Waiting Chapel
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We’re now in the season of Advent, where we celebrate the coming of Christ; the ultimate fulfillment of God’s promises to restore the world back to himself. It’s also a time where we remember that Jesus will come again. It’s a promise we’ve been waiting to be fulfilled for over 2000 years. That’s a long time to wait for a promise. In fact, it seems like every promise God gives in the Bible is followed by a period of waiting.
The first coming of Jesus was prophesied to Abraham about 2000 years before it finally happened. Speaking of Abraham, he was told he was going to have a son, then, he waited for decades. Joseph had dreams which would take years and several undesirable circumstances before they unfolded. David waited for something like 14 years between the time he was anointed king by Samuel and the time he was crowned king by the tribe of Judah.
As far as the Bible is concerned, waiting seems like an integral part of faith. Compare that to our culture. We are a culture of instant gratification. If I send an email and it hasn’t arrived in less than 3 seconds, something must be wrong. If you send a text message and it doesn’t arrive instantaneously, you need a new phone. Sorry, it only had to go to a satellite and back. Every morning, I wait for my bagel to get toasted. I wait for my computer to boot up. You wait for your teacher to get done talking. You wait for the bell to ring. You wait for practice to get over. You wait for dinner to be ready. You wait for your favorite TV show to be on. You wait for the never-ending commercials to be done. All that waiting takes forever. We hate it.
I was talking about this with a group of students, and the question came up: Is there a difference between Biblical waiting and the normal everyday waiting we experience? Isn’t waiting just waiting? As we listed attributes of Biblical waiting, the more we became convinced there was a difference. It has to do with trust and patience—waiting tests our faith. The difference between Biblical waiting and what we normally consider waiting has to do with a posture of the heart.
Psalm 27:14 14 Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.
Psalm 119: 166 I wait for your salvation, LORD, and I follow your commands.
In all of the examples of waiting in the Bible we could think of, the people were waiting on God to fulfill a promise. Some saw the fulfillment of those promises, others only saw partial fulfillments (I think of Hebrews 11). When I tried to boil down the idea, I came to one word: faith. We wait on the Lord because we have faith in him. We believe he will do what he said. We believe in his promises. We believe in his goodness. We believe that he cares about our lives because the Bible says he does. We have faith because the God we serve is faithful. Waiting tests our faith in the promise.
As Christians, when suffering and trouble come our way, we don’t just have blind hope that someday things will get better for us. You actually have a part to play. When difficulties come, retreat into the Lord. Scripture calls Him our refuge and our strong tower. Find the Lord’s promise over your life. Read through the psalms until one jumps off the page and hits you between the eyes. Then use that as his promise over your life.
Psalm 130:5
5 I wait for the LORD, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope.
And the question I have for you this morning is this: What are you waiting on God for? You should all be waiting on God for something. You should all have at least one promise from God that you’ve yet to see fulfilled. And if you’re not sure of that, what’s going on in your life that you need an answer to? Have you heard the promise of God in this area of your life? Do you know what his will is for that situation?
Often, it’s easier to hear God’s promises over our lives when they come through other people. So we’re going to transition to a time of prayer. We’ll form groups of 3 or 4. In those groups, try to verbalize the questions you have. What is it you are waiting on God for? And if you know the promise He’s given in regard to that situation, share that too. Then, after one of you has shared, I’d like the others of you in the group to pray over that person. Pray that the person would see the promises of God fulfilled in their life. Ask God to do what he has promised to do.
The first coming of Jesus was prophesied to Abraham about 2000 years before it finally happened. Speaking of Abraham, he was told he was going to have a son, then, he waited for decades. Joseph had dreams which would take years and several undesirable circumstances before they unfolded. David waited for something like 14 years between the time he was anointed king by Samuel and the time he was crowned king by the tribe of Judah.
As far as the Bible is concerned, waiting seems like an integral part of faith. Compare that to our culture. We are a culture of instant gratification. If I send an email and it hasn’t arrived in less than 3 seconds, something must be wrong. If you send a text message and it doesn’t arrive instantaneously, you need a new phone. Sorry, it only had to go to a satellite and back. Every morning, I wait for my bagel to get toasted. I wait for my computer to boot up. You wait for your teacher to get done talking. You wait for the bell to ring. You wait for practice to get over. You wait for dinner to be ready. You wait for your favorite TV show to be on. You wait for the never-ending commercials to be done. All that waiting takes forever. We hate it.
I was talking about this with a group of students, and the question came up: Is there a difference between Biblical waiting and the normal everyday waiting we experience? Isn’t waiting just waiting? As we listed attributes of Biblical waiting, the more we became convinced there was a difference. It has to do with trust and patience—waiting tests our faith. The difference between Biblical waiting and what we normally consider waiting has to do with a posture of the heart.
Psalm 27:14 14 Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.
Psalm 119: 166 I wait for your salvation, LORD, and I follow your commands.
In all of the examples of waiting in the Bible we could think of, the people were waiting on God to fulfill a promise. Some saw the fulfillment of those promises, others only saw partial fulfillments (I think of Hebrews 11). When I tried to boil down the idea, I came to one word: faith. We wait on the Lord because we have faith in him. We believe he will do what he said. We believe in his promises. We believe in his goodness. We believe that he cares about our lives because the Bible says he does. We have faith because the God we serve is faithful. Waiting tests our faith in the promise.
As Christians, when suffering and trouble come our way, we don’t just have blind hope that someday things will get better for us. You actually have a part to play. When difficulties come, retreat into the Lord. Scripture calls Him our refuge and our strong tower. Find the Lord’s promise over your life. Read through the psalms until one jumps off the page and hits you between the eyes. Then use that as his promise over your life.
Psalm 130:5
5 I wait for the LORD, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope.
And the question I have for you this morning is this: What are you waiting on God for? You should all be waiting on God for something. You should all have at least one promise from God that you’ve yet to see fulfilled. And if you’re not sure of that, what’s going on in your life that you need an answer to? Have you heard the promise of God in this area of your life? Do you know what his will is for that situation?
Often, it’s easier to hear God’s promises over our lives when they come through other people. So we’re going to transition to a time of prayer. We’ll form groups of 3 or 4. In those groups, try to verbalize the questions you have. What is it you are waiting on God for? And if you know the promise He’s given in regard to that situation, share that too. Then, after one of you has shared, I’d like the others of you in the group to pray over that person. Pray that the person would see the promises of God fulfilled in their life. Ask God to do what he has promised to do.
