HURRY UP AND WAIT

INTRODUCTION

-In our culture of instant everything, waiting is not one of our strong suits—we get frustrated when we don’t get instant service or gratification

~And now, with the virus, this is made worse as we are getting impatient, wanting things to get back to normal. But this is just the pattern of humanity that starts at a young age—we hate waiting

-Think about it: when we’re kids, we feel that we can’t wait to be older so we can do things we may be unable to do or our parents won’t let us do as youngsters—when we’re pre-teens we can’t wait to turn 16 so we drive—when we’re 16 we can’t wait until we’re 18 so we can move out of the house and go to college—when we’re 18 we can’t wait to get out of college and get a job and have a “real life”—when we’re in our 20’s we can’t wait until we get married and have kids—when we’re in our 30’s or 40’s we can’t wait until we can retire—when we’re in our 50’s and 60’s we can’t wait until grandkids come

~We are constantly discontent because we hate waiting—we hate waiting more than a minute for a red light to turn green—we hate having to wait in line at the store----we just plain hate to wait—some of you are not so patiently waiting for the end of the sermon, and it’s only just begun

-and we bring that hate of waiting over to our spiritual life as well—we know as born-again children of God we have a part in God’s divine plan—and through the desires God has placed on our heart and the leading of the Holy Spirit and through godly counsel, we might think we know what our part of God’s plan is to be

~And in our eagerness we want to do it immediately —but quite often God doesn’t give us the go ahead, instead He has us wait, and wait, and wait

-Maybe some of you feel like you’ve been placed kind of on a holding pattern by God—you’re ready to get to where you think God has you headed, but God sure doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to get you there----but here’s the thing, the wait is actually part of God’s plan

{Might need to repeat: THE WAIT IS ACTUALLY PART OF GOD’S PLAN}

-we’re going to look at a man who knew God’s plan for him for quite a long time, but he had to wait many years before the promises of God finally came to fruition

-Today, I’m not going to be able to necessarily tell you the reason why you have to wait (or why we’re having to wait on this virus), but I do want you to know that waiting is part of the plan, and maybe there are some lessons you can take home with you as you seem to be going thru the hurry up and wait mode with God

2 Samuel 2:1–7 ESV

1 After this David inquired of the Lord, “Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah?” And the Lord said to him, “Go up.” David said, “To which shall I go up?” And he said, “To Hebron.” 2 So David went up there, and his two wives also, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel. 3 And David brought up his men who were with him, everyone with his household, and they lived in the towns of Hebron. 4 And the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. When they told David, “It was the men of Jabesh-gilead who buried Saul,” 5 David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh-gilead and said to them, “May you be blessed by the Lord, because you showed this loyalty to Saul your lord and buried him. 6 Now may the Lord show steadfast love and faithfulness to you. And I will do good to you because you have done this thing. 7 Now therefore let your hands be strong, and be valiant, for Saul your lord is dead, and the house of Judah has anointed me king over them.”

-now, this passage is just a small portion of the overall story of David—but let me give you a little background—Israel demanded a king, and they got Saul. Saul couldn’t seem to obey God, so God rejected him as king.

-God told the prophet Samuel to go to the house of Jesse in Judah to anoint the new king, and that king was David. Now this anointing of David by Samuel happened way back in 1 Samuel 16. David was a teenager at the time, possibly around 15 years old. As a teenager that would be exciting, but he has to wait, and wait.

-In the ensuing years he kills a giant, serves in court of the rejected king Saul, becomes a mighty warrior, and is eventually chased and hunted by king Saul out of jealousy. Saul is finally killed, so he can finally come back and here, in our passage, David is appointed to the throne of 1 out of the 12 tribes. David is now 30 yrs old. AS YOU DO YOUR MATH = David, knowing the plan and promise of God, waited approx. 15 years to see even part of the plan fulfilled. {and we get annoyed having to wait 2 minutes for a Big Mac.}

-But there is actually even more waiting, because here he’s king of only 1 tribe. That wasn’t the promise and plan of God. It would take another 7 yrs, and an awful civil war, before the other tribes recognized David as king (2 Sam. 5)

-So, think: David waited about 22 years from the promise of the plan until the fulfillment of the plan—you and I probably have gone or are going thru something similar----so there are some lessons we can take away from this

I) Waiting does not diminish the promises of God

-just because God reveals His plan, and it doesn’t happen immediately, we shouldn’t think that somehow God changed His mind or threw the entire plan out the window—we know this based on the character of God=what God has spoken, He will bring to pass

