Waiting is Hard.

Introduction.

Choosing 1st Sermon Series

Factors to Consider

Debbie Disappointed the Series Ended.

Need to finish the Series.

Most people dislike waiting.

Do you know anyone who celebrates it?

“Oh good, we get to wait.”

That feels weird or fake, doesn’t it?

Waiting feels like a gap in time that’s annoying at best and aggravating at worst.

Airports even started moving baggage claims farther from the terminals.

Because customers are willing to walk farther than wait longer at an empty carousel.

How many seconds are you willing to wait for a website or video to load before you click somewhere else?

Our patience for the “buffering wheel” is decreasing.

Efficiency and immediacy are the hallmarks of success in our society.

Time is money, right?

Waiting is Hard.

Psalm 69:3 “I am weary with my crying out; my throat is parched. My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God.”

Waiting Isn’t Valued in Our Culture

At best, to be tolerated.

Rather than worshiping our way through uncertainty and experience peace.

We tend to fill the gaps of life with fear, anxiety, frustration, or anger.

Waiting Is Valued in Scripture

Waiting is commended as something valuable.

Waiting is good.

Waiting is commanded.

Let that sink in.

The Bible commends and commands something that everything in us and everyone around us usually sees as negative.

When is Waiting Hard?

Uncertainty

Delays

Disappointment

Pain

Powerlessness

Waiting Wasted.

Examples of Wasted Waiting

Psalm Summarizes Israel’s wasted waiting when it says:

Psalm 106:11–14 “11 And the waters covered their adversaries; not one of them was left. 12 Then they believed his words; they sang his praise. 13 But they soon forgot his works; they did not wait for his counsel. 14 But they had a wanton craving in the wilderness, and put God to the test in the desert...”

Notice the connection between the failure to wait and misplaced desire.

1st OT Example: Shore of the Red Sea (Exodus 14)

What’s remarkable about this moment is not only the lack of faith but how quickly it happened.

There’s nearly a revolt against Moses’s leadership.

The people faced a major spiritual crisis.

Previously – Miraculous deliverance through the 10 plagues (Ex. 7-12)

Now – The obstacle in front of them appeared impossible—the Red Sea.

That’s when the accusations started flying:

“You’re going to get us killed!”

“What were you thinking?”

“We told you this wasn’t a good idea.”

“This was a mistake. We should go back.” (See Ex. 14:11–12)

These statements were unfair, loaded, and foolish.

But I’m sure you’re familiar with them.

They’re common when emotions are running high.

This moment in Israel’s history became a classic example of a failure to wait.

You may know the rest of the story.

God parted the Red Sea, delivering his people and destroying Pharaoh and his army.

It became a signature moment of divine deliverance.

But before the waters parted, Moses famously rebuked the people: “The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent [or wait]” (Ex. 14:14).

2nd OT Example: The Base of Mount Sinai

It’s the tragic story surrounding the golden calf, an infamous moment of idolatry.

Exodus 32 recounts that the people pressured Aaron into creating an idol to worship while Moses was on top of the mountain.

The people gave up their golden jewelry that had been given to them as they left Egypt.

They built the golden calf and worshiped it by saying, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt” (v. 4).

It’s a bit crazy, considering the deliverance they witnessed a few weeks earlier.

But it gets worse.

They created a festival and “rose up to play” (v. 6), which is a euphemism for engaging in sexual immorality.

The contrast between Moses receiving the Ten Commandments on the mountain while God’s people engage in detestable idolatry is stunning.

It’s an egregious example of rebellion.

But it didn’t just happen. There was a failure to wait. Exodus 32 is clear:

“When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, ‘Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses . . . we do not know what has become of him’” (v. 1).

God called Moses up the mountain.

Forty days transpired, and his absence created a gap, an emotional space that surfaced powerful and problematic emotions.

At the Red Sea, they failed to trust in God’s deliverance.

But at Mount Sinai, they embraced the unfaithfulness of idolatry—“Make us gods.”

They created alternative gods that gave them a sense of control.

They filled the gaps in their life with fake gods.

A failure to wait can lead to spiritual decline and terrible choices.

Notice the Powerful Gap-Filling Responses

They’re not small issues.

This is serious stuff.

Waiting pushes our limits.

Horrible things are said.

Regrettable actions follow.

Sometimes we don’t get waiting right because we’re not prepared for how hard it is.

Waiting Defined.

In the Old Testament, several Hebrew words are used.

But the common thread between them is looking for something or someone with eager expectation.

In other words, waiting is a space to be filled.

A gap emerges, and we look or hope for something to fill it.

From a spiritual standpoint, God fills that gap with himself, his plans, or his promises.

Ben Patterson writes, “To wait is to journey in faith toward the things God has promised.”

When you find the word wait in the Bible, it’s important to look for the words it’s pointing toward.

A few examples:

I waited patiently for the Lord. (Ps. 40:1)

My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God. (Ps. 69:3)

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope. (Ps. 130:5)

We find the same thing in the New Testament, waiting is linked to other words and ideas connected to the activity of God:

We wait eagerly for adoption as sons. (Rom. 8:23)

. . . waiting for our blessed hope. (Titus 2:13)

. . . waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God. (2 Pet. 3:12)

Putting this together, we can see that biblical waiting is connected to what we’re looking for or where we place our trust.

In this way, the gaps of life present an opportunity for faith.

Sometimes the translators use “hope” for the same word translated as “wait” in other verses.

That’s because waiting and hope are overlapping ideas.

To wait is to look with hope.

Andrew Murray wrote one of the best books on this subject in the 1800s.

He divided waiting on God into 31 devotional chapters, a chapter for each day of a month.

It’s a goldmine of biblical truth and time-tested counsel.

Here’s a great summary of his main message:

“This is the blessedness of waiting upon God, that it takes our eyes and thoughts away from ourselves, even our needs and desires, and occupies us with our God.”

Or another way of saying it is:

Waiting on God is living on what I know to be true about God when I don’t know what’s true about my life.

How Do We Wait?

The Bible assumes that we will wait.

The question is: How can we learn to wait on God in a way that leads to transformation and peace?

Waiting is a theme throughout the Old and New Testaments.

Probably the most well-known verses are found in Isaiah 40.

They’re promises given to God’s people as they faced national uncertainty and personal pain.

Israel wondered if God had forgotten them and if there was no hope in things turning around.

Isaiah reminds them about who God is and then offers the promise of renewed strength:

Isaiah 40:27–31 “27 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”? 28 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. 29 He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. 30 Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; 31 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.”

The issue isn’t if we wait, but how we wait.

Waiting is not just part of our humanity; it’s vital to Christianity.

That’s why the Old and New Testaments talk about it so often.

Like many other things, including suffering and the crucifixion, God aims to transform what is painful and confusing.

That’s also why believers are commanded to wait.

From God’s perspective, it’s good.

Conclusion.