Wait Upon the Lord and Renew Your Strength
Paradox • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 5 viewsParadox concerning the spiritual discipline being still in order to move in our Spiritual growth.
Notes
Transcript
Intro:
Intro:
Isaiah 40:28-31.
Isaiah 40:28-31.
Do you not know? Have you not heard?
The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth
Does not become weary or tired.
His understanding is inscrutable.
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.
What does it mean to wait on the Lord?
Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament 1994 קָוָה
This root means to wait or to look for with eager expectation.
Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament 1994 קָוָה
Waiting involves the very essence of a person’s being, his soul
I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope.
But the word wait also carries with it the undercurrent of being still.
1. Be still in order to pursue peace
1. Be still in order to pursue peace
Come and see what the Lord has done, the desolations he has brought on the earth. He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire. He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
Context
Be Still—Stop fighting, cease, be inactive, surrender, stop, desist, drop your weapons
God brings peace. In the context of this Psalm he brings force and force in order to accomplish peace.
That’s not the only way we find peace. In fact I would wager that for us directly the use of force is not the primary way God operates.
Illustration
Elijah and the still small voice (1 Kings 19:9-18)
God operates in a couple different ways: redirects us, He removes us from circumstances, and He brings conviction on us.
However it is nearly impossible for us to recognize these moments if you are not being still.
The beginning of Psalm 46 says
God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.
His confidence in the world falling apart around him comes knowing who God is. It comes from being still and knowing.
2. Sit still and see what God has done
2. Sit still and see what God has done
Truth on Its Head: Unusual Wisdom in the Paradoxes of the Bible We Must Learn to Sit Still
The French philosopher Blaise Pascal (1623–1662) wrote, “All the troubles of men are caused by one single thing, which is their inability to stay quietly in a room.
Context leading up to this verse
Ruth 3:18 (NKJV)
18 Then she said, “Sit still, my daughter, until you know how the matter will turn out; for the man will not rest until he has concluded the matter this day.”
Do any of us really like to sit still? We get impatient. We get frustrated.
How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? Look on me and answer, Lord my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death, and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,” and my foes will rejoice when I fall.
I Like this quote from Warren Wiersbe
Truth on Its Head: Unusual Wisdom in the Paradoxes of the Bible We Must Learn to Sit Still
As we wait on the Lord, it may seem to us a waste of time; but we must realize that the Lord is not only working for us but working in us. He wants us to be adequately prepared to do the work He is preparing for us
One of the first verses I ever remember memorizing was Philippians 1:6
being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
In addition Jesus has told us that God cares for us
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Be still and know God
Sit still and see what God has done
3. Stand Still and watch to see the victories God has done
3. Stand Still and watch to see the victories God has done
Context: Moses has lead the Jews out of Egypt, Pharaoh’s armies are on their heels and the Red Sea is in front of them.
Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
We can know this for sure, God is for us…He will fight for us.
Moses generals may have suggested they turn and fight, or head up the bank and try to run away.
Sometimes God does say go, but not always. Sometimes he says stand still and watch this.
After this, the Moabites and Ammonites with some of the Meunites came to wage war against Jehoshaphat. Some people came and told Jehoshaphat, “A vast army is coming against you from Edom, from the other side of the Dead Sea. It is already in Hazezon Tamar” (that is, En Gedi). Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the Lord, and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah. The people of Judah came together to seek help from the Lord; indeed, they came from every town in Judah to seek him.
Then Jehoshaphat stood up in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem at the temple of the Lord in the front of the new courtyard and said: “Lord, the God of our ancestors, are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you. Our God, did you not drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend? They have lived in it and have built in it a sanctuary for your Name, saying, ‘If calamity comes upon us, whether the sword of judgment, or plague or famine, we will stand in your presence before this temple that bears your Name and will cry out to you in our distress, and you will hear us and save us.’
All the men of Judah, with their wives and children and little ones, stood there before the Lord. Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Jahaziel son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite and descendant of Asaph, as he stood in the assembly. He said: “Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem! This is what the Lord says to you: ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s. Tomorrow march down against them. They will be climbing up by the Pass of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the gorge in the Desert of Jeruel. You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will give you, Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the Lord will be with you.’ ”
God gave them the victory that day.
Now if we go back to Exodus 14 for a second we’ll see something else
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on.
When God says move is time to move. Here the Jews walked across dry land.
Do not be so quick to try and take control of every battle. Stand still and let God do what he does, win.
Be still and know God
Sit still and see what God has done
Stand still and watch for the victories
4. Lie still and know that the Lord sustains you
4. Lie still and know that the Lord sustains you
On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. I cling to you; your right hand upholds me.
I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me.
The spiritual discipline of rest
Also how do you spend the final moments of your day before you drift off to sleep?
I remembered you, God, and I groaned; I meditated, and my spirit grew faint. You kept my eyes from closing; I was too troubled to speak. I thought about the former days, the years of long ago; I remembered my songs in the night. My heart meditated and my spirit asked:
God’s work in us is not just during the day
By day the Lord directs his love, at night his song is with me— a prayer to the God of my life.
But there may be a metaphor here too. The night represents the evil around us. Darkness and shadow are
spirits of oppression. They may represent worry and anxiety.
God is present there too, when we feel to weak to get up and out of bed. He watches over us and sustains us.
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
Waiting on the Lord is not like waiting at a bus stop or waiting in line at the grocery store. Or waiting your turn to play.
This kind of waiting builds us up in the Lord. It renews our strength. It builds up our hope. And it reveals to us the character of God.