Waiting on God

WAITING ON GOD Wait for the Lord, be strong and take heart Psalm 27:14 Do you ever have a hard time waiting? Like when you are with someone shopping and you'd rather be doing something else or be at home. It's pretty well established that women approach shopping differently than men. Another situation I have a hard time waiting is when a wedding ceremony doesn't start on time. These examples are tame compared to more serious situations that we can have to wait on. Like when we are praying for healing, for a loved one to come to faith in Christ, for a troubled marriage or family situation, employment, finances, Covid19 to run its course, immunization to be available. The list can go on. While we wait we can wonder if God hears or cares. The word wait appears about 150 times in the Bible. The phrase wait on the Lord or God about 15 times. It is important we learn to wait on God. I want to share two Biblical big ideas. The first is..... While you are WAITING God is WORKING I will put enmity...between your offspring [seed] and hers... Psalm 27:14 The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son... Matthew 1:23 When the set time had fully come... Galatians 4:4 This can be illustrated from Biblical history. The prophetic promise of a Savior from sin / Messiah goes back to creation when Eve was promised a child would defeat the serpent/Satan. This was repeated to Abraham, then to David, then by Isaiah, then announced to Joseph that his virgin bride would have a son. History tells us there was 400 years between the Old Testament and New Testament of our Bible. These are referred to as the silent years. While God did not speak for 400 years, history reveals he was at work preparing the world for his Son, the Messiah. Consider these five events..... 400 year Inter-Testament Period 1. WORLD conquest Alexander the Great, history's greatest military leader, led the Greek army to conquer most of the world. He brought a period of relative peace and prosperity and spread the Greek language to every nation. 2. OLD TESTAMENT translated Religious scholars in Israel translated the Old Testament into Greek making its message and teaching accessible to the world, thus preparing minds and hearts for the message of Jesus the Messiah. 3. SOCRATIC learning The philosopher Socrates emphasized human reason, giving permission to question what one is taught. "The unexamined life is not worth living". This opened minds up to hearing and responding to the Gospel. Faith begins where reason ends. 4. ROADS developed Peace and prosperity allowed for transportation and mobility. 5. JEWISH diaspora Jewish people were dispersed throughout the Greek then Roman empire, allowing the message of the Bible and Gospel to be delivered to many. While the world was waiting, God was working. While you are waiting, God is working. A 2nd big idea is.... God's DELAYS are not always DENIALS Wait for the Lord and he will avenge you Proverbs 20:22 The Lord is a God of justice Blessed are those who wait for him Isaiah 30:18 Those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength Isaiah 40:31 Southern evangelist Joh R Rice titled his book God Answers Prayer - Yes, No or Wait. God is at work when we pray. Sometimes he needs to do a work in us before he can use us. I was recently reminded of a Biblical truth based on the first two commandments of the 10 commandments. Exodus 20:1-5 And God spoke all these words: 2 "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 3 "You shall have no other gods before[a] me. 4 "You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, It is essential that we submit ourselves by faith to God as he has revealed himself in the Bible and the person of Jesus. He is our creator. We are the created, not the other way around. We must submit ourselves to his ways and his timing, his control, not ours. Trust God. Trust his Word. Trust Jesus. While you are praying, while you are waiting, God is working. His delays are not always denials.