Keep Waiting On The Lord

What Have You Been Waiting On?

Psalm 27:14

14 Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!

It is really hard to wait!

It goes against the nature of our culture to wait for anything. Nearly every business today is centered around giving people what they want right when they want it!

Tired of waiting through the commercials? Just stream it instead.

Don’t want to drive out to the store? Just order it on your phone.

Don’t want to send something through the mail, just email it instantly.

Don’t want to grow it yourself, just but it at the grocery store.

Don’t want to cook yourself, go out to eat. Don’t want to wait for your food to be cooked for you? Then use a “Fast-food” restaurant.

I think you get the picture. We like to have things immediately! We have been fed the lie that waiting for something means that we are missing out. That we are being robbed of instant pleasure.

Because of this, we have an impatient world that is always demanding things to be given to them immediately.

Have you every had to sit on an airplane and not have access to your phone or a smart device?

Have you ever been on a road trip and had no service to scroll through facebook or instagram?

It can be tough sometimes to just accept that you won’t get what you want.

Maybe the worst one…When you have to go to the eye doctor, have your eyes dilated and then sit in a dark waiting room for like half an hour. You can’t read a book, you can’t bear to look at your phone, and you are sitting by yourself. So now you start feeling like you will go insane! All this waiting just for the doctor to show up, ask you a few questions, take a quick glance at your eyes, and then let you go. Only to still not be able to see for like another hour.

Waiting is hard and it is against our nature.

But maybe this hits a little closer to home when I mention things that are a little more impactful:

How about waiting on God to provide:

A job

A spouse

Enough money to cover rent

A car that will actually drive

A child

To make it through school

To see a loved one again

Well it should be of no surprise to you that the Bible is filled with the answer to life’s hardest questions:

And “Should I wait?” is no exception to this!

The question seems to be however: HOW MUCH longer must I keep waiting?

Let’s start by looking at a few key bible characters that also had to learn how to wait upon God:

Abraham - Waiting for 25 years to receive a child

Hebrews 6:15 tells us “15 And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise.”

2. Joseph being sold into slavery, accused of trying to rape his master’s wife, and many years of being in prison.

Yet Genesis 50:20 says: “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.”

3. Numbers 14:34 tells us that the sins of Israel led to 40 years of wandering through the desert.

For some this was their punishment due to their disobedience and lack of faith. However others; namely Moses, Caleb and Joshua believed that God would lead them into the promised land with victory.

However God allowed them to wait.

4. David had to wait patiently for many years to be given the kingdom of Israel as he had been promised by God. He had many opportunities to harm or kill Saul in order to take it sooner. For it was his right. God had promised him it. But David refused to take it. He waited for God to give it to him.

Some commentators suggest that David was 16 when Samuel anointed David as the new king of Israel. However, he was 30 years old when he became King. 14 years of being on the run for his life from king Saul and enduring mistreatment by many.

Finally, I want to share a little bit about the story of Job:

Job was a godly man.

He had everything a person would want

Scene changes:

Job 1:7-8

“7 The Lord said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” 8 And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?””

Satan then goes on to explain that Job is only good because God has blessed him with everything. BUTTTT.... if Satan would be allowed to take them away, then Job would surely curse God.

God says:

“I’ll allow it” .....but you cannot touch him.

So satan takes absolutely everything from him.

Hear this passage:

Job 1:13–22 ESV

13 Now there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, 14 and there came a messenger to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them, 15 and the Sabeans fell upon them and took them and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 16 While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 17 While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “The Chaldeans formed three groups and made a raid on the camels and took them and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 18 While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, 19 and behold, a great wind came across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people, and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 20 Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. 21 And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” 22 In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.

Can you believe this??? He lost every single possession and he even lost his children.

Yet He refused to blame God and acknowledged that everything in life belongs to God and is within His right to either give or take away. Nothing is truly ours. We are living on borrowed time, money, family, and everything else. It is all God’s.

Scene changes again:

Again the angels are coming before God to present themselves. Satan comes back before God after having just failed in his attempt to get Job to curse God.

And in a silly manner, this is essentially what happens:

God is like...”Hey Satan!” “Have you seen or heard from Job recently?”

“Oh wait....whats that sound”

***Distantly sing****

“Blessed be the name of the Lord! Blessed be your name!”

