14Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord! Psalm 27:14 (ESV)
Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Wait for the Lord. I struggled a great deal with exactly what that means. Wait for the Lord. We don’t like to wait for anything. I get impatient when my family is suppose to get ready to leave the house, it seems as if there is always one more thing to do, one more trip to the bathroom. I’m ready to go and there I stand waiting. I know better than to go out to the car, I’ll be sitting and waiting twice as long. Waiting isn’t something I do very well. Aren’t we all conditioned by that light emitting box in our living rooms? Rarely do we ever have to wait more than an hour (or even a half) for any story to unfold. Oh, I know that lots of the programs now have story lines that continue from week to week. The networks have figured out that you’ll come back if they drag you along with a continuing story. But, that story line is always a part of a complete story for today’s episode. And just look at the popularity of DVD sets for a whole year of your favorites. Now you don’t even have to wait for that, but you can sit down and in marathon session get the whole season’s story line. How many of you have a bottle of wine sitting at home you are letting age to the appropriate age? Probably not many. In
We don’t wait for anything. We don’t wait for marriage to have sex. We don’t wait 10 min for a hamburger (We should put salt and pepper shakers in the steering wheel.) We don’t want to wait for the traffic light to change, or for our tax refund. How long can you wait? Everything in our lives is designed to minimize the wait. Losing weight isn’t just talking about getting lighter on the bathroom scale. And here in this little text, at the tail end of a rather short Psalm, King David tells us to “Wait for the Lord.” Now of all the things we have to wait for, most of all we don’t want to wait on God.
“I’ve been that route,” you say. “I waited for God and my mother died anyway. I waited for God and the promotion I wanted passed me by. I waited for God and my girl friend started dating someone else. I waited for God and the pain in my body turned into chemotherapy. Waiting for God doesn’t mean that I’ll get what I want.” And that’s true. God never promises that he’ll give us whatever we want, and waiting on him doesn’t mean we’ll get what we want just because we wait.
We’ve all been taught that God answers our prayers with three different ways: “Yes, no, and wait.” I think we’d rather have “no” then “wait.” In fact, I think when the answer is “wait,” we most often go out and find our own answer. We lie ourselves into believing that if it makes me happy it must be God’s answer to my prayers. “After all,” we lie, “what God wants most is for me is to be happy.” The god that tells you that you can have it all, without waiting, is Satan. The god that tells you that what you want right now is what’s best for you is the world. The god that gives you whatever you want right now, in spite of the consequences, is yourself. Not wanting to wait on God is really all about rejecting him. It’s about refusing to let him be in control of our life. Wanting to be our own god.
On Sunday we heard about a parable that Jesus told. In it we hear about some folks who weren’t very good at waiting. There was a man who had two sons. The younger one told him he wished he were dead. Give me the money that is mine when you die, I can’t wait for that day. The father divided his property between the sons. The younger son couldn’t wait to get out from under the thumb of his old man. Within a few days he had gathered up all that was now his and went as far away as he could go. He partied. He laughed. He loved. He spent it all, every single dime. And when it was gone, every single dime, a famine came over the land, and since he had nothing left, he was trouble. He found a menial and degrading job, where he worked just to have a little bit to eat. And even that wasn’t worth anything. No one there offered to help him in any way. When he was at his lowest point he came to his senses. He thought about his father and decided he could get back in his father’s god graces if he returned home and told him he was sorry. “Even the workers on my father’s farm are treated better than this. Maybe I can talk my father into letting me work for him. I’ll go back to him and tell him, “Dad, I’ve sinned against heaven and against you. I can’t be your son anymore, but could I work for you as a hired hand?” Again he wouldn’t have to wait or work for himself to make things better. So he set out on his way home.
Since the day the son had left the father had been looking out and waiting with eager expectation for his son to come home. Every day he would stand looking out on the road for the first glimpse of his son. So when the son was still a long way off, the father saw him and ran out to meet him. He had been waiting. He ran to meet him with open arms to welcome him home again.
“Father, I’ve sinned against heaven and against you. I’m not worthy to be a member of this family anymore…” but the father, who had been waiting, didn’t allow him to finish. He called to the hired hands and told them to do everything necessary to welcome the son back into the family. He put the best robe upon him. He forgave him for all that he had done. The days of waiting were over. His lost son had come home again.
Amazing grace how sweet the sound,
That waited for a wretch like me,
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind but now I see.
That’s looking and waiting with eager expectation. The father stood at the road, looking out, waiting to forgive.
God, the Father, has already forgiven you. You have already been restored to the family. He was waiting for you with eager expectation at the baptismal font. There he embraced you and kissed you. He put His best robe, the robe of the perfect life of Jesus. It isn’t what you should receive from God. Instead you should be turned away. That’s what happens on the cross of Jesus. Jesus is turned away. He receives the punishment for your sins and you receive the life that he lived perfectly. God’s love for you is so great that he allows Jesus to die in your place. There is no waiting for forgiveness for you. It is done even before you ask. “Most Merciful God, we confess that we are by nature sinful and unclean. We have sinned against you in thought, word and deed…” and he interrupts and says, “I forgive you because of Jesus.” He forgives even your sin of not wanting to wait. He forgives even the sin of worshipping your own desires. It is all forgiven for the sake of Jesus.
Where guilt is great and sin abounds,
There God’s great grace is poured,
And fervent prayer form saints resounds:
“I wait for you, O Lord”
“I wait for you, O Lord.” It seems impossible. We hate to wait. But we do wait on the Lord. We do it because we know he has our best interest at heart. It’s not like waiting for a hamburger at the drive through. We don’t have a relationship with the clerk. We have a relationship with God. Our relationship is based on what he has done for us. Through baptism into the life, death and resurrection of Jesus we are a part of God’s family. That is sure, not because of anything we have done but because of everything He has done. He has shown us that he is faithful. Jesus death on the cross didn’t end in his death. He defeated death by rising from the grave alive again. That’s why the psalmist can say, “be strong, and let your heart take courage.” We are connected to Jesus resurrection through faith in him. What is his is ours, his robe of perfection, his living again. Our sin is paid for and our death isn’t the end. We will live forever with the Lord.
By grace we’re saved, through faith alone;
That mercy contemplate.
Bring all your needs before his throne
As for the Lord you wait.
The God who sacrificed his only son to make us his sons and daughters sometimes asks us to wait. We have God’s promises that no matter what happens it all happens for our good. (Ro 8:28)
31but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:31 (ESV)
And that’s God’s promise, too.
Wait for the Lord. Be strong and let your heart take courage, wait for the Lord.
Amen.
The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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