Sermon Illustrations

Last Friday was a crazy day. But I made it crazier than it had to be.

High winds blew through the region the night before leaving hundreds without power including the church building – well, sort of. One of our assistants called me when she got in the office and said the lights were out, which didn’t surprise me. But what did surprise me was what I discovered when I got to the office. Not all of the lights were off. About 1/3 were off.

What made me go into a tizzy was that we had a group coming up to view an online seminar and the room they were to meet in was one of the rooms affected. We were told by our electric company that they were working on the issue, but we all know that could be forever! So, I started buzzing around the building (I got my steps in by 10 am that day) with cables, computers, and extension cords preparing a room for the seminar. The phones were out, so I rigged more extension cords to get those working. One of our modems was out, so I hustled to try to connect them. I was tired and frustrated.

Just about the time I got everything working, all the lights came on! I should have been grateful, but I was mad that I had gone through all that work and expended all that emotional energy for nothing! Then it dawned on me. If I had only waited and trusted in someone who could fix it all I would have saved myself so much worry and stress.

If I only waited on someone who could fix it all …

The Good Book tells us more than once to wait on God, and Friday morning that all made sense. How many problems have I tried to fix, how much physical and emotional energy have I spent, how much worry and stress have I needlessly borne because I just didn’t wait on the one who could fix it all.

We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield. - Psalm 33:20 (NIV)

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