Winning While We're Waiting
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Intro:
31 But those who wait on 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 title of my message is, [Winning While We’re Waiting].
I had a professor once that told me technology and other advances take on two forms, first they are exciting, then they are expected. For instance:
Air conditioning in vehicles: who can remember that first happened. It was exciting and made travel more enjoyable. Now, it is expected, people don’t buy vehicles without AC.
Cell phones: I remember how excited our family was when mom got a cell phone from work. We thought we arrived. Now, we expect to have a cell phone.
Internet: when they started putting internet in hotels and restaurants, people were excited. Now, if the internet goes down, people get up in arms, because they expect to be able to use the internet!
Satellite TV: who can remember having just a few channels on TV?Then satellite and cable TV came around. We got excited to have hundreds of channels. Now, if we lost service and maybe the WESTERNS aren’t available, it can create MAJOR problems.
With the advancement of technology, we’ve begun to expect what other generations appreciated. What once excited us has become expected. And if the commodities of life don’t work INSTANTLY, we start to lose our patience.
This mindset describes the Old Testament followers of God. They went through seasons where they were excited in their walk with God, then they began to expect God’s blessings without staying close to Him.
Remember their exodus from Egypt. They excitedly crossed the Red Sea as God supernatural delivered them from their enemies. But their faith waned and they expected special treatment as they disobeyed God and grew impatient.
This cycle overtook God’s people. They would seek God and wait on Him to provide. He would answer their prayers. Then they would expect the same breakthroughs without the same devotion to Him.
Over and over the same problem occured. As a result of their consistent cycle of backsliding, God would raise up prophets to get their attention.
The prophets would prophesy potential judgment, unless they repented. Often they would listen and God would spare the generation as they were excited to serve God.
Then another generation would come and they would expect the same results of their forefathers without the same commitment to Him.
Finally, by the time of Isaiah, God revealed His plan to the Israelites and the people of Judah. If we were to read all 66 chapters of Isaiah, we would find a major shift at chapter forty.
The first part, chapters 1-39, detail impending judgment on God’s people.
He condmented their idoltry
He prophesied judgment on surrounding nations
He promised future judgment for God’s people
But in chapter forty, which is the focus of this message, there is a dramatic shift. God speaks
1 “Comfort, yes, comfort My people!” Says your God.
From their to the rest of the book, God offers a different picture. He promises hope, peace, and restoration.
Many of the original audience had prophetic whiplash. They wondered how such a negative picture of judgment could turn to peace and prosperity.
How could this happen?
Isaiah explained a little about God in chapter forty:
He is merciful
He is glorious
He is gentle
He is omnipotent, meaning all-powerful
He is omnisceince, meaning He is knows all
He is sovereign, meaning He is enthroned above all
But they couldn’t help but wonder, how can it get any better? Our circumstances look bleak and hopeless?
27 Why do you say, O Jacob, And speak, O Israel: “My way is hidden from the Lord, And my just claim is passed over by my God”?
They wondered, does the Lord see our troubles? How can God seem to ignore our prayers?
Isaiah heard their questions and gave insight on what to do when everything seems hopeless.
We must see, we are WINNING WHILE WE’RE WAITING.
Often as Christians we find ourselves in a similar position as the Israelites.
We wonder if God hears our prayers? We’ve prayed for the same thing over and over to no avail. We might grow weary bringing the same need, the same request, or the same situation to God.
In those moments, the enemy wants us to questions, does God see my problems? Does He even care?
But I want us to see what Isaiah explained, when it seems like the answers to our prayers are taking forever, we must remember, WE ARE WINNING WHILE WE’RE WAITING.
What do we do while we wait? I have three points, [We Praise While We Wait], [We Pray While We Wait], and [We Prosper While We Wait].
Let’s begin
1. We Praise While We Wait
1. We Praise While We Wait
28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable.
After revealing the questions God’s people asked themselves, Isaiah reveals an important principle. While the people looked to their problems, Isaiah wanted them to focus on God.
