SERMON: EAGERLY WAITING

 

Naylor Community Christian Church

Naylor, Georgia

 

I.  Introduction

            -- turn in Bibles to Psalm 13:1-6

 

Psalm 13:1How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?

    How long will you hide your face from me?

2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts

    and day after day have sorrow in my heart?

    How long will my enemy triumph over me?

 

3 Look on me and answer, Lord my God.

    Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death,

4 and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”

    and my foes will rejoice when I fall.

 

5 But I trust in your unfailing love;

    my heart rejoices in your salvation.

6 I will sing the Lord’s praise,

    for he has been good to me.

 

            -- I have a confession this morning – I don’t know about you, but I hate to wait – I hate to be forced into a situation where I have no control – where I’m relying on someone or something else to respond and do their job – and there is nothing that I can do about it

            -- I feel this way at red lights – it seems like when I am in a hurry, I catch all the red lights in town – and so, I pull up there and stare at that red light and I can’t do nothing more than just wait – and it seems like it takes forever before that light changes and I can go again – I watch the green light on the side and wait in anticipation for it to turn yellow because that means I’m almost free – but, invariably, the other side of the traffic will start to move before me and there I am – stuck and waiting for my turn

            -- I feel this way at the grocery store or at the department store – you get there and there is always a line and you dutifully fall into your place – but it always seems that you got the slowest cashier in the store – or the person in front of you has a complicated order – or they can’t get their card to work – or they can’t find their money – and you wait and wait – you look over at the other lines and try to see if you can jump line, but you know from experience, if you do that, it will slow down, too – so there’s nothing more you can do but just sit there and wait and get more and more frustrated

            -- right now, we’re trying to get some repairs done on our home before the warranty runs out – and I called four times to the office before someone finally responded – and when they did, they told me that they would have the maintenance tech give me a call and schedule the appointment to come out – that was five days ago, and I haven’t heard a word – and so I’m just stuck once again in the waiting

– I can’t go on with life because it seems like I’m always waiting for something to happen – I saw a quote on the internet the other day that said that the adult life is simply saying, “Once we get past…fill in the blank…then things will slow down – then things will get better – then we can get on with our lives” – but there’s always something in that blank that makes us wait and wait and long for the future

-- we see that in the world around us, too – we look at what’s going on around us – politically – economically – socially – culturally – we see how people are to each other – we see the sin and violence and injustice all around us – and we think, “God said that He was going to come back and make all things right” – but it’s not happening – and we’re stuck just waiting for the promise to come to pass

 

            -- It seems like God’s people are always waiting – just look at this Psalm here – scholars believe that David wrote this Psalm after he was anointed by Samuel to be king of Israel – but at this time, Saul is chasing David around the countryside and trying to kill him

            -- all the promises that God made to David are just distant – they’re just out there on the horizon – and David looks around and says here in verse 1, “How long, Lord? – How long is this going to last – are you going to forget about me forever?”

            -- David is caught in the waiting – and it feels like the promise is never going to happen – it feels like God has forgot about him – that nothing is ever going to change

 

            -- look at verse 2

 

Psalm 13:2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts

    and day after day have sorrow in my heart?

    How long will my enemy triumph over me?

 

 

            -- you can feel the frustration in David’s words there – you’ve probably experienced something similar – especially, if it’s something major – like waiting to get better after a long illness – waiting for a family member to turn their lives around – waiting for a prodigal child to come home again

            -- it just feels like it’s never going to happen – and so, we just cry out like David, “How long, Lord? – How long is this going to go on” – how long will we have to wrestle with our thoughts and have sorrow in my heart day after day after day – how long will evil win and our enemies triumph over us?

            -- the waiting is hard – the waiting is not fun – the waiting is extremely difficult – and a lot of the time, we just don’t understand why – and we can get lost in the waiting and find ourselves in sadness and despair, like David

-- in his book, “Reaching for the Invisible God,” Phillip Yancey tells a story about a person who found themselves so lost in the waiting their faith had begun to falter – Yancey says this person was raised in a Christian home and had absorbed the Christian faith along with other family values from their parents -- But one day, they faced a crisis that tested their faith in God – and they found themselves waiting on Him to respond – and when He didn’t, they felt lost and abandoned

-- and this wasn’t someone who was new to the faith or who didn’t know God in a real and personal way – they had experienced God’s grace throughout their lives -- They had been saved and baptized -- They prayed and read the Bible and attended church on a regular basis – they did all the things we are told we are supposed to do

-- And at times, they had really felt close to God and experienced Him working in their life – but now, all of a sudden, that sense of closeness disappeared – it felt like God was gone – when they prayed – when they went to church -- they felt nothing -- they began to doubt their past experiences with God – did they really happen? – were they real?

-- waiting for God in that season caused their faith to falter and they wondered if they had been living under an illusion, walking with a myth -- In the depths of their soul they cried out, "Does God really exist?  Is He really out there?"          

-- the same thing that David is doing here in this Psalm – maybe the same thing you have done in your life in the past

 

-- it’s hard to live in the waiting – it’s hard to have the promise – to hold on to faith in the promise and faith in God – when nothing seems to happen

-- the Israelites understood that more than anyone else – their whole life was wrapped up in the waiting

-- it’s in the Book of Genesis that we first see the promise of the Messiah as God tells Adam and Eve that He is going to send His Seed to crush the head of the serpent and deliver mankind from their sin

-- and Adam and Eve waited – and waited – and waited – and nothing happened

-- for thousands of years – across thousands of generations – the Israelites waited for the promise to be fulfilled – they longed for the Messiah – they looked for Him with the birth of every new Jewish boy – but for thousands of years, nothing happened – and the Israelites and all of creation cried out to God, “How long, Lord? – How long until He comes to make all things new?”

 

-- David is experiencing that same frustration and despair here in Psalm 13 as he waits for God’s promise to come to pass in his life – look at verse 3

 

Psalm 13:3 Look on me and answer, Lord my God.

    Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death,

4 and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”

    and my foes will rejoice when I fall.

 

 

-- David is crying out to God with all his heart here and saying, “Answer me, God – Look at me and tell me what is going on – I don’t understand – give light to my eyes – reveal to me the truth – or I am going to just give up and let my enemy kill me and rejoice over my fall”

-- what do we do in the wait? – how do we survive the waiting – the despair – the sadness – of not seeing God do anything – of not seeing the promise come to pass?

 

            -- a lot of people give up – just think about Zechariah the priest that we read about in Luke 1 – Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth were faithful followers of God – the Bible says they were righteous in the sight of God – observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly – but they found themselves losing hope and losing faith as Elizabeth remained childless and as the couple grew older and older

            -- it seemed like the promise – their hope in a child – in the blessing of God – would never come to pass – and although they remained faithful and righteous, they gave up hope that God would ever bless them in this way – they found themselves in the waiting, despairing of ever having a child, surviving only through their faith

            -- but God chose to bless them in a miraculous way – allowing Elizabeth to have a son in her old age, who would be the one to make straight the path for the Messiah – to bear John the Baptist, who would come in the spirit and power of Elijah to prepare the way for the Lord

            -- faith is the only way to make it through the waiting – and when we don’t give up – when we remain faithful – when we trust in God, despite our fears and worries and despair – miracles happen – just like it did for Zechariah and Elizabeth

            -- the promise always happens, but it happens in God’s timing and God’s ways and not ours – we see the same thing with David here

 

            -- verse 5-6

 

Psalm 13:5 But I trust in your unfailing love;

    my heart rejoices in your salvation.

6 I will sing the Lord’s praise,

    for he has been good to me.

 

            -- David is known as the man after God’s own heart – his faith was strong – his heart was always turned to the Lord – and even though he experienced times of sadness and despair – even though he experienced moments in his life when he started to doubt, his faith buoyed him – his faith kept him afloat

            -- after crying to God in pain and despair – How long, Oh God, how long? – David finally rests on the promise and on his faith in the God that he has known his whole life

            -- he reaches the point where he resigns himself to just trust in the Lord – to not demand his own way – to not demand that things happen in his timing or in the way that he wants – and David bows his head and in humility proclaims, “But I trust in your unfailing love”

            -- God has been good to him in the past – he has seen and experienced God’s grace and mercy in his life – he has felt the hand of God leading him – and so, David bows down and says, “I don’t understand – I don’t like this – but I am going to trust You because I know that you love me and that You only have good planned for my life”

            -- and we know the end of that story – it didn’t happen immediately – it didn’t happen the way David thought it would – it was years later that Saul and his sons were killed in battle with the Philistines – and David was raised up by the entire nation of Israel to be their king, in fulfillment to the promise that God had given David when he was a child

 

            -- and in the same way, we find ourselves in this Advent Season in another period of waiting – Jesus rose from the dead nearly 2000 years ago – having offered Himself – His body and His blood – as an atonement for our sin

            -- and He promised us at that time that He was going to come again – that He was going to prepare a place for us – and that He would return and bring us with Him, so that we might live with Him forever

            -- for 2000 years, we have been waiting in anticipation of that day – for 2000 years, we have been stuck – looking around us as the world has grown darker and sin and violence and injustice surrounded us – and crying out, “How long, O God, how long until you come again and make all things right?”

            -- and all we can do is stand on the promise like David did – and trust in God and His love for us – and believe with all our hearts that Jesus is coming back again – as we look forward to the fulfillment of the promise

 

            -- Romans 8:28 says, "We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose"

-- this verse tells us, "Don't doubt -- trust God,” when we find ourselves in the waiting

-- even though Jesus has not come back yet – even though the blessing has been delayed -- even though the healing hasn't come -- even though the thing we most desire and most earnestly seek in our lives hasn't happened, doesn't mean that God isn't going to do it – it just means it hasn’t happened yet

            -- God’s promises are always true – God’s promises will always come to pass – and He will always answer our prayers -- He will always work for the good of those who love Him -- if answers to your prayers are not coming, then one of three things is going on -- either you are asking for the wrong thing -- or it is just not God's timing -- or He is using your situation to mold you and make you into a better Christian

-- when God answers prayers, you can be sure that it will be in a way that brings glory to Himself -- our task is to trust and believe in God and His promise -- to pray fervently and to trust that God not only can, but will, work in our lives to bring good out of all situations

 

            -- a lot of us find ourselves lost in the waiting in our lives today – not just for Jesus to come back – but for God to work in our lives to help us through times of trial and trouble

-- we understand what it was like for David – he had waited a long time for the promise to come to pass – he had lived in fear for his life as Saul sought to kill him – it looked like he would never become king as God had promised – the waiting had become unbearable

-- we understand how Zechariah and Elizabeth felt -- Luke tells us in Luke 1:7 that they were both “well along in years” – they were old – too old to have children -- Elizabeth's womb had closed – it seemed like the waiting had gone on too long

            -- and we understand what the people of Israel felt like as they waited for the coming of the Messiah -- for generations and generations, the people had suffered through persecution and oppression – they had seen the Promised Land fall under the rule of Gentiles – and it felt like the waiting would never end -- as the years went by and God remained silent, their hearts and faith began to fail and they were left only with empty religious practices and no real hope of the Savior who was to come – all they had was the waiting

            -- and sometimes we feel like that, too – when the sickness lingers – when the bank account dwindles – when storms destroy our lives – when families break apart – and we look at the promise and we cry out to God, but we don’t see anything happening

            -- it’s in those moments that we must live on the foundation of faith – that we must put our full faith and trust in God, just as David did – just as Zechariah and Elizabeth did – just as the nation of Israel did

            -- because we are told in God’s word that He will never leave us or forsake us – and that all His promises will come to pass – we have to trust in Him and put our faith in Him and just bear through the waiting for the miracle and the glory to come

 

III.  Closing

-- I read a story about a pastor who was very successful in his ministry, which included traveling around the country to speak to other churches and spiritual conferences

-- one time, while he was on a long flight, he started getting worried when the warning light flashed up and the flight attendant told everyone to fasten their seat belts – this was out of the ordinary – and he started to get a little alarmed

-- a few minutes later, the flight attendant spoke again over the intercom and said that they would not be serving beverages at this time because they were expecting a little turbulence and to make sure their seat belts were securely fastened

-- As the pastor looked around the aircraft, it became obvious that many of the passengers were becoming apprehensive. -- a short while later, the flight attendant spoke through the speaker again -- "We are so sorry that we are unable to serve the meal at this time. The turbulence is still ahead of us." 

-- And then the storm broke -- you could hear the thunder and the noise of the wind and the rain above the roar of the engines -- Lightning lit up the dark skies, and within moments that great plane was like a cork tossed around on a celestial ocean -- One moment the airplane was lifted on terrific currents of air -- the next, it dropped as if it were about to crash. 

-- The pastor confessed that he shared the discomfort and fear of those around him -- He said, "As I looked around the plane, I could see that nearly all the passengers were upset and alarmed -- Some were praying. – some were holding on to their seats with all the strength they had -- The future seemed ominous and many were wondering if they would make it through the storm

--  And then, across the aisle, I saw something amazing – there was this little girl sitting on her seat without a care in the world -- She had tucked her feet beneath her as she sat on her seat and was reading a book -- Everything within her small world was calm and orderly -- Sometimes she closed her eyes, then she would open them and start reading again -- every now and then she would straighten her legs -- but worry and fear were not in her world

-- even as the plane was being buffeted by the terrible storm -- when it lurched this way and that -- as it rose and fell with frightening severity -- when all the adults were scared half to death -- that marvelous child was completely composed and unafraid." 

-- The minister could hardly believe his eyes – he had never seen such peace in someone in the midst of a storm -- when the plane landed and all the other passengers were rushing off into the airport, the pastor hung around to speak to the girl that he had watched for such a long time

-- he commented about the terrifying storm and how the plane was being knocked about and how the flight was so rough and so dangerous -- and then he asked her why she didn't seem afraid -- the little girl replied, "Sir, my Dad is the pilot, and he promised me that we were going home” 

 

            -- sometimes life gets hard – we find ourselves tossed and turned by the storms of life – we find ourselves in the midst of trials and troubles – just waiting for God to move – waiting for God to responding – waiting for the promise to come to pass

-- and there is choice for us to make when we face times like that – we can approach them like most of the people on that plane did – in fear and in panic – in frustration that we’re waiting and nothing seems to be happening

-- or we can face it like David did – like Zechariah and Elizabeth did – in faith and in trust that God is going to do what He promised us He would do – that He will respond to us and take care of us and lead us home in the end

-- here in this Advent season, we are eagerly waiting and anticipating the coming of Christ, just as other faithful Christians have done over the past 2000 years – Christ hasn’t come back yet – and it would be easy to give up – to lose hope – to start to doubt if He is really coming again or not

-- and that’s when we have to trust in Him and in His promise – He promised to never leave us or forsake us – He promised us eternal life and victory over sin and death through His very body and blood – He promised that He is going to prepare a place for us and that He is going to come again and take us to be where He is

-- He promised that He will make all things right – that there will be a new heaven and a new earth and that He will live with us forever in a place where there will be no more tears and no more crying

-- and even though He hasn’t come yet, we need to wait in faith and not lose hope – because we know that God will do what He said He would do – just like the father of that little girl on the plane, God has promised us that we are going home – and we have to wait and trust in His promise in faith until it happens

 

-- so, let us live lives of eager anticipation of the coming of Christ – let us faithfully wait for Christ’s return – let us never get tired of the waiting – but let us live in faith and in hope for the day that Jesus comes again

            -- as Christians who have experienced the presence of the Christ who came at Christmas, we should be getting up every morning thinking, “This might be the day!” -- we should be breathlessly awaiting the coming of Jesus again -- His second coming when He will come in power and majesty to set up His kingdom on earth

            -- every morning for us should be like Christmas morning to a child -- because we know that this could be the day that we see the redemption of the world

            -- to do that, we must prepare our hearts -- we have to be living for God -- we have to be in a right relationship with Him -- living holy and devout lives of faithfulness -- and we have to be ready for His coming by enduring the waiting in faith

 

            -- so, let’s rejoice in the waiting this morning as we prepare to celebrate again the coming of Jesus -- let us prepare our hearts to receive Him anew -- let us look forward to His coming with anticipation and excitement -- and let us commit to living lives of righteousness and faithfulness for Him today and all the days to come       -- let us pray