Sunday Sermon (Aug 8--Blackwoods Campground..)

When I was growing up, I had to wait for a lot of things. I had to wait for dinner. I had to wait to see grandma. I had to wait for soccer practice. I had to wait for vacation, or for my dad to come home from work, or for Santa to come. Waiting was a part of daily life. As I grew up, waiting became easier, but I am still not very good at waiting. I’m not good at waiting to see people I miss, or waiting for the cafeteria to open for dinner, waiting to get off work, or waiting for rain, or waiting for whatever movie I really, really want to see to be released. There are bigger things that we wait for as well, but waiting will drive us all nuts. But, as I’ve thought about all the waiting I’m doing, and all the waiting I’ve done in my life, I’ve come up with four things that you need to do to help you wait well. The first one is to listen to God. The second one is to lean into others, the third is to be present in day to day life, and the fourth is to keep trusting. I want to focus on the first one today. The first way to wait well is to listen to God.

When I’m waiting for something, it usually drives me to silence. And that silence, usually draws me to turn to God. Being silent and waiting for God to act is hard as Zechariah found out in Luke 1. The story, in short, goes like this. Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth are an elderly couple who always wanted a child, but never had one because Elizabeth was barren. One day, an angel visited Zechariah and told him that they would be blessed with a child and would name it John. Zechariah questioned the angel, and had to remain silent until the baby was born. As soon as the baby was born, Zechariah saw that the angel was correct and their son became very important. The silence drove Zechariah nuts, but waiting for God to act was hard as well. There are many places in the bible where people ask God to not remain silent in their life because they feel God is silent. Psalm 109:1 is one of those places and also happens to be one of my favorite cries to God to not be silent in my life any longer. Psalm 109:1 says, “O God, whom I praise, do not remain silent.” But the truth is, God is never really silent in our lives, but he is working in ways that we cannot see, and we need to wait for him to uncover these ways to us. God has plans for us, and slowly but surely, he will reveal his plans to us for our future, just as it says in the verse from Jeremiah.

I’ve come up with 3 truths about God that should be noted here. The first one is that God does not believe in coincidences. Everything in our lives is happening for a reason. We may not see the reason at that time that something happens, but everything in life really does happen for a reason. A friend once asked me if God meant for people to die. It’s a hard truth that we face, and in the times of hurt and pain in our lives, we tend to forget this truth; that in fact, everything does happen for a reason, and God is the only one who knows the master plan for our lives. God is always working in our lives, and even if we can’t see it, he is doing amazing things. It’s a matter of waiting for him to reveal these things to us.

The second truth about God is that he is not compelled to be on our time table. We pray and pray for things to happen, usually in a time when we want God to act right away. But, at least in my life, God usually doesn’t give me an immediate response. I have to keep praying and waiting for God to show me what he wants me to see, but not being on our time table stinks some times. It really does. But we have to remember that God has his own time table and things will happen when they are supposed. Go back to Luke 1 and Zechariah. Zechariah and Elizabeth were old in age we are told before they were blessed with a child. They probably wanted children when they were much younger, but it wasn’t in God’s plan. The third truth is this: God does not play games with people. There are so many times in my life when I feel like God is just playing cruel games with me, and at some point he is going to say, “No I’m joking. Everything that just happened? It didn’t really happen.” But God is never going to say that . There is a lot in life that we don’t get or don’t understand. Romans 8:28 says. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” God has a plan, but we also need to realize that life isn’t a walk in the park, and sometimes, that plan for us involves pain. Although, if you recall the verse from Jeremiah 29, God tells us he will not harm us. Then, some people wonder, why do we fall and scrape a knee, or why do we have pain and suffering? It’s a different kind of harm that God is keeping us safe from, and we must wait and see how everything falls into God’s plan.

Taking these three truths and remembering them, dwelling on them and keeping our connection with the LORD strong, will make the waiting a little easier. You must remember that God is not silent because of something that we did. We can’t buy into that thought. If we let that thought consume us, we will not be waiting well for the LORD to show us something. We are less likely to wait well and patiently with that thought. Also, a sermon I was listening to once said that having unconfessed sin will dampen the connection with God. This doesn’t mean that whenever we do something bad we should be running to confession. All I’m saying is that God sees our slip ups and waits for us to confess to him that we saw it too. Confessing our sins will bring us closer to God and will make the waiting process easier. Also realize that God’s plan is bigger than ours. My plans right now would be to work the next month and go back to school. I don’t have plans about anything after school. But God’s plan for my life runs the whole course of my life. I can’t see his plan for me until it happens. I was speaking with one of my friends from home this week and was complaining about something. Something minor that I probably shouldn’t have been complaining about because God was in control of it. I don’t remember exactly what it was, but her reply to me was simple. She said, “Amanda, God’s in control. He is God, you are not. Don’t try to move too far ahead of the here and now.” He is God, we are not. What perfect words. We can’t control things and He will reveal himself to us when he is ready, and when he thinks we are ready to see what he has been working on.

So, after all that, how do we ultimately “wait well” in times that God is silent? Don’t let waiting become the center of our lives. My pastor one gave me a list of a few ways to “wait well” as I go about my life. Don’t let it control your every thought. Go about your day to day lives as if you weren’t waiting for this. Taking your focus off of the waiting will make it easier. See beyond the mystery of life. Realize that you wont understand everything in life, and that’s what makes life so wonderful. See yourself and your place in God’s story. Know that you are in the palm of his hand and the story of your life is unfolding before you. Enjoy it. The last one may be the hardest, but it could also be the most fulfilling. Sacrifice my dreams for God’s dreams. We have different dreams then he does, but his dreams are what count in life. The most important one is probably this one. Always keep praying and be faithful to the LORD. Allow God’s silence to work in our lives. Use the waiting periods in your life to become closer to the LORD.

A few months ago, I was looking for a devotional to share at a family pizza night. I came across one that I think goes well when talking about listening and waiting.

God is like coke… He’s the real thing.

God is like General Electric…He lights your path.

God is like Bayer Aspirin… He works wonders.

God is like Hallmark Cards… He cares enough to send the very best.

God is like Tide… He gets the stains out that others leave behind.

God is like VO5 Hair Spray… HE holds through all kinds of weather

God is like Dial Soap… Aren’t you glad you know him? Don’t you wish everyone did?

God is like Walmart… He has everything.

God is like Alka Selzer… Try him, you’ll like him.

God is like Scotch Tape… You can’t see Him, but you know He is there.

God is present in our lives, even when we can’t see him. We need to always remember that. God has plans for our lives, to not harm us, and plans to give us hope and a future.