Job 2:3 “There is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?”

*****Sing**** “He gives and takes away…He Gives and takes away”

“He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.”

Job 2:4–10 ESV

4 Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life. 5 But stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.” 6 And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life.” 7 So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. 8 And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes. 9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.” 10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

You ever wonder why Satan took all of His children, but not his wife? Well I think that passage answers your question....

Don’t push other people to turn against God in hatred and frustration!

Once again, we see that Job does not sin against God through what He says.

After, this, Job’s friends show up and they respond in a great way! Get this....they say absolutely nothing!

They are just there for him. They come, tear their robes in distress, put ashes and dust on themselves and simply sit with job for a week straight.

Saying nothing.

Looks like really great friends who understand that coming and trying to say all the right words to him is not what he needed. He just needed friends who cared for him to simply be with him.

But then, they finally speak up and one by one begin insisting that he must have done wrong to incite God to do these things to him.

Notice how Satan was the one to do them, yet people love to blame God when things are hard.

Even though we read where Job hadn’t sinned again God through his response, we now begin to see Job get frustrated with his friends for assuming that he had sinned against God. He begins to get a little bit of an attitude. And then after everyone else has had their turn to talk, God steps in and speaks to Job in a way that must have been absolutely terrifying.

I won’t read it all, because it is a lot, but here are a few things that God tells Job:

Job 38:1–11 NASB95

1 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, 2 “Who is this that darkens counsel By words without knowledge? 3 “Now gird up your loins like a man, And I will ask you, and you instruct Me! 4 “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding, 5 Who set its measurements? Since you know. Or who stretched the line on it? 6 “On what were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone, 7 When the morning stars sang together And all the sons of God shouted for joy? 8 “Or who enclosed the sea with doors When, bursting forth, it went out from the womb; 9 When I made a cloud its garment And thick darkness its swaddling band, 10 And I placed boundaries on it And set a bolt and doors, 11 And I said, ‘Thus far you shall come, but no farther; And here shall your proud waves stop’?

God goes on much longer, but you see the picture. God basically shows Job that he has so little understanding of anything nor does he have any power whatsoever in comparison to God.

Job repents for speaking of things that he did not understand.

And finally after waiting for all for all of this time, Job gets his response from God, and God turns around to bless him with far more than he had to begin with.

Job 42:10–17 ESV

10 And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends. And the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. 11 Then came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and ate bread with him in his house. And they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him. And each of them gave him a piece of money and a ring of gold. 12 And the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning. And he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys. 13 He had also seven sons and three daughters. 14 And he called the name of the first daughter Jemimah, and the name of the second Keziah, and the name of the third Keren-happuch. 15 And in all the land there were no women so beautiful as Job’s daughters. And their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers. 16 And after this Job lived 140 years, and saw his sons, and his sons’ sons, four generations. 17 And Job died, an old man, and full of days.

Now after hearing all of this, there are a few things that I don’t want you to take away:

I don’t want you to walk away from this and say: “Well, Nate told me that if I just wait a little longer, God will bless me with so much wealth and credit, that I won’t know what to do with it all!”

That is not what I’m saying.

Instead, let me share a few simple points that I want you to understand when you are in a season of waiting for God to answer or respond.

Adversity and difficult times WILL happen in your life as a Christian.

If you didn’t already know this…SPOILER ALERT! Its gonna happen.

......John 16:33

John 16:33 NASB95

33 “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”

If you life is always sunshine and flowers, and you never have difficulties, then I’m just gonna be bold and tell you that you must not be living for Jesus. Because if you are, Satan will be attacking you with all kinds of troubles and attempt to accuse you before God.

Satan is described in the Bible as both a deceiver and an accuser.

First He tells you a lie. That God is keeping something good from you. Its not good to wait. God doesn’t want you to enjoy it.

Then as soon as you do whatever sin it is that you were deceived into doing, he immediately strikes you with guilt, “you’re not worthy” he tells us. Then he accuses us before God.

Satan follows the same game plan of attack since the beginning of history in the garden of eden.

So point #1 = Hard Times will happen!

2. Honor God in your waiting by doing what is right and good.

Psalm 37 (ESV)

Of David.

