Today we’re thinking about waiting on the Lord. Christian-speak, even jargon, often
heard. Waiting for...what?
Something to happen. Something to change a situation, a
person.
How often do we ‘wait on the Lord’ to hear Him SPEAK to us?
What should we wait
FOR?
The right gift. Acts
1:4 - 5, NIV On one occasion, while he was eating
with them, he gave them this command:“Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for
the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but
in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
The right person. A Messiah to save us. John 4:25-27
The Message
25The
woman said, "I don't know about that. I do know that the Messiah is
coming. When he arrives, we'll get the whole story."
26"I
am he," said Jesus. "You don't have to wait any longer or look any
further."
We don’t need to look anywhere else when we are in trouble.
Not to family, or friends, or man-made solutions. Just Jesus. And we have the
gift of the person of the Holy Spirit, so...first response: prayer!
The right time. John 7 (NIV)
Jesus Goes to the Festival
of Tabernacles
7 After this, Jesus went around in Galilee. He
did not want[a] to go about in Judea because
the Jewish leaders there were looking for a way to kill him. 2 But when the Jewish
Festival of Tabernacles was near, 3 Jesus’ brothers said to him, “Leave Galilee and
go to Judea, so that your disciples there may see the works you do.4 No one who wants to
become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show
yourself to the world.” 5 For
even his own brothers did not believe in him.
6 Therefore Jesus told
them, “My time is not yet here; for you any time will do. 7 The world cannot hate
you, but it hates me because I testify that its works are evil.8 You go to the festival. I
am not[b] going up to this festival,
because my time has not yet fully come.”9 After he had said this, he stayed in Galilee.
10 However, after his
brothers had left for the festival, he went also, not publicly, but in secret. 11 Now at the festival the
Jewish leaders were watching for Jesus and asking, “Where is he?”
12 Among the crowds there
was widespread whispering about him. Some said, “He is a good man.”
Others replied, “No,
he deceives the people.” 13 But
no one would say anything publicly about him for fear of the leaders.
Jesus Teaches at the Festival
14 Not until halfway
through the festival did Jesus go up to the temple courts and begin to teach. 15 The Jews there were
amazed and asked, “How did this man get such learning without having been
taught?”
16 Jesus answered, “My
teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me. 17 Anyone who chooses to do
the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or
whether I speak on my own. 18 Whoever
speaks on their own does so to gain personal glory, but he who seeks the
glory of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about
him. 19 Has
not Moses given you the law? Yet not one of you keeps the law. Why are you
trying to kill me?”
The right response:
Can you think of a time when you waited impatiently but
realised afterwards that the timing, when it actually happened, was perfect?
What about when a delay doesn’t seem good, even in retrospect? How do we
reconcile that? Can you think of changes – perhaps in the situation, maybe even
in yourself, in your attitude – which were good in spite of the delay?
James 5:7-8 The
Message Meanwhile, friends, wait patiently for the Master's Arrival. You see
farmers do this all the time, waiting for their valuable crops to mature,
patiently letting the rain do its slow but sure work. Be patient like that.
Stay steady and strong. The Master could arrive at any time.
What does ‘waiting on
the Lord’ look like? How do we do it?
As I was preparing this, an email from Ed, a Christian
writer whose blog I follow, dropped into my inbox with an attention-grabbing ‘ping’.
Do you ever find yourself hoping for an email or a text from
a friend or family member? You wait and wait, but nothing happens? Perhaps you have asked a question, or, after
a long message, are hoping for a response, an acknowledgement even, something
which communicates that the other person has been glad to hear from you? I’d like God to ‘ping’ me an email or a text,
a quick response to a request or an out of the blue message which connects my
emotions to him.
If I’m not waiting at the computer, or near my phone, I won’t
hear that alluring ‘ping’.
What does that look like in my life with God?
“I lug a copy of the
Divine Hours around the house all day in an attempt to remember to pray a few
times throughout the day.
I jot down notes during
the sermon.
I sing the same slow
song each week at church as a confession of my sins.
I crunch on a
juice-stained wafer for communion.
I read a bit of the
Bible each morning while eating breakfast.
This is not exciting
stuff by any measure. I often have to force myself to open my prayer book in
the middle of a busy day or to put aside an amusing book at bed time in order
to focus on the Compline. Watching a hockey game, even a Bluejackets game,
strikes me as a bit more exciting than prayer or sitting around at church.....
I need to do these
“boring” things because they reorient me. Oftentimes I don’t even perceive the
ways I’ve been drifting away from God and from others before it’s too late.
Lots of times sin works like that: we drift away little by little until
temptation pounces on us when we’re far away from God and our defenses are
down.
There is something
effective and necessary about the daily gentle prods of prayer, scripture
reading, and worshipping in community. They aren’t magical remedies for sinful
ailments, but they can provide the timely pushes, the sustaining words, and the
stories we need to stay on track, to draw near to Jesus, and to stay there.”
So ‘waiting on God’ means drawing near to him with conscious
choices to pray, to read, to listen to others speak His truth...
Galatians 5:4-5 The
Message When you attempt to live by
your own religious plans and projects, you are cut off from Christ, you fall
out of grace. Meanwhile we expectantly wait for a satisfying relationship with
the Spirit.
This is why we would do all these
things – to deepen our relationship with God through the Holy Spirit.
Above all, we wait
with eagerness and expectation, LOOKING FORWARD to what is coming.
Romans 5:3-6 There's more to come: We continue to shout
our praise even when we're hemmed in with troubles, because we know how
troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn
forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do
next. In alert expectancy such as this, we're never left feeling shortchanged.
Quite the contrary—we can't round up enough containers to hold everything God
generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!
6-8Christ arrives right on time
to make this happen. He didn't, and doesn't, wait for us to get ready. He
presented himself for this sacrificial death when we were far too weak and
rebellious to do anything to get ourselves ready. And even if we hadn't been so
weak, we wouldn't have known what to do anyway.
Romans 8:18-25 The Message
18-21That's why I don't think there's any
comparison between the present hard times and the coming good times. The
created world itself can hardly wait for what's coming next. Everything in
creation is being more or less held back. God reins it in until both creation
and all the creatures are ready and can be released at the same moment into the
glorious times ahead. Meanwhile, the joyful anticipation deepens.
22-25All around us we observe a
pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply
birth pangs. But it's not only around us; it's within us. The Spirit of God is
arousing us within. We're also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and
barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting
does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We
are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don't see what is enlarging us. But
the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.
So waiting is for now, and for the life to come. This is the
verse which most helps me wait:
Hebrews 12:2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the
author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured
the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the
throne of God.
In The Message: Discipline in a Long-Distance Race
1-3Do
you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these
veterans cheering us on? It means we'd better get on with it. Strip down, start
running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your
eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we're in. Study how he did
it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish
in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame,
whatever. And now he's there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When
you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by
item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot
adrenaline into your souls!
I’m there, way back from the starting line of the Marathon,
walking slowly forwards. Right at the back, but I’ll get there.
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