Willing to Wait

A girl had a nice little piggy bank. Her father wanted to teach her about saving, so he talked to her about putting her money into a savings account at their bank. He very carefully explained to her that when she put money into her account, the bank would pay her interest on her money and that her money would grow that way.

The big day came. They went to the bank. She gave her piggy bank to the woman opening her account. Then she just stood there and stared at the woman. "Is there something else I can do for you?" the woman asked.

The little girl answered, "No, I’m just waiting on my interest!"

The girl didn’t understand that there was a delay between sowing her money in that account and reaping the harvest of her interest. That’s the way it is in life.

You know what is sometimes puzzling to me? The ways that human beings tend to evaluate or judge the spirituality of other people. You know, when we think of someone who is “spiritual” or “on fire for the Lord” the indicators in their lives that we use to feel comfortable making the proclamation that they are “on fire” or “Spiritual” or whatever term we use to express that thought.

It seems to me that the 2 markers we use most commonly are emotional excitement and business. You know what I am talking about, the people who either are so in your face about their faith, its all they talk about and all they focus on. They are constantly talking to everyone about their faith and pushing the comfort level of everyone around them. That is a marker we can use, for sure, but it is not absolute. There are plenty of people I know that love the Lord and are passionate about faith, but they are never going to engage people like that- in fact, I am married to one of those people.

The second indicator that people like to use is business. You know what I mean. The more things you do for the church or for the community, the more spiritual you are. The most spiritual people serve on the board, are deacons, teach SS, and take meals to the homeless, and the more spiritual you are, the more of these activities you can juggle at once. Again, this is a tool we can use to measure, but it certainly cannot be absolute, right? Because people’s schedules and life happen at different paces.

In today’s passage, and some others that we will look at, God lays out another deeply spiritual practice that really runs upstream against the markers of emotional excitement and business. God calls us to the spiritual discipline of waiting.....

In Psalm 37:7 God commands us to “be still before the Lord, and wait patiently for him”

Can I confess? I am not a still person- most of you know that. If you are on the phone with me, chances are I am not sitting down, I pace- I pace in the backyard, I have probably put 100k miles on my feet pacing this sanctuary, I rock when I sit, I fiddle when I have nothing to do. I am not very good at being still, and I know that some of you in this place are just like me.

But alas, stillness, waiting, is something God deeply values. But why?

First, God values waiting for him because it causes us to trust in God’s Word. God gave is the Bible for a few reasons, and one of those reasons is to give us promises to trust in. This word lays out garuntees and commitments that God has made to us that can provide rest for our souls. While there are many Scriptures that call us to action, prod us to move, and encourage us to step out of our current situations, there are also Scriptures that call for us to sit, to rest, be calm, and wait.

I can remember when I was old enough that my dad started to let me sit in a deer stand on my own. I hunted back a hollow from his tree stand. We would treck back the trail and he would walk me to my treestand, he would watch as I climbed the tree and got settled. Before he left for his stand at the end of the hollow he would always say- ok, wait here for me until dark. I will come back and get you. I could sit in peace knowing that eventually I would see dad’s flashlight peeking through the trees, and soonafter he would be at the base of my stand. I trusted him, when dad said “wait here, I will come and get you” there was no doubt in my mind that dad was coming back, even when it seemed to get getting way too dark, or I was getting hunrgy and was ready to go in for dinner, or I wondered if the rain or snow was getting too bad to hunt in, I knew the answer would come when my dad came back. That is the kind of trust that God wants us to have in his word.

The second thing that God values about waiting is that it causes us to trust God’s will. George Truett once said that “To know the will of God is the greatest knowledge! To do the will of God is the greatest achievement” God’s will is revealed in God’s Word. When we allow God’s Word to penetrate our hearts it will begin to communicate God’s will-or God’s plans- to us. We can wait and be still when we have faith in God’s plan and know that God’s plan cannot be thwarted.

Think back to the girl in the story at the beginning of the sermon. She wanted the interest, the return, the benefit. But she had to wait to receive the reward. Well, the Bible tells us that waiting for God has benefits too, and that those benefits have eternal value. Listen to some of the benefits the Bible tells us come with waiting and being still in the presence of God.

We are promised goodness and prosperity in 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.”

We are promised protection and deliverance in Prov 20:22 “Do not say, “I will repay evil”; wait for the LORD, and he will deliver you.”

We are promised strength and power in Isa 40:31 “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.”

We are promised goodness and peace in Psl 52:8-9 “ But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God. I trust in the steadfast love of God forever and ever. I will thank you forever, because you have done it. I will wait for your name, for it is good in the presence of the godly.

In just a few weeks we will begin the season of Advent. The season of Advent is built around waiting. It is in these weeks that we wait with anticipation to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Advent is an intentional time of focus for followers of Jesus. We remember the promises of the Nativity, that for generations the world was promised a savior, for 9 months Mary was promised to give birth to Christ the Lord, and the Shepherds were promised a first hand experience, and God delivered on his word to all of them. Advent is the celebration of waiting on God.

But this season of waiting calls us forward as well, to remember to trust in the promises that have yet to be fulfilled, whether they are personal promises like healing and restoration, or promises to all mankind, like the second coming of Jesus.

Finally, friends, we must remember that waiting on God, being still in Jesus, produces spiritual maturity. G Campbell Morgan put it this way:

“Waiting for God is not laziness. Waiting for God is not going to sleep. Waiting for God is not the abandonment of effort. Waiting for God means, first, activity under command; second, readiness for any new command that may come; third, the ability to do nothing until the command is given.”

I like to say that waiting on the Lord develops the 3 D’s of Spiritual Maturity- Discipline, Discernment, and Dependence.

The writer of Hebrews implores us in Hebrews 6:11-14 “About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, 13 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. 14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

It is impossible to be spiritually mature without discipline. The ability to not react to every notion that comes your way. The Bible tells us that self control, or self discipline is a fruit of the Spirit. When we learn to wait on the Lord we are developing the ability to be disciplined in our faith.

It is also impossible to be spiritually mature without discernment. Discernment is the ability to quiet yourself and listen for the voice of the Holy Spirit in a situation and follow the leading of Christ. John told us in 1 John 4:1 to learn discernment when he said “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world”

Finally, it is impossible to be a mature Christian and not have dependence. Dependence on God- putting the responsibility for action on the part of Jesus, not me. You see, when I spring into action, most of the time I am acting in my own strength and power- and lots of times I fail. But when I slow down and wait, when I am still, I give myself time to depend on God for the direction and the ability. And a mature Christian is one that allows God to take the lead.

As we leave today, I want you to consider the words of Psalm 46:10, one of the most foundational Scriptures in the life of the church.

BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD.