Life in the Waiting Room
Psalm 37:7
[When it is the time for “the message,” remain seated for several minutes to the point where it is uncomfortable for everyone.]
An old Fed Ex ad à Waiting is frustrating, demoralizing,
agonizing,
aggravating, annoying, time consuming and incredibly expensive.
Does anybody agree with that?
So—what about you? Are you good at waiting?
Don Young of
I called the banker in our little town and told him our daughter was on
the way to open her savings account. We
would stop in later and sign the necessary papers.
Imagine her excitement when the president of the bank himself waited on
her. She handed over her savings, and he
gave her a receipt and thanked her for her business. He stood up to shake her hand and show her to
the door, but she wouldn't budge. She
just sat there, waiting. "Is there anything else that I can help
you with?" he asked. "Yes,"
she replied, "I’d like my interest now, please."
Since few of us are good at waiting and no one enjoys waiting, why
then does God seem insistent that we do it so often?
-Richard Hendrix à Second
only to suffering, waiting may be the
greatest teacher and trainer in
godliness, maturity, and genuine
spirituality most of us ever encounter.
-Psalm 37:7 à Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him
--that may be one of the most difficult commands in all of Scripture
If you remember from last week, the overall context of this psalm
directs us to trust God’s timing, not to take
matters into our own
hands, and simply to allow God
to work
-so this is really about
waiting patiently on God, not so much
the
cashier in training at
Hy-Vee
--but before
you think you’re going to get off easily this morning,
you should realize
that how you respond to those six different
“price checks” is
often pretty accurate indication of what’s
going on at that
deeper level
Waiting is tough, isn’t it?
-have you noticed that some things and some situations make
waiting just downright excruciating?
--like when you are waiting for the paperwork to be signed so you
can be dismissed from the hospital
--or when you are stuck in traffic on the interstate and you have
no idea how long the back-up is or what’s causing it
--or when you are waiting for test results to come back
--or when you’ve had a first date with someone you really like
and now you find yourself sitting by the phone wondering if
there will ever be a second date
--or you are anticipating a significant, life-altering event—like
your wedding, or graduation, or opening day at Busch Stadium
You might be surprised about how much research has been done
regarding the human response to waiting
-I stumbled upon a journal article by psychologist, David Maister,
who summarizes years of studies about waiting...and as you
might it is the hot topic in the world of customer service
-please allow me to use a highly unorthodox approach this morning
--it’s funny how businesses don’t bother trying to minimize your
actual waiting time...instead they just work on reducing your
perceived waiting time (reducing the actual waiting time costs
too much!)
--what’s really funny is how God simply ignores this fascinating
body of research because, frankly, He’s not interested in
reducing your actual or your perceived waiting times because
He’s infinitely more concerned about you building a godly life
than you building a profitable business...and He cares more
about your holiness than your happiness
Let me give you a couple of examples that show, as 1 Cor. 1:25
declares à The foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom.
Conventional wisdom says “occupied waiting is perceived as faster”
-that’s why your doctor’s office is full of magazines, and maybe a TV
-it’s why restaurants offer you a seat at the bar while you wait for a
table...or invite you to browse through the store at Cracker Barrel
-it’s why there are often mirrors just outside elevator doors
But how does the Bible tell us to wait? Be busy to pass the time?
-Psalm 37:7 à Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him
--“be still”
---what does a teacher mean when she tells her preschoolers
to “be still”?
----stop talking...stop what you are doing
--more specifically, this command tells us to be still before the Lord
---and so it means more than “chill out” or “take a nap”
---it means our prayers aren’t a series of wish lists that end with
“that’s all I can think of for now. Amen.”
----it means we are quiet enough long enough to listen
-----Eugene Peterson à In prayer, we are aware that
God is in action
and that when the circumstances
are ready, when
others are in the right place, and
when our hearts
are prepared, He will call us into
the action.
Waiting...is a disciplined refusal to act
before God acts.
----it means we spend time reading His Word—not to
discover some secret truth about what we decision we
should
make—but simply to discover Him
----it means our worship and our every waking hour are not
filled with the constant noise that has become the
soundtrack to our lives
It’s important, I think, to consider how the King James translates that
first phrase of v. 7 à Rest in the Lord
-what are you doing when you are resting?
--apparently nothing! (and that’s the point)
---you’re not working, you’re not planning, you’re not worrying
--but actually, you are doing something...by not working, by not
planning, by not worrying...you are trusting God
Why do you suppose we have the 4th Commandment?
-you know, the whole “Six-days-shalt-thou-labor...but-on-the-
seventh-day-thou-shalt-rest”
--is it because God knows our bodies need rest? yes and no
--when you aren’t doing, you must trust God to meet your needs
Isn’t that the essence of the most familiar psalm?
Psalm 23:1-3a à The
Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures, He
leads me beside
quiet
waters, He restores my soul.
When God restores your soul, what are you doing?
-you are being shepherded by God
-you don’t need anything
-you are lying down in green grass
-you are enjoying the good water
And it is then the Bible tells us He restores my soul
-listen to some other translations of that remarkable phrase
--He gives new life to my soul
--He
renews my life
--He
revives my soul
--He renews my strength
All of the above translations accurately reveal a passive tense
-do you realize what that means?
