“I’m Waiting for It.”

Sue, Jim, Moore family and friends, brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus. May our Lord and savior, who was crucified for us and risen on the third day, opening the gates of heaven for us, be your strength and comfort as we mourn and celebrate the life He gave to Gladys in this life and the life she is beginning to enjoy in His paradise.

It was 2 years ago that Gladys, Sue and I sat in my office and began to work through the paperwork for today. Gladys is one of the few who knew her time was coming and it was time to prepare for a day like today. So we went through the funeral pre-planning form and in that conversation we were speaking about the texts to be used today. Gladys loved this one particular Psalm, and when we read through it, she exclaimed, and I quote, “I’m waiting for it”.

The psalmist is feeling the results of sin in this life. it begins with a beautiful confession and confidence in the Lord. “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?” (v. 1). Then the psalmist pours out his heart to God. There are those who would oppress the servant of the Lord, even though an army encamp against us, or war rise upon us, the confidence the believer has in the Lord is unshaken.

One thing have I asked of the Lord…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.” (v. 4). There is one place where the Psalmist, and all believers in Christ wish to be. We want to be in the courts of the Lord’s house…we wish to see the face of the Lord. We who have been buried with Christ in Baptism, and resurrected together with Him, eternal life with Him is all we can think about. It becomes an overwhelming desire of our heart. However…we have to wait.

David, the Psalmist ends this particular psalm with the words, “I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living! Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!

Waiting is not something you and I do well. Not sure why, but no one wants to wait. No one likes to wait! We are not only a people of the Book…that is people of Scripture, but we are also, as Paul so eloquently put it, we are “of the flesh, sold under sin” (). And as people who have this ugly, and ungodly sinful nature, waiting is not what we want to do. We want what we want and we want it now. Be it a product of our culture, fast food, drive thru’s, microwave ovens, and internet shopping, we can have what we want and don’t have to wait much at all to get it. We are all about the quick fix. We don’t like to wait, we don’t like to suffer, we want all the good things in life right at our fingertips.

Gladys was not any different. When cancer struck her, Gladys’ life turned upside-down. Now she has to suffer, and suffer she did. One of the fun things in life that Gladys suffered was not being able to get to McDonald's after Bible Study on Wednesday’s. There is nothing more satisfying to Gladys than a freshly cooked McDonald’s cheeseburger. But then Gladys would begin to suffer more. She could no longer come to Bible Study. Then, she could no longer come to church. Becoming home bound is nothing fun. And the suffering continued. Almost everything she enjoyed in life was now coming to an end. Sad part is, that the end couldn’t come quick enough…Gladys…you have to wait!

Our enemies are many, and they are diverse as the snowflakes in winter. David had many enemies. The Philistines were a constant thorn in David’s flesh. They were always at war with them. But David knew that our enemies are far more than those who speak out lies against us, far more than those who would dare to encamp around us, far more than those who would seek violence against us. Our foes are those in the heavenly realms, specifically Satan and all his demonic forces. Our true enemies are those who would attempt to rip us away from the promise and fulfillment in Christ Jesus.

Our enemies are Satan, our own sinful flesh, the world around us and death itself. These enemies of ours definitely seek our ruin. They seek to take us with them to hell, that second death, from which there is no redemption and no comfort or consolation. It is our sinful nature that does not like to wait. It is our sinful nature that looks to the ways of this world for strength and hope and deliverance. It is our sinful nature that turns its back on God and seeks another.

“You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, Lord, do I seek.” (v. 8). The life that has been touched and changed by the power of the Holy Spirit seeks the face of God. Yet, we have this problem that prevents us from doing so, and that is called sin. It too is one of our mortal enemies. Sin turns its back on God. Sin says give me what I want. Sin says that the genie in the bottle god is to love us by allowing us to live however we want with no consequences. Sin says that the genie in the bottle god loves by giving us what we want with no consequences and he or she needs to give it to us now.

Right after the Lord tells David to “seek my face” David responds with a prayerful request that the Lord not hide His face from me. Sin causes God to turn His back on us. He saves and redeems us, yet we consider him so little. Jesus gave His perfect innocent life into suffering and death so that we can seek the face of the Lord and live. In Jesus giving His life for ours, while on the cross, His Father in heaven turned His back on His very Own Son as, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (, ESV).

in conclusion, the Psalmist makes a great confession: “I believe that i shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living! Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!” (vv 13-14).

The Psalmist, in concert with every believer in the promises of God, holds tight to this confession. The apostle Paul wrote about his own journey of faith, “Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (, ESV).This confession of faith is what Gladys held tight too. Throughout the last four - five years, as the cancer continued to grow and do it’s worse, Gladys never let go of her faith in Jesus. Even when fear and doubt began to try to rip apart her faith in the last few days, Jesus was still right there with her. Even as she was troubled by her impending death, Jesus and heaven were still her priority.

Sin gets the best of us. Even Gladys. The Old Adam of our sinful nature clings on to life in this world with all it’s might. It neither wants to die, nor does it want to be accountable to God. So, it holds on tight to the things of this world for comfort and longevity. It seeks to live, even though it has been drowned in the water of Baptism. The Old Adam is a remarkable swimmer.

This is why the cross of Jesus is so important. This is why regular worship is so important. Gladys was a faithful member of our family here at Ascension for many years. She was faithful in both worship and in Bible Study. That is until the cancer started. So, I took church to her. Every visit, Gladys received Law and Gospel devotions, confession and absolution, and the Sacrament. These are all very important as one needs to be strengthened through the Word of God, and through faithful reception of the Lord’s body and blood.