Learning to Wait on God in Hallway Seasons.

Isaiah 40:28–31 (ESV)

Have you not known? Have you not heard?

The Lord is the everlasting God,

the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He does not faint or grow weary;

his understanding is unsearchable.

He gives power to the faint,

and to him who has no might he increases strength.

Even youths shall faint and be weary,

and young men shall fall exhausted;

but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;

they shall mount up with wings like eagles;

they shall run and not be weary;

they shall walk and not faint.

Introduction

I want to us to discect this passage of scripture this morning

and I want to talk about,” learning to wait on god in Hallway seasons,” of our lives

Have you ever had to wait for something signifigant.

Im not talking about waiting in the drivethrough for for you food.

I mean you really had to wait for something, and its arrival was completely out of control.

Order

Maybe you finally saved up the money to order that one think you had been waiting to order..

and you placed the order..

and then you had to… wait..

Even though you had a delivery date you had no control of its arival..

you knew it had been ordered..

You knew it was coming..

but even in that knowledge all you could do was wait.

Solomon

I remember when solomon was born..

he was in the breach position..

so they had to do a c-section..

and Krista was so made..

because she had the twin naturally..

but this stubburn little boy refused to get in the right position for delivery..

so they made the call for a c-section.

and so they got her ready..

and took her into the room…

and the nurse took me to this little hallway

and told me..

sit right there..

and wait until I come get you for the delivery.

and I did..

I sat..

and I waited..

and waited..

and waited..

for what It hought was an eternity..

it was iin reality probably 10 minutes…

but I remeber the anxousness..

and the anticipation of what what about to happen..

but there was nothing I could do but wait until the time came for the delivery to take…

There are times in our lives when we cant do much about the situation we are in expect to wait..

The hallway season represent the place between two other seasons…

I call these hallway seaons..

What is a hallway season?

Hallway seasons are seasons where something in your life has begun but it has not come to completion..

and you and I are really powerless in bring them to completion..

These aew seasons between promise and fulfillment

seasons between problem and outcome

seasons between diagnosis and healing

Seasons between finding it out and figuring it out..

Season between prayer and anwser

These are seaons of our lives where something has begin

and we are waiting for god to move, to anwser, to and bring solution to what we are walking through.

but we have yet to see season come to completion..

Examples

Maybe their as complex as a doctor has made a diagnosis, but you have yet to see healing..

Maybe there as simple as you received a bill you ould not pay, and your waiting for god to help..

maybe god has given you a promise but you have yet to see it come to pass..

They could be anything really that has a definite begining and end..

they can be long seasons, they can be short seasons..

and they can be about anything..

BUT THEY ARE MARKED BY THE FACT THAT WE ARE POWERLESS TO BRING THEM TO A CLOSE..

AND WE MUST BELIEVE IN GOD FOR THEIR END..

if your waiting on something you have no control over you might be in a hallway season

Difficult

these seasons or life are notoriously difficult

they are seaons where we feel powerless..

they are sometimes very painful and frightening..

and our only option is to wait upon the lord to move in our lives..

Hope..

but our hope in these season is not found in their circumstance..

but rather in gods faithfulness in our lives..

scriptural references..

These types of season a prevlant throughout scripture..

Abraham

Abraham had a hallway season between the time he was promise offspring and the time issaac was born..

and then again between the time god called him to return isaac through sacrifice and the time he delivered him..

David

David had a hallway season between his annointing to be king and the taking of the throne..

Israel

You could even say israel itself had a large hallways season as they awaited the coming messiah..

Daniel

Daniel had a hallway season between his prayer to god and the anwser that came 21 days latter.

Job

Job had a hallways season betweeen the loss of everything he had and its restoration..

Disciples

The disciples has a hallway season between Jesus death and ressurection..

These seasons are prevelant throughout scripture.

because they are prevelant through out lives..

and they require us to trust and wait on god..

Israel was in a hallway season..

Isaiah is writing to a people who are in a hallway season in life..

the people os israel have been carried into babalonian captivity..

and they are living in a land that is not their own..

under a master that is not thier king..

Promise

and God has given them the promise that he will deliver them..

but the promise has yet to come to pass..

Powerless

and in this season..

they are powerless to bring themselves back to the promised land..

they are forced to wait on god..

to trust.. and wait..

and its in this historical context that the prophet isaiah writes these words..

both Reminding that that in this season..

GOD IS THE ONE WHO HAD THE POWER TO DELIVER..

And GOD is the one who gives the strength to see them through the season..

God reminds israel he is a powerful god..

I have found that when we face seasons such as these.. /

we need to be reminded who the God we serve is..

and in this passage of Isaiah 40 god does just that..

He reminds israel that he is a powerful god..

Powerful

Begining in verse 9 of this chapter god reminds the people who he is..

look what he says..

Isaiah 40:9–27 (ESV)

Go on up to a high mountain,

O Zion, herald of good news;

lift up your voice with strength,

O Jerusalem, herald of good news;

lift it up, fear not;

say to the cities of Judah,

“Behold your God!” (look at who your god is)

Behold, the Lord God comes with might,

and his arm rules for him;

behold, his reward is with him,

and his recompense before him.

He will tend his flock like a shepherd;

he will gather the lambs in his arms;

he will carry them in his bosom,

and gently lead those that are with young.

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand

and marked off the heavens with a span,

enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure

and weighed the mountains in scales

and the hills in a balance?

Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord,

or what man shows him his counsel?

Whom did he consult,

and who made him understand?

Who taught him the path of justice,

and taught him knowledge,

and showed him the way of understanding?

Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,

and are accounted as the dust on the scales;

behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust.

Lebanon would not suffice for fuel,

nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering.

All the nations are as nothing before him,

they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.