--it means God is the one who is doing the doing...not
us
Listen how The Message captures
the heart of the 23rd psalm
God, my shepherd!
I don’t need a thing.
You have bedded me
down in lush meadows,
You find me quiet pools to drink from.
True to Your word,
You let me catch my breath
and send me in the right direction
I love that part—You let me catch my breath.
A few days ago, a good friend from
believe it is Christmas time again.
This was the fastest year of my
life. It is out of control for
me. I feel constant stress and am not
handling it well. I just want it
to slow down, but it never does. It
makes me nervous and crabby. I am moody and frustrated.
Does he sound like someone who needs to have his soul restored,
his strength renewed, and be given permission to catch his breath?
-does he sound like you?
--at what can be the most hectic time of year, what will you do to
ensure you are still before and rest in the Lord?
Another thing researchers have discovered is that anxiety increases
the perceived amount of waiting time
-so dentist offices play easy-listening music
-if your plane is going to be late and you’re afraid you’ll miss your
connecting flight, a flight attendant will announce that the airport
is aware of the problem and they are holding your next plane
God does something kinda’ like that
-He tells us repeatedly not to worry...just trust Him
--the really frustrating part is that God rarely gives us details...each
step is just another invitation to trust Him by taking another step
---Hebrews 11:8 à By
faith Abraham, when called to go to a
place he would later receive as
his inheritance, obeyed and
went, even though he did not know where he was going.
--or like in Romans 8:28 how He tells us He is working all things
together for the good of those who
love Him and who are called
according to His purpose...but we blow past that part and get
frustrated He doesn’t tell us —who/what/when/where/why
---all we
get à Be still before Me and wait patiently for Me
Research indicates that uncertain waits seem longer
-so at a restaurant, they’ll say, “Your table will be ready in 25-30
minutes.” when in reality they know full well that it will be more like
15 minutes...then you’ll be happy because it will seem like you’ve
somehow cheated the system
God apparently has no problem allowing His children to endure
uncertain waits...in fact, it’s like God enjoys working in uncertainty
--He told Abraham, “Just go and keep going until I tell you to stop.”
--Isaiah prophesied, “The Lord Himself will give you a sign: the
virgin will be with child and will give birth to a Son, and will call
Him ‘Immanuel.’”...no one mentions that won’t happened for
another 700 years
--in Revelation 22, Jesus says 3 times, “I am coming soon!”
Obviously, Jesus’ definition of “soon” is a little different from mine
-that leads to another finding: unexpected waits seem longer
--good business sense says, “Warn your customers in advance
that they are going to have a slight delay.”
--God didn’t do that with the first Advent...prophecies about the
Messiah’s birth had been circulating for hundreds upon
hundreds of years
--and it’s clear God hasn’t changed His methods with the Second
Coming of Christ
---the last chapter of the Bible quotes Jesus three times
proclaiming, “I am coming soon!”
----a 2000 year wait is, to say the least, unexpected
----and the only instruction He gives us is: “Be ready.”
Unexplained waits seem longer
-wouldn’t you like to know that your flight is delayed is because they
are switching aircraft because an engine fell off the first one?
But God rarely explains Himself
-often He will remind us, “I’m God. You’re not. Just trust Me.”
--sometimes we don’t even get that
-when it comes to the Second Coming, God actually does tell us at
least one of the reasons we’re still waiting
--2 Peter 3:9 à The
Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as
some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not
wanting anyone to perish, but
everyone to come to repentance.
---and
then later in v. 15, we’re
reminded: Bear in mind that
our Lord’s patience means salvation...
--so we continue to wait, not because God has forgotten, not
because He is cruel or unconcerned...but because He is
merciful...and because He is working—often in ways we cannot
see—to bring about His plan...in our lives and in the world
There’s one other thing—rather obvious, I suppose—that
psychologists tell us about waiting à waiting is worse when you
wait alone
-guess what?
--God agrees with this one
---sure, there are times God uses periods of solitude to speak
to us and to transform us—Elijah in 1 Kings 19 for example
--but at the same time God usually gives us someone else to
share in the burden of waiting...a spouse, a friend, the Church
---most importantly, God gives us Himself when we wait and
wade through grief, through illness, through crisis, or
through the process of waiting for Him to answer prayer
---listen to God’s assurance given to us through the prophet in
Isaiah 41:10 à So do
not fear, for I am with you; do not
be dismayed, for I am your
God. I will strengthen you and
help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Did you hear that?
-why are we commanded not to fear?
--because God is with us
-think back to the first promise I read from Isaiah...the one
prophesying that a virgin would conceive and give birth to a Son,
and will call Him “Immanuel”
--any idea what the Hebrew word “Immanuel” means?
---it means “God with us”
In Jesus, the one called “Immanuel” we have hope
-hope when the answer is slow to come...or never arrives
-hope when you feel abandoned and alone
-hope when your world is crashing in on you
-hope when you know you can’t wait another moment for help
Jesus is our living Lord and Savior who is always with us...when we
do not understand or even know God’s timing, Jesus’ presence
reassures us that God can be trusted...that He is faithful and true to
His Word
So when you find yourself in God’s waiting room—don’t rush to get
out or demand to get answers—instead, wait patiently on Him...be
still before Him...and find that much-needed rest He offers