Lord, Lead me in times of waiting

Close your eyes and think of the feelings that some of these ideas invoke:

I’m halfway home on a long road trip

I’m at the midway point of my project

You’re 5 cm dilated

I have a present for you later!

It’s Wednesday at work.

I’m hungry. What’s for dinner?

Your boss needs to see you.

You're dieting long enough that you miss desert but not long enough to see results.

The dyer is still going and you have no clean underwear

You're watering your garden before anything blooms.

Open your eyes. What are some feelings that those sentence invoked?

In this session we are going to talk about the drudgery of the middle.

The Interim seasons of life. Waiting. There is a thrill in starting something, and a bliss in finishing!

But the middle? The middle can feel like a wilderness. A desert with no sight of water anywhere.

I named some times where waiting is necessary, but on your paper in your book, I want you to write down a season of waiting that you are currently experiencing.

I think most of you are familiar with season of waiting I am experiencing in life right now with my husband’s cancer battle.

This period of waiting has lasted so long that I hesitated to write it in to my session. Surely you all are as sick of hearing about it as I am drudging through it!!! He has stage 4 incurable cancer.

When dan hit his 5 year survival mark this past September, we had a party with family. I made signs that said: “Still kicking 5 years later. Unkillable since 2020.”

We all find a way to deal with the seasons of waiting. Dan and I use dark humor usually, many of the jokes i would not say in front of you all!

What do you use to cope with seasons of waiting? Write down some ways that you deal with it - good or bad.

Seasons of waiting don’t come for our comfort. God uses them to mold and shape us. These in between days are God’s invitation to learn how to wait and grow in faith.

I’ve been reading a book called “Hope in the Wilderness.” The author, Lessing wrote exactly what I want you to take away today.

“It’s in the wilderness, in places of obscurity and the unknown that God shaped Jacob, Moses, John the baptist, and Jesus. The wilderness is where God births new dreams and desires. It’s where he creates character and resilience. It’s where lives are sharpened, deepened, and strengthened. And take heart! God provides for His people in desolate and dry places. He says in Deuteronomy 29:5 , “I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn off your feet.’”

My wilderness period of cancer has been 5 years so far. My nephew, Grady died at the same time as Daniel’s diagnosis. When you loose a child, and he was Amber’s baby over there, you spend the rest of your life in a wilderness waiting to meet them again when you meet Jesus.

When you start a cancer journey you have hopes of being cured. And sometimes, like us, you realize that the rest of your life will be a wilderness.

What about the Israelites? I want us to look at the Israelites in the book of Numbers. I just learned that the Hebrew title for what we call the book of numbers is actually “Wilderness.”

The Israelites thought that when Moses stretched out his arm and God allowed them to walk on dry land their time of wilderness was over. No more torture, no more quota of mud and brick and straw. They celebrated!....

And then found themselves in a different type of wilderness in the desert. But still, God was anything but silent! Mana appeared on dry ground and water flowed from rocks.

Marilou is going to tell us a story about that exact same desert. You see, she lived in Kuwait. In the same area that the Israelites passed through during their wanderings in the desert. She too had a type of desert wandering that shaped who she is today. Lets welcome Marilou

Marilou

We experience many different types of waiting in our lives from the mundane every day to the big life changing events.

Let’s look at the Israelites again. They are just freed from Egypt. They aren’t slaves anymore, but they also aren’t in the promised land.

It’s kind of like our current position. Jesus already came, we know what is to come, but the second coming hasn’t happened yet. We’re in this wilderness period still subject to sin, death, and decay.

Anyway, Let’s see how the Israelites take it. Turn to Numbers 11:1–3 “And the people complained in the hearing of the Lord about their misfortunes, and when the Lord heard it, his anger was kindled, and the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some outlying parts of the camp. Then the people cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire died down. So the name of that place was called Taberah, because the fire of the Lord burned among them.”

Numbers 14:1–4 “Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” And they said to one another, “Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.””

Now Numbers 21:4–5 “From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.””

How do the Israelites react? How do they cope with their season of waiting?

The waiting means we’re: not where we were. Not where we thought we’d be. Where did the Israelites think they would be? Yes, the promised land.

What are the feelings you have when you’re facing a wilderness? I don’t want the Sunday school answer - I want the nitty gritty truth.

How do you react to those seasons?

Fight: anger? do you lash out? - let people have it! give them a piece of your mind!

Flight: turn inward? - avoid people and phone calls and texts? go nowhere?

Freeze: duck away, change the subject, numb yourself with drink, food, work?

Now talk about how God was leading them - the pillar etc

Numbers 9:15–23 “On the day that the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the testimony. And at evening it was over the tabernacle like the appearance of fire until morning. So it was always: the cloud covered it by day and the appearance of fire by night. And whenever the cloud lifted from over the tent, after that the people of Israel set out, and in the place where the cloud settled down, there the people of Israel camped. At the command of the Lord the people of Israel set out, and at the command of the Lord they camped. As long as the cloud rested over the tabernacle, they remained in camp. Even when the cloud continued over the tabernacle many days, the people of Israel kept the charge of the Lord and did not set out. Sometimes the cloud was a few days over the tabernacle, and according to the command of the Lord they remained in camp; then according to the command of the Lord they set out. And sometimes the cloud remained from evening until morning. And when the cloud lifted in the morning, they set out, or if it continued for a day and a night, when the cloud lifted they set out. Whether it was two days, or a month, or a longer time, that the cloud continued over the tabernacle, abiding there, the people of Israel remained in camp and did not set out, but when it lifted they set out. At the command of the Lord they camped, and at the command of the Lord they set out. They kept the charge of the Lord, at the command of the Lord by Moses.”

Turn to Numbers 10:33 “So they set out from the mount of the Lord three days’ journey. And the ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them three days’ journey, to seek out a resting place for them.”

Where is God when the Israelites are in the Wilderness? How does he show up?

the cloud/ pillar of fire

Here’s there! He’s right there with them!!!!

What does God do for them in the wilderness?

Gives mana / water

tells them where to go and when - commands them

timed by Him - un predictable

****He seeks out a resting place for them.

God’s Leading often looks like:

Waiting, staying, wandering, delayed promises.

but it wasn’t random like we might think

During the Israelites time in the desert, it wasn’t that God wasn’t leading them.

It was that they didn’t like where he was leading, how he was doing it, and where he was going.

Do you ever have this problem?

Ok So, How do we wait well? What does it look like?

The Israelites did a shoddy job at waiting well. They were ungrateful, complained, were blind to God’s mercy, and worshiped other Gods.

What does God do? He puts up with them!

In his grace he: Leads the people with the Ark, cloud/fire. Allows Moses to intercede for them (we didn’t really look at those verses but he did)

Provides food and water

and gives them peace - which we will look at.

Lets go back to Numbers 21. but this time read 4-9.

Numbers 21:4–9 “From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.” Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.”

What did the Lord send? - Serpents

What was required of the people to survive?

They simply had to look -

They didn’t look for a way out of the snakes. They didn’t look inward for a solution to the snakes.

No - they simply had to look up.

I mentioned the book, “Hope in the Wilderness” earlier. The author also wrote, “If we want to be distressed, look within. If we want to be defeated, look back. if we want to be distracted look around. If we want to be saved, forgiven, and loved - stare. Stare at Jesus.”

In John 3:14–15 Jesus said “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”

Waiting well looks like gazing up at the One who was lifted up on the cross.

not looking at your wounds, or other people, or your circumstances, but at where God is leading you. He led the Israelites by a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night to find a resting place for them.

He is doing the same thing for you. It might not look like the resting place you imagined. It might still be in a desert place - a wilderness that you will traverse the rest of your life like Moses. Like my husband.

I quoted John 3:14–17 “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

I stopped short! But you know the rest!

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”

LOOK UP!!!!!!!

Look to Jesus! Read your bible! Pray! Get to know the God who created the Heavens and the earth and loves you enough to die for you!

People ask me how can i still be smiling? The secret? The Joy of the lord is my strength! Joy not based on life’s circumstances but in knowing that when I look up at the Cross I see a God that

leads me

intercedes for me

provides for me

and lastly, gives me peace.

i’ll leave you with this. Before God sent the Israelites out into that wilderness he spoke to moses and said

Numbers 6:22–26 , “Tell Aaron, you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them,

The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.”

That’s how you know he cares. He doesn't just leave you there. He’s in the wilderness with you.

Let’s pray

Lord, when I am in a desert place, i humbly ask that in your mercy you would lead me, feed me, and give me water. Stay with me there. Help me to see and feel your presence in my hard times of waiting. Help me to look up at the cross - and see your goodness and love for me.

Amen

Read Lamentations 3:25–26 “The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.”

Isaiah 43:1–2 “But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.”