-We can see in the psalms and the revealed character of David that David knew God intimately—He knew God was trustworthy and faithful, so he didn’t have to fret about whether or not God would fulfill His promise

-That means that in all those years, David never needed to doubt that he would be king—God sent Samuel the prophet with the message, poured the oil over him in the presence of his family, so David was the anointed, appointed, gifted King of Israel based upon the Word of God, not his current circumstances

-David knew that if God said it, He meant it, and when God was ready for it to happen, God would make it happen

-and David lived his life with faith knowing that when God wanted him to be king, that’s when he would be king, and not a moment sooner—David wasn’t the only one who knew God would fulfill the plan He had for David—king Saul knew that David was God’s anointed king, even though Saul was the crowned king of Israel—that is partially why he wanted to kill him

-In all those years of chasing David, Saul admits the he knows David would be king someday----and Saul’s son Jonathan, David’s close friend, who was the heir apparent for the throne; even he recognized David was God’s anointed king—they knew the promise stood firm even if it wasn’t fulfilled in present circumstances

-Just because David had to wait all those years, God’s promise and plan never diminished—know this, if you know the direction God is taking you but it isn’t happening right away, don’t fret that God forgot or decided to go with plan B—God’s plans and promises stand, He will bring it to pass when He is good and ready

II) Waiting involves actively seeking God’s instruction

-After all those many years of waiting, king Saul finally died—but David didn’t jump on a horse, come back into Israel all John Wayne-like and start throwing his weight around announcing OK, I’m King now; you may bow down to me!!!

-No, what does the text say—v. 1—before David did anything, he asked God first and waited for God to tell him what to do, and then he went and did it—this was a mark of his entire life=David didn’t make a move unless God told him to; he prayed and sought God before he acted

-Do you know what this means, and do you know what this looked like in David’s life? David never took matters into his own hands—he didn’t try to help God out

-There are two instances when Saul was chasing David that, without Saul knowing it, David was right by him and could have killed him if David wanted to—in fact, David’s friends wanted him to kill Saul—David could have gotten God’s plan moving along himself

-It really would have been easy for David to do this=kill Saul, become king----but, he knew that wasn’t God’s way or method or desire—instead, he waited for God to tell him when to move, where to move, and how to move—and when God revealed that, then he obeyed and did it—but he did not move until God told him to

-Listen to me, you may be sick and tired of sitting in the back seat or on the sidelines or on a holding pattern, and you just want to jump out there and do something to get moving toward the goal—DON’T DO IT—seek God, pray to God, wait for God

-If God is silent, you know what you do? Nothing! If God tells you to do something, then you do it, even if it only moves you an inch closer to the promise instead fast-forwarding you there right away

-For David, becoming king of Judah was only a 1st step—there were still 11 tribes to go—but David went no further because that is as far as God told him to go—remember that; seek God

-that can be rough—so the next principle is a warning:

III) Waiting can be a time of temptation, so be on guard

-When God isn’t moving fast enough from our perspective, it is tempting to take matters into our own hands, like I had mentioned with David and Saul----if we are not careful, we will act on our own which will lead us get ahead of God, or maybe lag behind God—but here is a formula for you to remember: the right action + the wrong timing=disaster

-But it’s not just a timing thing; there is also the possibility that in our frustration of waiting, we don’t seek God or keep our eyes on God, such that we may be led astray to do something that is wrong or sinful

-There is an episode in 1 Samuel 25 during the time David was on the run from Saul—he and his men had set up camp in a certain area—but while there they tried to help out the local farmers, and in a sense designated themselves a security force to watch out for the livestock

-His men needed some supplies, so David sent messengers to a wealthy farmer named Nabal and kindly asked him for some supplies, seeing as David had done some kindness for Nabal

-The Bible describes Nabal as harsh and evil, and Nabal denies the request and says many harsh things about David----when David finds out about it, out of anger (and I want to note that he did not inquire of the Lord here), David was going to lead his men to go to Nabal’s estate and destroy everyone and everything that was there

-Nabal’s wife, Abigail, finds out what her foolish husband did, and prepares many things to bring to David, hoping to meet him before he gets to the estate and slaughters everyone

-She does so, and David recognizes by her gesture that a great mistake was prevented from happening—Nabal soon dies and Abigail becomes a wife of David here listed in our text

