Sermon Tone Analysis

WAITING ANXIOUSLY

Psalm 62

 

INTRO.

I heard recently about a man who prided himself on being exceedingly punctual.

He followed a very precise routine every morning.

His alarm went off at 6:30 a.m.

He rose briskly, shaved, showered, ate his breakfast, brushed his teeth, picked up his briefcase, got into his car, drove to the nearby Ferry Landing, parked his car, rode the Ferry across to the downtown business area, got off the ferry, walked smartly to his building, marched to the elevator, rode to the 17th floor, hung up his coat, opened his briefcase, spread his papers out on his desk, and sat down in his chair at precisely 8 a.m..

Not 8:01, not even 7:59.

Always at 8 a.m..

He followed this same routine without variation for eight years, until one morning has alarm did not go off, and he over slept 15 minutes.

When he did awake, he was panic-stricken.

He rushed through his shower, nicked himself shaving, gulped down his breakfast, only half-way brushed teeth, grabbed up his briefcase, jumped into his car, sped to the Ferry Landing, jumped out of his car, and looked for the Ferry.

There it was, out in the water a few feet from the dock.

He said to himself, "I think I can make it," and he ran down the dock towards the Ferry at full speed.

Reaching the edge of the peer he gave an enormous leap out over the water and miraculously landed with a loud thud on the deck of the Ferry.

The captain rushed down to make sure he was all right.

The captain said, "Man, that was a tremendous leap, but if you would have just waited another minute, we would've reached the dock, and you could have walked on."

Why is it that we are always in a hurry?

I think mostly it is because we hate waiting.

We hate waiting on the phone for technical support.

We dread the thought standing in the customer service line or worse at the DMV.

We want things now.

So we have our instant breakfast, microwave popcorn, simple no-hassle divorce and car pool lanes on the freeway for a somewhat faster commute.

If we would just slow down we could ease some of the stress in our life.

Too many mistakes are made when we rush through things.

Here are some actual announcements taken from church bulletins.

1.      Remember and pray for the many who are sick of our church and community.

2.      For those who have children and don't know it, we have a nursery downstairs.

3.      Thursday night -- potluck supper.

Prayer and medication to follow.

4.      Theme verse for the women’s retreat at my dad’s church.

“I am the vine, you are the branches…apart from men you can do nothing.”

5.      Don't let worry kill you -- let the church help.

We just need to slowdown.

But waiting is no fun.

Waiting seems to produce anxiety.

It is stressful.

Especially when we are waiting on more serious things.

Some of us are waiting for a diagnosis.

Some of us are waiting for a cure.

Some of us are waiting for a mate.

Some of us are waiting for a job opening.

Some of us are waiting for our prodigal children to come back home.

Some of us are waiting for our children to get out of the house!

And it can be hard to wait when tough times come*.*

When a house doesn’t sell, when you can’t get pregnant, when God just seems to be silent on a matter, when He is just saying wait.

Our natural reaction is to take action, to do something about the difficult times or unanswered questions.

We want answers and if God is not going to give them to us then He must want us to do something about it, we reason.

Do you remember the story about Sarah who was promised by God to have a baby.

She waited and waited to get pregnant until finally she took things into her own hands in disobedience to God.

When things get desperate we charge ahead in all our strength only to find ourselves drowning in the whirl pool of our own anxiety and circumstances.

Have you ever felt like that?  Have you ever been so beaten down by your circumstances or by the unknown that you are ready to just give up.

If you have ever felt like that.

Good.

I think that is right where God wants you.

Sometimes God allows us to be overwhelmed so that we have no other choice than to rely totally and absolutely on Him.

I remember an anxious time in my life.

I was at Dallas seminary when my mother was undergoing cancer surgery.

She had cancer throughout her body.

There wasn't much the doctors could do.

Their main concern was to control the pain.

Among other things mom had a large tumor in her spinal cord.

And the doctors said that there was a chance to ease some of the pain if they removed the tumor, but the surgery would be risky.

It turned out that the tumor was worse than they thought and in removing it they had to dig too much of the vertebra away.

The bone then collapsed onto her spinal cord.

Dad bought me a plain ticket home.

He took me to the hospital and, expecting the worst, I walked in.

Only a small light and the glow of the monitors lit the room.

When our eyes met mom winced in pain.

I didn't know what set the pain off.

It just happened.

And it happened over and over again.

After our visit I stepped out of the room and walked down the hall and wept uncontrollably.

I had to go back to Dallas to continue with my education.

But that was difficult since I believed mom wasn't going to survive much longer and I wanted to be there.

When I got back to my dorm room that evening, I closed the door and sat there in the darkness.

I was in a whirlpool and going down fast.

I didn't want to see anybody.

I didn't want to talk to anybody.

I just wanted it all to be over.

I couldn't understand why God was letting her suffer.

This didn't seem fair.

And God seemed so far away.

I wasn't hearing any answers.

What else could I do but wait.

But isn't that where we find ourselves most of the time?

Waiting?

Lets look briefly at David's situation in Psalm 62.  Jump down to verses 3 and 4.  We don't know the exact context of this Psalm, but it appears that David, as king, is feeling threatened.

The people around him are working deviously to make him  ineffective as a leader.

Listen to what they are doing to him and how he feels about it.

Ps 62:3-4, /" How// long will you assault a man?

Would all of you throw him down -- this leaning wall, this tottering fence?

They fully intend to topple him from his lofty place; they take delight in lies.

With their mouths they bless, but in their hearts they curse."/

This is an anxious situation that David finds himself in.

The same people who are acting like his friends are working covertly to de-thrown him.

They are spreading rumors and lies, yet greeting him with a friendly smile.

How does this make David feel?  Look at verse 3, “Like a leaning wall, like a tottering fence.”

Haley is going through the stage where she loves to spin around and around until she is so dizzy she falls down.

Only to get back up again and spin some more.