1 Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers!

2 For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb.

3 Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.

4 Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

5 Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.

6 He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.

7 Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!

8 Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.

9 For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land.

23 The steps of a man are established by the Lord, when he delights in his way;

24 though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the Lord upholds his hand.

25 I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread.

34 Wait for the Lord and keep his way, and he will exalt you to inherit the land; you will look on when the wicked are cut off.

When you are waiting, remember to keep His ways! God rewards us in many different ways when we are faithful to trust Him and continue to live in obedience even when we are waiting.

3. Learn how to handle your emotions, fears, anxieties.

Cast them on Jesus....

1 Peter 5:7 ESV

7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

Matthew 11:29–30 ESV

29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

So what are you going to do when you are troubled with waiting? Being anxious and afraid?

You turn to Jesus to give Him everything.

I can honestly share from experience that it is a lot easier to let God carry things that are heavy. Especially when I am so weak!

He wants you to turn to Him and He will give you the strength needed.

Hear what Isaiah says in Isa 40:29-31

Isaiah 40:29–31 NASB95

29 He gives strength to the weary, And to him who lacks might He increases power. 30 Though youths grow weary and tired, And vigorous young men stumble badly, 31 Yet those who wait for the Lord Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.

Keep choosing to wait upon God!

4. Know that all things work out to the good of those who love God!

Romans 8:28 NASB95

28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

James 1:2 NASB95

2 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,

Hear me when I tell you this:

Waiting is “Pure JOY” when your goal is God!

The reason for our trials is that God would refine us into His image.

The verse in Romans tells us that all things are worked together for our good. Do you believe that?

But what is our good? Good for us is truly to be more like Jesus!

Can you honestly tell me there is anything better for me than to have more of God in my life?

Your waiting is only going to produce a more godly character that resembles Jesus! Remember that Jesus is called “The Son of Suffering”

5. Be Excited!!!

When we wait for things in God’s timing, they will be so much more rewarding and enjoyable than if we try to take them for ourselves.

Again, Satan wants to deceive us into believing that God does not want our good. Why would God withhold something so enjoyable from me?

But when we do things ourselves, are they usually good? Or do our own plans often lead to disaster, heartache, and broken relationships?

Our timing leads to sin and mistakes. Waiting for God’s timing leads to us full enjoyment and honoring God!

His design is not to rob us of pleasure, but to give us something absolutely beautiful and enjoyable.

I vote that we should do things His way.

They make you more like Jesus and they are far more enjoyable then what I could have tried to come up with on my own!

I can honestly tell you that I am not creative enough to come up with the wonderful things that God has done for me.

I look at my relationship with Ileana, my family, my job, my experiences in life. I can honestly tell you that I never could have been creative enough to come up with all of this. And yet along the way, there have been many tears, hurt feelings, moments of doubt, fear of failure. And yet I am standing here today because of the grace of God.

I can also tell you honestly that as I have been here in Buchanan over the past 2 years, I have seen God answer some desperate prayers of mine!

one most recently seen was seeing someone I have been on and off praying for these two years come to know Jesus and be brought close to God with peace!

That was rewarding! Keep waiting with hopeful expectation!

Quick recap:

1. Hard times will happen. You will be faced with waiting.

2. Honor God by doing what is right while you are waiting.

3. Learn how to handle your emotions and feelings.

4. Keep an eternal perspective that allows you to know that God is working everything out to our good.

5. Brothers and sisters in Christ…BE EXCITED! God has wonderful things for your life. Should you choose to wait upon and trust in Him.

Let me close by reading Psalm 27. And before doing so, I have learned that clinging to the Word of God and His promises will allow you to not simply survive the waiting. Rather it allows you to walk through them with Jesus and have confidence and peace.

Here is Psalm 27:

Psalm 27 ESV

Of David. 1 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? 2 When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall. 3 Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident. 4 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. 5 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. 6 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. 7 Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud; be gracious to me and answer me! 8 You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, Lord, do I seek.” 9 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! 10 For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in. 11 Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies. 12 Give me not up to the will of my adversaries; for false witnesses have risen against me, and they breathe out violence. 13 I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living! 14 Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!

Lets pray!

****Remember to Pray for Pastor Kevin at the very end****

Pastor Appreciation Month