited and finite minds we try and grasp the infinite. God is perfect, but we have never experienced perfection. God is omnipotent, but all observable power sources are limited. God exists outside of time, He is eternal, never having beginning nor end. For those without God's Word, or who ignore it, such limitations create images of a god much too small. Although modern man is civilized enough to avoid making idols of gold and silver, left on his own, he creates a god (small "g") who is limited, a god who fits into their preconceptions, a god who mirrors their prejudices and desires, a god who can be controlled and is easily satisfied with a minimum of effort-perhaps few hours of their time, or by the few dollars that might be given. This false god pretty much lets people do what they want, and this god loves everybody regardless of behavior. His (or her) standards reflect whatever the current culture say they are. This god lets us muddle through life best we can, but in the end welcomes everyone to heaven. This is the false god of liberal religion, practiced in many churches. This is not the God of the Bible, the One True God. Our God is unlimited in power and knowledge, whose ways, as verse 28, states, "are inscrutable." The God of the Bible defines what is right and what is wrong. The God of the Bible is fully in control of everything, completely sovereign. Such a magnificent and utterly awesome God has graciously revealed Himself to us through the Bible, and, in the fullness of time, through the Lord Jesus Christ. The Old Testament reveals the plan of God to redeem mankind through a Messiah Who would be the ultimate and final sacrifice for the sin of the world. Through the family of Abraham, the whole world would be blessed. The New Testament tells the story of Messiah Jesus, and the mystery of the Church, the fulfillment of the Covenantal promises to bless all mankind with salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. Yet, He is the unseen God, and only those few people who lived in the beginning of the first century saw Jesus. History records His presence on earth, but today we are called to believe in what we do not see. As Jesus told Thomas, "Because you have seen me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed." This is faith. II. THE PURPOSE OF WAITING UPON THE LORD The concept of waiting on God to do something, and the benefits of that waiting are found throughout the Old and New Testaments. Waiting has a close relationship to hope and faith. The Old Testament word for wait focuses attention on what awaits us, much like the concept of hope. Hope always looks to the future. The Old Testament Saints were waiting for their Messiah, for the fulfillment of God's promises. Abraham was promised that his descendants would be as numerous as the sand of the seashore and the stars of the sky (speaking in hyperbole.) Yet as the years passed, no son was born. But Abraham believed God, and this was counted for him as righteousness. He had faith in God's promises. He had no idea how God was going to fulfill that promise, but he held fast to the hope of a son. At the right time, when it was no longer humanly possible to have children, Isaac, the son of promise was born. All the nations of the world would be blessed by a future descendant of Isaac, then Jacob, then through the tribe of Judah, through King David and finally through Jesus, born of the tribe of Judah and the house of David: the miracle baby born of the virgin Mary. The Old Testament believers were waiting for the Messiah to come; New Testament believers-you and me-also are waiting for Messiah Jesus to return. Waiting is a necessary component of the life of all believers. The promises of Isaiah 40 regarding waiting can give strong encouragement in difficult times, as well as help us understand the ways of God. Living in this sin cursed world, we will know pain and suffering and uncertain tomorrows. Our culture, if they acknowledge God at all, ignores His standards and commandments. We know all about the wickedness around us. We personally may experience tragedy, yet we know and believe what the Bible says about the future. We can face the future expectantly but are called to wait for that future to unfold. The full experience of good that the Lord intends requires us to wait, but that waiting has a wonderful purpose in the here and now. Waiting is a huge part of spirituality and our quest for Christlikeness. It works like this: it is in waiting that faith becomes necessary. A God who immediately fulfills every need we have requires no faith. It is in the waiting and the silence that faith develops and grows. Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." Faith grows strong as we believe in what God says will happen. It has been said that the three days between the crucifixion and the resurrection teach us that the presence of silence never equals the absence of God. But this waiting upon God is not sitting around in idleness: III. WAITING INVOLVES ACTIVITY On our recent trip back east, when we purchased our tickets, we had the promise of a flight, but had to wait for that promised flight to occur. But there were many things that had to be done to get ready for the future flight: we had to pack our belongings, drive to the airport, park our vehicle, catch the tram, check our bag, retrieve our boarding passes, go through the screening process to assure we were not terrorists, buy a cup of coffee (as it was early-o'clock in the morning), walk to the gate, wait for our turn to board the airplane, settle into our seats, stow our carry-ons, buckle our seatbelts, and wait some more while the plane taxied to take off-and only then was the promise of a flight fulfilled. We are called to wait for the promise of Jesus' return or the time of our death when He calls us home to heaven. In the meanwhile, each of we believers have work to be done while we wait. We are called to "go into the world and preach the gospel." We are to disciple those who respond to the good news, and in turn send them as ambassadors for Christ. That is the mission of this church, and the mission of every one of us. In addition, we are to live in such a manner that the light of Jesus shines forth. We are to be like salt which adds a delightful savor to our culture, and which preserves against spoilage. We have an opportunity this Tuesday as we vote to be salt and light, expressing Christian values in our state. Our waiting for Jesus' return is not inactivity. Yet we labor and live in the power and ability God gives us, not in our own power. Look at the promises of verses 29-31: In the struggles of life, we grow weary. Plainly speaking, life can be hard. Things change, and not always for the better. Much of what we experience is the result of forces over which we have no control. Inflation saps our buying power. Illness drains our physical strength as does the normal aging process. The self-interests of politicians create problems that affect us adversely. All these things are wearying. But God promises strength and power to the weary. When we wait in dependance on God, His help comes in three ways to provide strength: IV. THREE DESCRIPTIONS OF HOW GOD GIVES STRENGTH TO THE WEARY First, God enables us to mount up with eagle's wings. The eagle is an amazing bird, able to fly as high as 10,000 ft-that is a little less than two miles high! Combining the eagle's sharp eyesight with the ability to reach great heights gives them a great advantage in hunting. And unlike many birds that take shelter in a storm, the eagle uses the updrafts to lift it higher than the storm clouds. When we face storms in life, those traumatic times of crisis, God can give us the ability to rise above it, to gain God's perspective on the issue. Such times are like a death in the family, or the loss of employment, or an accident. The second provision God gives us as we patiently wait for His plan to work out is that we can run and not get weary. I think this speaks to the special challenges that come into our lives. These are not so traumatic times of crisis but challenges like a broken relationship, or misunderstanding. Such a challenge might be having to relocate for employment or having to find a new church. It might be the challenge of retirement or financial decisions. As we commit such issues to the Lord and wait on His wisdom, we can move forward with confidence. Finally, and very practically, as we actively wait-living faithfully supported by the sure hope of His provision, we can walk through the everyday experiences of life without growing tired or faint. This "walking without fainting" describes the strength to keep on keeping on day after day without giving up or giving in to sloth or laziness. It is the strength to resist the temptations of taking the easy way out, of giving less than full effort to the task, to resist the urges of the flesh for ease and entertainment. All this comes as we wait on the Lord, letting waiting do its job of growing our faith. I want to end with reading a few of the many verses where waiting and its benefits are mentioned: Psalm 37:7: "Rest in the LORD and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who carries out wicked schemes." ( A good verse when we consider politicians and world events.) Psalm 40:1-2: "I waited patiently for the LORD and He inclined to me and heard my cry. He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay; and He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm." Psalm 130:5 "I wait for the LORD, my soul does wait, and in His word do I hope." Isaiah 25:8-9 "He will swallow up death for all time, and the Lord God will wipe tears away from all faces, and He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth; for the Lord has spoken. And it will be said in that day, behold this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited; Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation." Hosea 12:6 "Therefore, return to your God, observe kindness and justice and wait for your God continually. Romans 8:22-23 "For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one also hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it. Hope deals with the "not yet" our unseen future. Our faith grows as we eagerly wait for the sure promises of God. And as we wait on the Lord, He enables us to soar on eagles wings, run without growing weary, and persevere in our daily walk without getting tired and giving minimal effort. 1 Website "Study Breaks"; Culture section, March 23, 2017; "The Culture of Impatience and Instant Gratification" by Emma Taubenfeld, Pace University. --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ 2