How Do I Wait for God?

[Music] god loves to work for those who wait for him so how do we wait for god does waiting for god mean that we don't act and when do we stop waiting and start acting those are really important questions and they were addressed in pastor john's sermon on isaiah 64 verses 1 to 4 in a sermon he preached way back in 1982 here's what he said in one sense god works for everybody makes that sun rise on the just and the unjust he sends rain on the good and the evil he brings seedtime and harvest even for his rebellious creatures god does work for all his creatures and all of this is meant to lead us to repentance but in our text the work referred to is not that common grace given to all but a special grace that is given to those who have a certain disposition no eye has seen a god besides thee who works for those who wait who wait for him the work mentioned here clearly is not just the work of creation and preservation it's not just the meeting of a few natural needs that he does for everybody rather it's the investment of all god's infinite sovereign power to do everything his people need to have done for their good and for whom does he do it he does it for those who wait for him so the biggest question for us right now is what's that how do you do that and i want to try to show you from isaiah how you wait for the lord the people to whom isaiah is talking are in trouble they're in danger from enemies syrians once then babylonians now the danger that god sees is not so much the assyrians and the babylonians but the temptation to run to egypt for help instead of to god instead of waiting for god's help he sees the temptation looming large that they're going to go after human help and so he says in isaiah 31 1 woe to those who go down to egypt for help and rely on horses who trust in chariots because they are many or in horsemen because they are very strong but do not look to the holy one of israel or consult the lord so the first thing that waiting on god means is before you make one peep of an effort to solve your own problem or hire a human agency pray seek the counsel of god what is his way to solve this problem and bring you out of trouble it says in psalm 106 13 they soon forgot his works they did not wait for his counsel the first act of waiting therefore is prayer before we make one little move to solve our problem and i know if you're like me you've come through many efforts and an hour into it you say you know i forgot to pray and we need to work to form the habit of stopping again and again and again that's what paul means i think when he says pray without ceasing before you do anything and every little occasion of your life every interview every encounter whisper a prayer how would it go if i relied on you what do you want me to do and then do what the lord says we are like patience prayer is like getting on the phone and calling up your doctor and saying i'm in trouble there's this pain what should i do about it before you gulp down any medicine or start doing jumping jacks call the doctor now the doctor might tell you lie down don't do anything or he might tell you take the pill do your exercises now those two instructions from the lord involve us in two different forms of waiting we don't stop waiting once we've called we wait there is a waiting of two different sorts let's look at them just one at a time here the first one is if the doctor says lie down isaiah 30 15 goes like this god says to the people in returning and rest you shall be saved in quietness and entrust shall be your strength but you would not you said no we will speed upon horses and therefore you shall speed away and you said we will ride upon swift's deeds and therefore your pursuers shall be swift in other words god was saying on the phone just sit down and i'm going to work for you take it easy and rest and i'll be your strength but they wouldn't do it they wanted to maneuver their own victory for their own glory on horses and chariots sometimes we have to be willing on the phone to accept the frustrating news be still we need to hear what moses said to the people as they were about to cross the red sea fear not stand firm and behold the salvation of the lord which he will work for you today the lord will fight for you you have only to be still so the second thing that waiting for the lord means is after you've prayed to the doctor and he says be still be still and rest but there's a third way to wait for the lord and that is he might say get up do your exercises and take your pill or to bring it back into the old testament context he might say go into battle and fight uh in my family we've been reading second samuel for devotions in the morning and uh just a few days ago we read second samuel 5 19. now the situation is that david has just taken over after saul's death and the philistines are besieging and here's what he does david inquired of the lord he waited shall i go up against the philistines wilt thou give them into my hand wait answer the lord said to david go up for i shall surely give them into your hands so the word to david was not lie still the word to david was fight he didn't take matters into his own hands he waited but now here is here's the essence now get this carefully because we're so prone to think that waiting means stillness but as soon as we start acting preparing a sermon a lesson going to work preparing a report staying up late work work work we don't have to wait anymore that's not the case because and this changes all of life there is a spirit of waiting in the midst of work proverbs 21 31 says this the horse is made ready for the day of battle but the victory belongs to the lord you see the implication of that for the warrior it means that when the lord says go he doesn't stop waiting he carries with him into battle a spirit of expectancy a sense that yes i will fight with all my might but i must wait on the one in whose hands alone is the victory so that no matter how hard you work there's a spirit of waiting a spirit of expectancy a spirit that out of and through all this activity is going to come lightning from heaven to do supernatural work here's the way the psalmist put it in psalm 33 16 a king is not saved by his great army a warrior is not delivered by his great strength the war horse is a vain hope for victory and by its great might it cannot save our soul waits for the lord he is our help and our shield yay our heart is glad in him because we trust in his holy name let thy steadfast love o lord be upon us even as we hope in thee if the lord instructs us to take certain precautions like locking the door at night don't think that you can stop waiting on the lord for the psalm says psalm 127 1 unless the lord watches over the city those who stay awake stay awake in vain even when we are watchmen doing our duty we must be waiting for the lord for he alone brings safety so the third form of waiting is even when the lord says act we act with a spirit of reliance on his work and we wait for the lord in a spirit of expectancy that even though our labor is vulnerable and paltry the final result of all we do lies in the hands of the lord and on that we wait in all our work so in conclusion those three things let me sum them up again when circumstances conspire to put you under pressure so that you feel something's got to be done something's got to be done for safety or something's got to be done for service wait for the lord that is pray before you do anything else seek the lord seek his counsel what would he have you do if anything second if the lord says sit down and put your feet up if the lord says don't go to church tonight to be at the council meeting stay home and pray i will work better than your arguments stay home and if the lord says go and argue with all your might don't become self-reliant but go and let me stress in regard to that second point that i don't mean laziness or the shirking of duty i mean the very frustrating experience that sometimes when you're most prepared when you think most relies on you and your zeal is fired the lord may say to you you just stay home tonight and watch me work and you're so frustrated because you had it all planned but he wants to work for you so that he gets the glory and not us so whether we lie still and sit or whether we work let us have this in common that we wait for the lord that we have a spirit of expectancy that no matter how paltry our labors are the final issue is in the hands of the lord and he loves to work for those who wait for him so good that clip was taken from john piper's sermon on september 5th 1982 god works for those who wait for him you can find the whole message at desiringgod.org and if you have a favorite sermon clip of pastor john in a recent or an old message send it to me email me tell me what sermon and mention the time stamps in the audio of when the clip begins and ends and then email it to me at askpasturejohn desiringgod.org that's askpastorjohn desiringgod.org and put the uh put the word clip in the subject line if you wouldn't mind i'm always interested to hear your favorite clips i'd love to listen to what blesses you and maybe we can share it here on the podcast i'm tony rankin pastor john is back with us in studio on friday to talk about whether or not you can be a good christian hedonist if you battle seasons of depression it's an important conversation coming up on friday we'll see you then

Channel: Desiring God

Views: 115,824

Keywords: Desiring God, John Piper, God, Jesus Christ, Christianity, APJ, Ask Pastor John, Isaiah 64:1-4, Wait, Patience, Reliance, Hope, Future

Id: awBrQsdIZ6w

Length: 13min 30sec (810 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 29 2020