“What Are you Waiting For?
Isaiah 7:13-14
So, we begin a new preaching series today, five messages leading up to Christmas and it all begins in a room like this one. This is a waiting room, actually, our doctors waiting room he has on his website because it basically looks like this all the time. Not because he doesn’t have any clients but because no one has to wait. If you go to a doctor’s office very often you are familiar with the waiting room and no one likes it. I take a book if I have to wait and I enjoy the book but I don’t enjoy the waiting. Waiting is hard for most of us. A lot of patience. We can even become irritated / upset because we have places to go and people to see and gifts to buy and gifts to wrap and food to cook and lights to hang and cards to write and do I need to go on?
In the Old Testament Book of Isaiah, we find this story. It is set in a very difficult time. This chapter has several messages. The first is concerning Ahaz and there is good news and bad news. Bad news first, Ahaz is king of Judah. There are good kings and there are bad kings in the Old Testament and Ahaz was on the naughty list. 3 armies had set out to attack Jerusalem. So, things were desperate for Ahaz and appeared to be (also) for Isaiah. Ahaz refuse not to ask God for help. So, Isaiah confronts Ahaz. Isaiah now has a chance here as a prophet to prove God’s word to be true. Make your request as deep as Sheol/grave or high as heaven. God has set no limits. He could ask for any kind of sign, anywhere, anytime. So, what would you ask for? The King said I refuse. Can you imagine? Ahaz was simply too busy for God. Busy working his poor people to death. Their patience was wearing thin. Isaiah says you know what – your actions are making God impatient as well. So, God takes over and says I will send a sign anyway and here it is. Isaiah 7:13-14.
So, here’s the sign but first this bit of explanation. The Hebrew word for this woman is almah. This word is emphasized again in Matthew’s gospel and this is what it means. This was a young girl who had never has a sexual experience. Matthew affirms she was in fact a virgin. Impossible? Not with God. Remember He created the first two people on the planet all by himself. He can certainly do it again. The child here described in Ahaz’s day by a normal birth was a sign of God’s presence with the people. A true savior would come at a later date – through a miracle – a virgin birth. And Matthew affirms that as a fact.
And on that day because of this prophecy, everything changed. This is the event that would change time. We would move from BC; before Christ to AD, in the year of the Lord. All mankind would now measure days/time based on the birth of Jesus., Muslim, Hindu, every religion, false or true, now measures time around the birth of Jesus. So this was around 700 years before the birth of Christ. 700 years but now God’s people knew their waiting was not in vain.
Now I don't know about you - but I'm Not a very good waiter. Anyone identify with me? Give me some love here. Some support. That’s part of the reason my favorite verse in the Bible is “those who wait on the Lord will mount up with wings as eagles.” It’s the founding verse for this church – Eagles landing. But here’s a twist on this word that you may not know about. We all know what it means to wait. Isaiah gives us this verse as well.
• First of all, those who wait on the Lord will find strength. Strength, they did not know they had.
• God often brings us His strength when we are in a difficult place. He renews our strength.
• The strength he gives us will last. He will renew it when necessary. You will have energy to run the race and have energy left to run again. Dr James Gills, founder of St Luke’s in Tarpon Springs has run nearly 50 marathons, six Double Iron Triathlons and 19 Ironman Triathlons. An Ironman triathlon is a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike and then a literal marathon 26.2miles. To do a double marathon you swim 4.8 miles, then all of the 224 miles, on a bike and then run all of the 52.4 miles. The time limit for the race is 36 hours. God is able to give us strength we never imagined. You can walk through a tough situation and you will not give up or faint.
• God himself designed waiting for us because he knew how very much, we would need it. Now here is what we can learn today by waiting. I want to give you several things we can learn.
Here are a few things.
1. In waiting, God speaks. In waiting we find our purpose. We think we find our purpose in what we do. We actually find our purpose in who we are, not what we do. I’m a pastor, a preacher I love what I do but first and foremost I am a child of the king. A new creation. There is no one exactly like me. I am an adopted child of the king and so are you. I am a human being not a Human doing. You are too.
In the Old Testament, the psalmist tells us several important facts in Psalm 46. You should know that all of the Psalms are songs. The Book of Psalms contain the lyrics to God’s music. Any psalm, can actually be sung and they are sung to the king of Kings in praise and worship. About half are written by David. Psalm 46 was likely written after a military battle and victory against an enemy that attempted to destroy Jerusalem. I’m sure you know this but battles; wars, are a time of chaos and fear for everyone. There is uncertainty as to what will happen. What the outcome will be. They’re loud. Lots of yelling. A lot has just occurred. God has spoken here in this chapter and the Psalmist says God is our refuge and strength – always ready to help in times of trouble; So, we will not fear. The god of Israel is here and he is our fortress. He Causes wars to end throughout the Earth.