To whom then will you liken God,

or what likeness compare with him?

An idol! A craftsman casts it,

and a goldsmith overlays it with gold

and casts for it silver chains.

He who is too impoverished for an offering

chooses wood that will not rot;

he seeks out a skillful craftsman

to set up an idol that will not move.

Do you not know? Do you not hear?

Has it not been told you from the beginning?

Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?

It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,

and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;

who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,

and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;

who brings princes to nothing,

and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.

Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,

scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,

when he blows on them, and they wither,

and the tempest carries them off like stubble.

To whom then will you compare me,

that I should be like him? says the Holy One.

Lift up your eyes on high and see:

who created these?

He who brings out their host by number,

calling them all by name;

by the greatness of his might

and because he is strong in power,

not one is missing.

Why do you say, O Jacob,

and speak, O Israel,

“My way is hidden from the Lord,

and my right is disregarded by my God”?

In the middle of Israels hallways season..

as they are waiting on god to move..

God reminds them just who he is..

The one who is greater than it all..

the one who is more powerful than it all..

Job

Im reminder that Job..

who was in a hallway season himselve..

is reminded something simalar by god..

Job 38:4 ESV

“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.

God reminds job just who big he is..

Us

when we encounter hallways seasons of live..

we need to be reminded and ecnourage that the god we serve is bigger than our seasons..

WE NEED TO REMEMBER GOD IS GREATER THAN THE CRICUMSTANCES

he is bigger than the things we face..

and even though we are powerless..

and we cant do much about our season..

GOD CAN..

AND GOD WILL..

IT IS HE THAT WILL EVENTUALLY BRING YOUR SEASON TO A CLOSE..

HE IS ABLE..

God reminds israel that he is the one who sustains them..

The second thing we see that God reminds israel in their hallway season is that he is the one who sustains them..

He is the one who will given them the strength to bring them through..

Isaiah 40:28–31 (ESV)

Have you not known? Have you not heard?

The Lord is the everlasting God,

the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He does not faint or grow weary;

his understanding is unsearchable.

He gives power to the faint,

and to him who has no might he increases strength.

Even youths shall faint and be weary,

and young men shall fall exhausted;

but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;

they shall mount up with wings like eagles;

they shall run and not be weary;

they shall walk and not faint.

God reminds israel..

in this season your in..

I am the one who brings you drings..

Israel..

as you can imagine israel was discouraged..

They were in the middle of bondage again..

and there was seemingly nothing they could do about it..

month after month..

year after year..

the circumstances seemed to stay the same..

and I can imagine that weariness had set in..

and the questions of is things will ever change has crossed some minds..

Us

sound familiar?

have you ever been in a hallway season in your life?

When you couldnt fix the problem..

and the further it drug on..

the more and more difficult it seemed to walk..

you get tired..

discouraged..

and begin to question..

will things ever change?

Will I ever see a breakthrough.

Its in these seasons that God is our strength..

He is the one who sustains us..

He give power and energy to move forward..

to not stop..

to not give up..

he becomes our sustainer..

Paul

Paul said this is in 2 corinthians 12:9-10

2 Corinthians 12:9–10 ESV

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

When we are walking through difficult seaons..

we have to learn to lean into our weakness and his strength..

to let god bring us through..

and carry us forward..

We do this by learning to wait on him..

After all God said..

If we will wait on him..

He will renew our strength..

What does it mean to wait on the lord?

So what does it mean to wait on the lord..

One comemntary puts it “ to wait on the lord is to savor his promise in faith until its fulfilled..”

Dr Tony Evans says its to trust gods perspective of our situation..

The hebrew word used to describe this phrase mean expectaion..

Isaiah is saying..

those who trust gods in thier circumstances.. with expectation that he will take care of it..

Will find theiir strength..

We Wait

we wait

we trust..

we hope..

we pray..

we dont try to fix it..

we just wait..

in peace and trust..

Romans 8:25 ESV

But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Hebrews 6:15 ESV

And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise.

waiting is sitting still.. having peace.. knowing that god will take care of it.

and this waiting brings new strength..

Lean back.

We have to lean to lean back..

and trust god..

What does we do while we wait?

I want to give you an acronym for wait.

and I did not create this but I did like it..

so I want to share it with you..

because I think its a good straegy for us in our time of waiting..

Watch for the lord and pray

Become a watchman on the wall. Watch to see where God is working and join Him there.

Remember to stop and pray at the moment God brings a need to your heart and mind.

Psalm 130:6 ESV

my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.

Anticipaite the lord to move and anwser

Become a person who waits expectantly in advance, prepared, and counting on the Lord.

Micah 7:7 ESV

But as for me, I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.

Investigate gods word for youself

Read and study Scripture thoroughly.

Spend time in God’s Word, examine, explore, and consider all of God’s commandments and promises.

Always seek godly wise counsel on all of your decisions.

The Bible is full of the details of people who had to wait on the Lord.

Some of the bible hero’s were successful in their journey of waiting on the Lord and others failed the waiting test of life.

Here are a few of my favorite waiting stories we can learn so many great life lessons from:

Abraham and Sarah (Genesis 12-21), Joseph (Genesis 39-50), King David (1 Samuel 16- 2 Samuel 2), Daniel, Ruth. Esther and so many others.

Psalm 119:15 ESV

I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways.

Trust god and give thanks

Now is the time to trust in the Lord.

Don’t press the pause button on your life.

Keep building your dreams, goals, hopes, and community.

We were never created to do life alone.

Of course, you have the Holy Spirit with you but you need other believers in your life to fight the enemy.

Plug into God and others and share the goodness of the Lord.

Proverbs 3:5–6 ESV

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

Learn to Wait on the lord and let him renew your strength