Instead of magnifying the negative circumstances, they needed to magnify their Creator. Therefore, Isaiah makes a few pointed statements about God, but first he asks them two questions.
Don’t you know? Haven’t you heard? Did you not understand?
No doubt this caught their attention. They focused on their circumstances, but Isaiah wanted them to seem something bigger then their circumstances.
First, the Lord is everlasting.
17 But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting On those who fear Him, And His righteousness to children’s children,
Isaiah knew the words of the Psalmist. God is from everlasting to everlasting, meaning He has no end or beginning, He simply IS!
With that mind, the greatness of God should outshine the concern that plagued them.
Second, the Lord is Creator.
3 When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, 4 What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him?
9 O Lord, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth!
They waited on promises from God that seemed as through they would never happen. They looked at the problems surrounding them, but Isaiah wanted them to look up above them.
They serve the CREATOR of heaven and earth. And what’s more, the one who made everything around us is MINDFUL of us. Meaning, we are on His mind.
No wonder the Psalmist declared the excellency of God’s name, despite what goes on in the earth.
Finally, God never grows weary or tired.
4 Behold, He who keeps Israel Shall neither slumber nor sleep.
God’s people were frantic and growing tired of their problems. Surely we’ve been there, so consumed with worry, but we can’t sleep.
Isaiah’s point is, why worry, God never gets tired, He stays awake all the time watching out and over us!
Isaiah did not deny that God’s promises had yet to come to pass. But it did not change God’s position or identity. Therefore, while they wait, they should praise God for who He is, what He does, and what He will do!
It reminds me of the words to How Great Thou Art:
O Lord my God when I in awesome wonder, consider all the worlds thy hands have made. I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder, Thy power throughout the universe displayed.
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee, HOW GREAT THOU ART!
While we’re waiting on God, we should not look at the negative circumstances or focus on the persisting questions. Instead, we should exalt His name and emphasize how great He is to us.
When we praise while we wait, we will discover we’re winning while we wait.
2. We Pray While We Wait
2. We Pray While We Wait
29 He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength.
After Isaiah provides a reason to praise, the gives incentive to pray. Often when we’re waiting for an answered prayer, a healing or miracle, we feel powerless and weak.
When we see how difficult the situation is, we can’t help but think, there is no way that I can ever get through this or figure this out on my own.
Isaiah shows that is one of the best places to find ourselves. For when we are WEAK, He gives power. When we have not might, He gives us strength.
How do we attain such power or strength? THROUGH PRAYER!
1 God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble.
When we’re in trouble and do not know what to do, we have a place where we can go to find refuge and strength. Where do we go?
We go to God in prayer. We take our needs to Him and acknowledge our inability and weakness. In that place of refuge, He will reach down His hand and empower us!
How do we access the strength and power?
10 The name of the Lord is a strong tower; The righteous run to it and are safe.
When we feel at our wits end, we begin to call on the name of the Lord. I love how God is not interested in flowery prayers or eloquent statements.
No the mere mention of His name can begin to turn our situation around. At the mention of His name, demons tremble and flee.
While we wait for God to come through, the enemy loves to come and whisper lies. He deceives us and causes us to question, how will this ever work? How will I ever get through this?
In those moments, we begin to feel week and powerless. But we gather strength as we begin to call on His name. In the next chapter Isaiah promises:
10 Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’
Something supernatural happens when we pray. We must NEVER underestimate potential of our prayers. For even in our weakness, simply saying His name can begin to shift our perspective.
In prayer we realize that God will help us. The Holy Spirit will empower us, and Jesus will be our strength in our time of need.
What do we do while we wait? If we do nothing but complain and get irritated at God and people around us, we will lose the battle to the enemy.
But, when we praise while we wait and pray while we wait, we will soon discover that we’re winning while we’re waiting.
3. We Prosper While We Wait
3. We Prosper While We Wait
30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall, 31 But those who wait on 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.
