FOUR RESULTS OF WAITING ON THE LORD
But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, not faint" (Isaiah 40:31).
JOKE-A little boy was fishing but was catching nothing. A man came by and asked him, are you fishing little boy? He replied back, “No I am not fishing, I am just drowning worms”.
Sometimes, we may feel that way, that we are accomplishing nothing. But if we wait on the Lord we will reap one day.
SOME BIBLICAL EXAMPLES OF WAITING UPON THE LORD:
A. ABRAHAM AND SARAH (FOR ISAAC)
B. NOAH (FOR THE FLOOD AND SUBSIDING WATERS)
C. JOSEPH (FOR HIS "TIME" IN POWER)
D. JESUS (FOR THE "TIME TO BE FULFILLED")
E. MARY AND MARTHA (FOR JESUS TO ARRIVE WHEN LAZRUS
DIED.
F. THE DISCIPLES (FOR THE PROMISED HOLY SPIRIT)
G. ALL BELIEVERS (AWAITING HIS RETURN)
IN EACH CASE THEY
1. KNEW GOD’S PROMISES
2. RESTED IN GOD’S CHARACTER
3. RELIED UPON HIS LOVE
IN EACH CASE, IT WAS WORTH THE WAIT!!
I-FOR THOSE WHO WAIT ON THE LORD-THEY WILL HAVE INWARD STRENGTH:
But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; 31A
He is not talking about physical strength here, but he is talking about moral strength.
The people in Isaiah’s day were in captivity, they needed inward strength to give them power over temptation.
According to Ephesians 6:10, God commands us to be strong Christians.
There is a song that I listen to every now and then that says this:
The God on the Mountain
Is still God in the valley
When things go wrong
He’ll make them right
The God of the Good Times
Is still God in the Bad Times
The God of the Day
Is still God in the Night
That’s the God that we serve.
ILLUSTRATION: Many of you will have seen the film "Chariots of Fire", an outstanding film about a Christian Eric Liddell, who refuses to run in the prestigious 100 metres in the 1924 Paris Olympics because it involved racing in a preheat on a Sunday, which Liddell believed to be a ungodly use of Sunday.
Liddell was probably the fastest man alive at that time and had been the favorite to win it for Britain. The Press and even the Prince of Wales tried to talk him into running but he refused.
Instead, he went to the Scottish Presbyterian church that Sunday and read the lesson from Isaiah 40. And verse 31 seem to capture the situation
However, he was given the chance to race for Britain in the 400 metres a race he had never even run before. And God honored him for his stand. Liddell ran the 400 metres at a 100 m pace. Te experts thought he was running the first 100 metres too fast and would tire later in the race. But it wasn’t to be and he won with a new world record.
As Christians God wants us to rely on him, whatever we are doing. As we look to him, he will give us the strength to continue and we are tempted to give in. There are times when we want to chuck the towel in - yet when we look to our Lord, he will RENEW our strength.
The devil will come to you with his temptation, but remember the words of I John 4:4-”greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world.”
Daniel had that inner strength from God, that is the reason he was able to No to sin.
ILLUSTRATION: Tom Malone’s story about the boy who would not smoke in the play as the script called for him to do. He lost his part at first, got it back back because of his commitment and when his father heard he was saved.
THANK GOD FOR INWARD STRENGTH
II-FOR THOSE WHO WAIT ON THE LORD-THEY WILL HAVE UPWARD STRENGTH:
they shall mount up with wings as eagles; 31B
There are many ups and downs in this life that we live. But God will give us victory over the downs if we learn to wait on him.
We are often like Lucy in an old "Peanuts" comic strip. Lucy was complaining about her lousy life. Charley Brown is trying to cheer her up. "Into each life some rain must fall," he said. That didn’t seem to help at all. Then he thought of another saying: "Just remember, life has its mountains and its valleys, its ups and downs." To which Lucy replied, "All I want is ups and ups and ups!"
And so it is with us in the Christian life. When we first become Christians we feel protected in the nest, but God soon takes us out of it, so that he can teach us to "soar on wings like eagles"
The eagle doesn’t like the mud and filth of this world, if you look for him, he will be on the highest mountain.
ILLUSTRATION: The story of the boy who shot an eagle which broke his wing and caused his to land in his barnyard among the filth. The boy kept him chained in his barn yard on the farm until he was healed. One day as the eagle heard the mating cry of an eagle above, he screamed and cried and stretched his wings upward, the boy released him. The eagle soared into the sky, and gave a screamed of victory as he returned to clouds where he once lived.
That is a picture of the life of victory that God wants to give to his people. God never want us to live to deep in this world.
John 15:19-If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
ILLUSTRATION: Zig Ziglar tells the story of boy that went with his mother to the old general store. He liked to sneak away from his mother and when no one was looking he would dip his finger into the large barrel of molasses. The storekeeper caught him doing this and decided to teach the boy a lesson. He picked up the boy by his britches and dunked him head first into the barrel of molasses and then set him out on the front porch of the store. But instead of crying the boy was out there praying, “God, give me the tongue to equal this opportunity.”