-David, not looking to God, would have done something very harsh and wrong----that is the temptation that is there when we wait but don’t inquire of the Lord or seek His face, or we act out of impatience or frustration----be on guard that in your impatience you don’t do something that you will regret…

IV) Waiting is used of God to prepare us

-When David was a 15-yr-old shepherd boy, he wasn’t ready to lead a nation—he wasn’t to the point of what God wanted him to be in order to be used for great things for God

-God used the succeeding years to train and equip and teach David everything he needed to know to be king so that God would get the most glory out of him

-Here’s the thing with us—we may know the plan of God, and are all gung-ho to do it—in our zeal we say “I’m going to do great things for God!”--and we think we’re ready to take on the world

-The thing is, we might not be ready yet, and we could do more harm than good----God wants to use the time of waiting to prepare us for the right time when Jesus Christ would be most glorified thru us

-I think about my calling to ministry—in 1998 I felt God’s call on my life to vocational ministry—now, if I would have just jumped the gun and started pastoring back then, God help us all, it would have been a complete disaster----I wasn’t ready

-I needed some learning in my own personal life—I needed to go thru seminary to get some theological learning—I needed to sit under another pastor as Associate Pastor to get some learning----it wasn’t until 10 years later after the calling that I became a Senior Pastor----and since that time I am still being prepared by God

-Don’t see your time of waiting as wasted time—God is using this time to prepare you for the right time in order to get the most glory for the name of Jesus Christ

V) Waiting does not mean idleness

-During the period of waiting, David didn’t just twiddle his thumbs—he did things for the benefit of the kingdom in anticipation of his becoming king

-This is demonstrated here in our text—after being crowned king of Judah, David was told about the people of the village of Jabesh Gilead, how they took their life into their own hands going into Philistine territory to recover the bodily remains of Saul and Jonathan to give them a proper burial

-David was touched by their good work, and sent a message to them to reach out to them in kindness—the thing is, Jabesh Gilead was part of the tribe of Gad who did not recognize David as king—the other tribes actually crowned 1 of Saul’s other sons as king

-but that didn’t stop David from doing I guess what would be termed in modern language as NETWORKING—David did not tell them to make him king; he did not do any sort of action like that without inquiring of God—but knowing that someday he would be their king, he wanted to reach out and encourage them and start building relations with them

-Waiting on God doesn’t mean you can’t do something good or positive or do some bridge-building or preparation----you don’t move forward with God’s plan without a word from Him, but you sure can be doing something in anticipation of God fulfilling His divine plan for your life

CONCLUSION

-My favorite sport to watch is football, and one of my favorite quarterbacks was hall-of-famer Kurt Warner, who had to do a lot of waiting in life.

-He went to college at Northern Iowa but had to wait on the sidelines for 3 years before getting the opportunity to be their starting quarterback his senior year and was recognized as conference player of the year.

-With his talent he tried out for the NFL but was cut from a team before the regular season began. So he waited some more for his opportunity. While waiting he stocked shelves at a grocery store; a far cry from a football career.

-But he didn’t just sit idle. He signed up with an Arena football league where again he excelled. His talents caught the attention of the St. Louis Rams, where he signed a contract, only having to wait again for his time in NFL because they sent him to NFL Europe to gain experience and skill.

-The Rams brought him back, only to have him wait some more as they placed him in the 3rd-string position. When the 2 quarterbacks before him were injured, the coach, not expecting much from him, just wanted Kurt to win him a few games. He did better than that. He led the team to a 13-3 regular season record as well as the Super Bowl championship, himself winning the League MVP and the Super Bowl MVP.

-Years later he would lead the Arizona Cardinals to their 1st ever Super Bowl appearance. But he didn’t use his sudden fame for himself, but used his fame so that his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ would be glorified----all those years of waiting garnered him a platform for the gospel of Jesus Christ. And as icing on the cake, to honor all his waiting, Kurt is the only player to be in both the NFL Hall of Fame and the Arena Football Hall of Fame.

-God has a plan for you that will glorify His Son, Jesus Christ. And you may be waiting for it to be fulfilled, but there is a purpose with the waiting. David waited, and God used him to be Israel’s greatest earthly king. Remember, just because you are waiting, don’t think God’s plan for you has changed or been discarded, He may be using this time to ready you for something great for His glory. Seek His guidance, make yourself available to learn, don’t be tempted to stray, but be ready for whenever He does finally move you so that you can glorify Jesus Christ.

-but there is one thing that God never makes you wait for, and it is something you ought not to wait for, and that is salvation found in the gospel of Jesus Christ…