Sermon Central
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Weary Of Waiting On The Lord?
Contributed by Bruce Hadley on May 13, 2021 (message contributor)
Summary: Have you ever asked or trusted the Lord for something; and you fully expected He would give it to you. But instead, what response you receive from the Lord is to be patient?
Have you ever asked or trusted the Lord for something; and you fully expected He would give it to you. But instead, what response you receive from the Lord is to be patient?
Truth is, you don’t want to patient for the Lord to bless or deliver you, or at least not patient for long duration of time.
Though, patience is a fruit of the Spirit, let’s be honest, we live in a microwave world where everything is immediate. I don’t care what age you are, what generation you’re from, traditionalist, Baby boomer, generation X to centennials, if your living today, you have succumbed to this microwave society, and being patient is more of a “have to” than a “get to”. Nobody really wants to be patient.
Many years ago, I was once told (jokingly) that you should never pray for more patience, because God won’t send you more patience – He’ll send you more situations to test your patience. And, that’s the truth.
Most people don’t like to wait. We often get frustrated when we have to wait in line at the grocery store or when we’re held up behind a slow car in the fast lane. This hurriedness often works its ways into our spiritual lives causing us to rush into the next thing before calling on God for direction. While most of us feel the need to rush, God is not in hurry. In fact, the Bible tells us that God many of times brings about things in slow fashion, in His timing, not ours. Hab. 2:3 (CEB) At the time I have decided, my words will come true. You can trust what I say about the future. It may take a long time, but keep on waiting--it will happen! God often does not operate on our time.
But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some understand slowness, but is patient with you….
We all want good things to happen in our lives, to be delivered from situations, receiving healing and prosperity, to have peace; but too often we want it now...not later. When it doesn't happen that way, we get frustrated and begin asking, "When, God, when?"
What we often forget is that God has a plan and a purpose for us according to His will. Although the Lord is ready and willing to answer our prayers and request, He doesn’t always do so quickly, as we can see repeated throughout Scripture.
• Abraham: When Abraham was 75 years old, God promised to give him a descendant through whom would come nations. But it was 25 years later before Isaac was born! Abraham was 100 years old!
• Joseph: God promised Joseph that he would rule over his brothers… yet it was 15-20 years before that promise was fulfilled.
• Hebrews: the Hebrew people were enslaved in Egypt after Joseph died, and lived in slavery for 400 years before God delivered them through Moses. Wouldn’t 300 have been enough?
• David: David was anointed by Samuel to be king over Israel. Yet, rather than to be crowned the next day, David spent the next 7 years of his life running from cave to cave trying to keep Saul, the present king, from killing him because of the threat to his throne. And it was 14 years before he became king over all Israel.
• Paul: On Paul’s conversion, the Lord promised that he would become an apostle to the Gentiles, yet it was years before that promise was fulfilled, with Paul living in obscurity and meeting with stiff resistance.
• Lazarus: Lazarus’ sisters sent for Jesus when Lazarus fell ill. Instead of coming immediately, Jesus delayed, and by the time He arrived, Lazarus had been dead four days! In the Gospels we see this happening to Mary and Martha while they are waiting on Jesus to come and heal their brother, Lazarus. When Jesus finally shows up, He is accused of taking too long, making them wait.
Sometimes we believe God is being to “slow” and it seems to be an inconvenience and frustrating to us. But, God rarely does things according to our time-frame, and because of this we easily get discouraged.
Unfortunately for us, waiting is just a part of life (whether we’re patient or not). Though waiting is tedious and boring, we all know that waiting is a part of life, but it is also one of God’s tools for developing people. And, as believers, we are to understand, God always has good reasons for making us wait.
What if I told you that half the point of waiting is the waiting itself (not just what happens after)? If the point of waiting was just to reach the end of waiting and get what you want...then there’s really no purpose in waiting. Then why wait, why don’t God just skip to the end? What’s the real point of waiting? The reason is, something has to be going on during our seasons of waiting. Waiting has a purpose.