We must recognize that our upward strength is a gift from God, and, unfortunately, sometimes we don’t seek it.
Colossians 3:2-Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
III-FOR THOSE WHO WAIT ON THE LORD- THEY WILL HAVE OUTWARD STRENGTH:
they shall run, and not be weary; 31C
Gal. 6:9-And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
Notice he didn’t say sit but they that run.
ILLUSTRATION: In the 1954 Cotton Bowl game, Alabama and Rice were playing. On one play, the halfback from Rice broke free from the tacklers from Alabama and was racing down the sidelines for a touchdown. But coming from off the bench was an Alabama player named Tommy Lewis. He ran onto the field and tackled the runner. Because this was illegal he was awarded a touchdown.
Later on, Tommy Lewis was drafted to play pro football. The main reason that he couldn’t stand to lose shown in his tackle on the bench. He wanted to run, to play and not sit.
Sometimes we as Christians want to sit, not get involved in the work of the Lord. And yet there are those who are involved and running for the Lord but they get weary.
Gal. 5:7-Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?
Have you stopped running for Jesus? Well the Lord is the Cure.
Many people get tired of running for Jesus and get weary even to point of quitting. But God can get us out of retirement. (A teacher in my Church)
ILLUSTRATION: A little boy told his father, “Today I beat a snake.” The father asked, “Did you beat him with a rock or a stick?” The little boy said, “I beat him running.” We should beat the devil by not only running from his temptation, but by running for the Lord and staying close to Him.
When I was in the Air Force, I was stationed in Maine for a while. In some of our training, we had to run five miles in cold weather. As I started out, it was cold, but as I continued to run, I got warmed up. In the same way, when we run for Jesus, He will warm us up and not be weary.
ILLUSTRATION: One fellow tells about being on an airliner making its way from New York to San Francisco. One of the engines caught fire. The captain came on the speaker system, calmly reassuring his passengers that the fire would soon be out. Besides, the plane could fly as well with three engines as with four.
Unfortunately, a second engine burst into flames. Once again the captain assured the passengers that two engines were sufficient. Then a third engine was suddenly ablaze. The captain said no more. There was only silence from the front of the plane. Soon the captain appeared in the cabin with a parachute on his back. As he opened the exit door, he said calmly to the passengers, "Don’t anyone panic, I’m going for help." And out he jumped.
Also today, many are jumping out of the the Lord’s work. They become weary or discouraged because of the circumstances and bail out on God.
IV-FOR THOSE WAIT ON THE LORD- THEY WILL HAVE ONWARD STRENGTH:
and they shall walk, not faint 31D
God will give us strength for the long haul, in other words, He will give us the strength to serve Him all the days of our life.
ILLUSTRATION: A Certain story is told about the construction of the overseas highway between Miami, Florida, and Key West, Florida. In the midst of the construction, a fierce storm destroyed most of the work that had been done. The man in charge called b back to his home office described the great loss and asked what shall I do? The home office wired back just two words, GO ON.
GOD TELL US ALSO TO GO ON
God help us not be like Demas, Paul’s companion who left Paul and quit the Lord’s work in the middle of it. But help us to be life Paul and faithful until the finish line.
Years ago, I read about two runners in Cuba who were leading in the race. But just as they came down to the finish line, they both fell and passed out and lost the race. WITH GOD HELP WE CAN MAKE IT THE FINISH LINE.
ILLUSTRATION: John Claypool was pastor of the Crescent Hill Baptist Church in the late sixties. It was the time when the Claypools were going through the agony of watching their seven year old daughter, Laura, die of leukemia. Towards the last days of young Laura’s life, John Claypool preached a sermon on this text entitled, "Strength Not to Faint". That day he stood to confess to his congregation: "I want you to know," he said, "that I am not soaring like the eagle today. I’m not running like the footman. I am barely walking through this experience, just asking God to give me "strength not to faint."
God made this world in six days, and the seventh day, the Bible says He rested. He rested not because he was tired but because He was finished with His work. One of these day we will finish out work down here, and enter into our haven of rest in Heaven. But until then, we are to wait upon the Lord for His strength to do his work and His will.
CONCLUDING STORY: A grandfather was taking a nature hike with his 6 year old grandson. The child was running ahead, and came to a creek...afraid that he was going to fall in, the grandfather said CHILD, WAIT FOR ME AND I’LL GET YOUACROSS...SURPRISINGLY, THE CHILD OBEYED, AND WHEN THE GRANDFATHER GOT THERE, HE LIFTED THE CHILD UPON HIS SHOULDERS, AND WADED ACROSS THE CREEK. the grandchild said, "If I hadn’t waited on you, I would never have made it across!"
How true of us...Let us WAIT ON GOD..HE’LL GET US ACROSS ANY OBSTACLE LIFE PUTS IN OUR WAY.
(Note-several of these illustrations came form sermon central preachers)