Then he gives this amazing verse. It says simply, “be still and know that I am God.” He could have said, get to work, go do something for me, get busy – but instead he says, be still – why? Because when we are still that is when we get to know who God actually is and we understand better who we actually are.
In the story of Elijah – he has just won a victory – he has called down fire from Heaven and the people are amazed. But Elijah is then tired, so he sits down under a tree and prays that he might actually die. He says, I’ve had enough Lord. Take my life. God speaks and says, “Stand before me on the mountain.”
• A storm has hit the mountains and rocks fell.
• But the Lord was not in the wind.
• Then there was an earthquake.
• Then there was a fire but God
• But God was not in the fire.
After the fire, there was a whisper. We have to get quiet, wait in silence and if we wait to hear from God, When, we are in the waiting room, God will speak.
2. In waiting, we see the fulfillment of God’s promises. We must get still and get in the presence of God. We cannot help but be reminded of his goodness. He is the ultimate promise keeper. Gateway, a Bible study site, lists 5467 Promises God gives to us in the scripture.
I don’t know your history – I know more about some of you than others, but one thing I do know is that many people have difficulty trusting others – promises were made to you throughout your lifetime and perhaps they were rarely kept. Anyone identify with this? Promises were made by parents, perhaps a spouse, or perhaps even a boss. They were made by people you should have been able to trust – authority figures, so when you figured out, they were just telling you what you wanted to hear and had no intention of fulfilling those promises – you said I guess I can’t trust anyone. Trust is mentioned many times in scripture. 70 of those are mentioned by the psalmist. Simply put, we can trust God. If He tells us something, it will happen. Every promise will be kept. We always say that God can do anything but he cannot lie. He cannot break a promise. He doesn’t just tell the truth…… he is the truth. The way, the truth and the life. When we wait, God fulfills his promises.
3. In waiting, we learn patience. Our prayer sounds something like this… God, give me patience and give it to me right now! 😊I need this right now lord. If it were to happen yesterday Lord it wouldn’t be soon enough. And do you know why? We are terrible waiters. At a restaurant all we can say is I can’t believe I have to wait 15 minutes for a table. We see a table open up and we think – why can’t I have that one? When are these people going to get through? Look at that guy over there sipping his coffee like that – surely, they know we need a table. Then we get a table and the waiter takes too long to get to the table and then the food takes too long and wasn’t this a wonderful night out? Because we’re just not good at waiting. In fact, were terrible.
There are many qualities mature believers should possess. One is faith. We expect God to be with us. Hope. Love. Forgiveness. Let me add one. To wait. We all know how to be in a hurry. For most of us, that’s the easy part. But waiting, that’s hard. Ever notice how kids hate to wait? Mama, Daddy, are we there yet? How much longer? Where do you think they learned that? You see about the only way we can learn to wait is to do it. It’s like playing an instrument. We have to practice.
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A great violinist was once approached by someone after a concert who said I have always wanted to play the violin. I would give anything. I would give my life if I could learn. And he replied “that’s exactly what I did.”
I want to read a prayer written by Wilferd Peterson. Pray it silently with me.
Slow Me Down Lord
Slow me down, Lord. Ease the pounding of my heart by the quieting of my mind. Steady my hurried pace with a vision of the eternal reach of time. Give me, amid the confusion of the day, the calmness of the everlasting hills.
Break the tensions of my nerves and muscles with the soothing music of the singing streams that live in my memory. Help me to know the magical, restoring power of sleep. Teach me the art of taking minute vacations—of slowing down to look at a flower, to chat with a friend, to pat a dog, to read a few lines from a good book. Remind me each day of the fable of the hare and the tortoise, that I may know that the race is not always to the swift— that there is more to life than increasing its speed. Let me look upward into the branches of the towering oak and know that it grew great and strong because it grew slowly and well. Slow me down, Lord, and inspire me to send my roots deep into the soil of life’s enduring values that I may grow toward the stars of my greater destiny. Amen.
Let me close with a question today. There are numerous decisions we make in life. To get married. To buy a car. To go to college. There is no decision you will make in life that matters more than to follow Christ. Not one. Everything else will fade. What are you waiting for? Do it today.