While we wait, we MUST praise and pray. But notice, these are OUR responses to our circumstances. Praise and prayer are what we CAN do and give to God.
For instance:
I cannot heal myself, but I can praise God and pray for my healing.
I cannot save my lost family members, but I can praise God and pray for their salvation.
I cannot baptize myself in the Holy Spirit, but I can praise God and pray for His power.
I cannot meet my needs, but I can praise God and pray for His help in my time of need.
Praise and prayer are what WE offer God. While we do this, something happens behind the scenes. As we praise and pray, something supernatural takes place that we cannot see.
When we offer God what we have, our praise and prayer, God will begin to prosper us in ways we could never imagine.
Listen to Isaiah’s description. Even youth and young men will grow weak, tired, and fall into exhaustion. He uses two examples that normally prove strong.
Young people and youth seem to have boundless energy. But eventually EVERYONE needs a nap.
The original audience might have thought, okay, if even they grow tired, where is my hope? I have already acknowledged I am wondering where God is right now?
And NOW you tell me that even the youth and young people will grow tired. Where is my hope? How can I make it and survive in my walk with God?
But here Isaiah shows how God can work through the waiting.
While we’re waiting on God, He will prosper us and help. When we wait on Him, staying consistent in our praise and prayer, He will prosper us.
Prosper is defined, to flourish ; grow strong and healthy.
While we wait on God, we’re growing spiritually strong. Why?
Waiting on the Lord denotes we trust God and hope in Him. While we do this, He RENEWS our strength. He comes to us, through His Spirit and revives us. He gives us supernatural power to make it through and get to the other side.
Then, notice what will happen.
We will soar high like the eavles
We will run and not grow tired.
We will walk and not faint.
When WE praise and pray, God WILL prosper us. And when the timing is right, God will show us, we are winning while we’re waiting.
Close:
If only we could see behind the scenes and beyond the veil of the observable universe. But when we do our part of praising and praying, God does His part in helping us spiritually prosper.
And in the genius of God, He doesn’t tell us WHEN our answer will come. He doesn’t say, praise me and pray for the next three weeks and THEN I will come through.
No, He simply calls on us to wait on Him. And as we wait, we praise and pray, and then when the timing is right, He will supernaturally prosper us and we see suddenly how God came though for us.
But do answers really come suddenly? Does God really just POOF out of no where come and meet our needs?
I would dare say NO, it may seem sudden. A prosperous walk with God may appear to come over night. But there is no instant growth in God. Behind every miracle was a person or people who learned to wait on God.
Abraham had a son when he was over ninety. The neighbors might have thought, WOW, God is really prospering Abraham and Sarah’s house, they have Isaac and I heard Isaac and his wife just had twins.
But behind the miraculous birth of Isaac was decades of waiting, praising, and praying to God.
The Israelites seemed to suddenly burst from Egypt after many plagues. But it was not sudden. For 400 years they cried out to God, praising and praying, hoping for the day they would prosper.
When David became King, everything seemed to work out great for him. People probably assumed he had good skills and had an easy life. But the truth is, for around two decades David’s life was anything prosperous.
He was a homeless fugitive with a bounty on his head from King Saul. But while he waited, he learned to praise and pray.
On the Day of Pentecost SUDDENLY 120 began to speak in tongues. But was it sudden? No, it happened after TEN DAYS of praising and praying to God.
My point is this, at some point, we seem prosperous. At some point we get healed. At some point we receive a miracle. At some point everything seems to turn around.
But BIG WIN often comes after A LONG WAIT. It is only after hours of prayer. It is only after days or weeks of fasting. It is only after some sleepless night of seeking God. It is only after holding on to the promises of God for a long time.
And while we WAIT, we must learn to PRAISE AND PRAY. For when we do our part, God will meet with us and renew our strenght.
But now, people want spiritual growth INSTANTLY, when God expects us to wait on Him
