Waiting On The Lord Series

Series: If God is For You …

Sermon: Waiting on the Lord

Scripture: James 5:7-11

[Hold up cell phone.]

I think it’s safe to say that most, if not all of you, have one of these and I can also probably say that if you have one of these it has some kind of GPS on it. In fact, it’s pretty significant that I can use the term “GPS” and you know what I’m talking about, amen? A program. An “app” which tracks you and can not only tell you where you are but how to get you to where you’re going and how long it will take you to get where you’re going literally down to the minute … and does a pretty amazing job at doing it. It has a voice that you program … male or female … British or American accent. It not only tells you where you are and how to get where you want to go, it can also show you the flow and amount of traffic around you, which, in my opinion is a pretty useful and helpful feature.

Come and step into the “way-back” machine with me for a moment to a time when we didn’t have these things. You drive onto I-40 heading to Asheville. Don’t need a GPS for that, amen? Nice day. Everything is moving along … and then you come around a curve and boom! A sea of red brake lights. I-40 is a rolling parking lot. And there you are … stuck. You have no idea what is causing the traffic jam. You have no idea how long the traffic jam is. Should you get off at the next exit? Go a long way out of your way? But what if the traffic jam ended just past the exit? Then you’ve gone a long way out of your way for nothing. Wouldn’t it be nice if you knew what was going on up ahead and how long the traffic jam is so that you can make a decision about what to do if and when you reach the next exit?

This [hold up cell phone] lets you do that. If you come up on a traffic jam, most GPS programs will tell you what’s going on … there’s construction or a traffic accident ahead … and it tells you how long the traffic jam is and how long you’ll have to wait in traffic. In fact, it will suggest you get off at the next exit and show you alternative routes and how long those will take to get you to your destination.

Wouldn’t it be extremely helpful if we had some kind of GPS for our lives? You’re cruising along through your life when all of a sudden something unexpected pops up and you’re dealing with a whole set of problems and issues you didn’t expect. Wouldn’t it be nice if you got some kind of warning that not only told you that there was a problem up ahead but what kind of problem … and then gave you some suggestions and alternatives on how to either handle the problem or avoid it all together?

Well, for now, we don’t have an “app” for that. Life is full of twists and turns and unexpected surprises, amen? And we have to deal with them as they happen. We can make some plans. We can try to look ahead and make some educated guesses. But … more times than not … our little plans come to naught and most of our problems seem to come out of nowhere so there’s really no time to make plans. We just have to deal with it.

None of us expected a virus to suddenly pop up one day and spread around the world the way that the COVID-19 virus did. It really did seem to come out of nowhere and take the world by surprise … and now, here we are, two years later still trying to fix it. Fortunately, it looks as though the spread of this virus is slowing down and … so far … it keeps mutating into something less harmful … and we all hope and pray, I’m sure, that it keeps heading in that direction, amen? Billionaire Warren Buffet made this profound observation: “I have never seen Americans more fearful. It takes five minutes to become fearful, much more to regain confidence” (“Buffett Says Five Years for Economy to Recover.” Sydney Morning Herald, March 29, 2009).

We’re not out of the woods yet. We’re still dealing with the virus itself and we’re also dealing with the fall out from it but things do appear to be slowing down and heading in a more positive direction, so I thought we’d take some time this morning to do some reflection on our experience. You see, at the beginning of his letter, James makes the following observation: “My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy” … what? How can literally surviving a pandemic be considered a thing or experience of joy? Well, says James, because “you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance” … well, we’ve certainly had to “endure” these past two years, amen? “… let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing” (James 1:2-4). Well, let’s see if James is right, amen?