My name is Jeremy.
If you haven't met me before, I am one of the staff leaders here at Watermark.
And even as I was preparing and thinking about this message this morning,
I'm just reminded of Isaiah's words.
Gosh, I'm a man of unclean lips.
And I don't stand here with any sort of, as Oscar was saying,
righteousness that I've somehow earned myself.
God has been preaching to me.
His spirit has been convicting me throughout this week and all the time.
And so this morning, I really want to begin with the tone that the Lord is speaking to all of us as a church.
And although I get the, I guess, this place of speaking to you,
in every single way, I am also speaking to myself.
So as a community, as a church, let's kind of grow together.
So let me just pray for me.
And please pray for me at this time and pray for us as a church.
Heavenly Father, thank you for your word.
Thank you for the psalms that you have so graciously given us to teach us,
to encourage us, to challenge us.
And I pray for my heart right now and the hearts of every single one of us here, Lord,
that we would be receptive,
that our eyes and our hearts would not wander to the distractions so many they may be in the world and our lives,
but we would just look you, look at you, look you in the eye,
set our hearts on you right now,
and be open to what you want to teach us, Lord.
And I pray that for myself, Lord.
Would you even now continue to speak and challenge me, God?
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
So the topic we're looking at today is waiting.
Waiting.
And it's something you do every day.
Some of you here already are waiting for lunchtime.
And your stomachs are telling you.
So I admonish you right now, ignore those voices,
and just for the next 30 minutes or so,
focus on the bread of life, on Jesus.
But waiting is something we do every day.
And some things we wait for, you know, they're a little more trivial.
You know, we wait for the MTR or bus like all of you did coming this morning.
We wait in line at the supermarket.
You know, we wait seemingly endlessly for that person to pick up at customer service.
Hours and hours, it seems like.
And we wait for, I guess, getting to rides in Disneyland, right?
And experts estimate, from what I've seen over the last research,
over the last week or so,
experts estimate that people can spend up to two years in their lifetime
just waiting in line for different things.
It's pretty crazy, right?
Up to two years.
And in our culture today of Internet and social media and instant gratification,
you know, many experts think we're actually becoming more impatient
because we're expecting everything to come in the blink of an eye.
And you want to go on a date?
Tinder.
You want to buy something?
Get same-day delivery online.
Don't want to wait for that ride at Disneyland?
Fast pass.
And I'm not necessarily endorsing any of these things,
but I'm just saying that's what you see in society today.
And a few years ago, one researcher looked at 6.7 million people
and their kind of online viewing habits.
And he found that some people started abandoning their videos
after two seconds of loading because it wasn't fast enough.
And then by the 10-second mark, half of these people ditched their video.
And this was already a few years ago.
Today, I don't even know how fast the Internet speeds are.
But I think that's just a small kind of commentary
on this instant gratification culture that we live in.
And these things can be trivial, but they remind us
that we, collectively, as a developed society,
you know, we are very much expecting convenience.
It's the norm.
But some things we wait for are far from trivial, right?
And that wait can be agonizing.
Students, you are waiting for your exam results.
You wait for that acceptance or rejection letter from a school.
You wait in the hospital waiting room.
You wait for results from a medical test, from a checkup.
You wait for a company to call back after that interview
that you think went great or bombed completely.
And we also might face a lot of adversity in waiting.
At some point in your lifetime,
you will be waiting for some kind of difficulty to pass you by.
You wait for relief from sickness.
You wait for that demoralizing work environment to just change.
You wait for a spouse or a loved one to change from their hurtful ways.
We wait for things to get better.
We wait.
We're going through a series on Psalms
and this idea of God's call for us,
for his people, for all people,
to worship him at all times, in all seasons.
And the Psalms give us a great insight
into how we can genuinely pour out our emotions to God,
how we can be real and honest before him.
Over the last three weeks,
you may have heard how the Psalms call us
to preach to ourselves daily.
And most importantly,
the Psalms tell us,
teach us how in every season,
in every emotion,
we can be worshiping God.
So today we turn to Psalm 62,
a psalm about waiting.
And it's not a long psalm,
so we're just going to kind of look at it
through a few key themes.
Please kind of go,
have your bulletin there,
taking a look at the scripture.
And I'll just highlight
some of the relevant verses for us.
And just to give you an outline
for how you can follow with me,
I'm just going to go through
like three major points.
Firstly, I'm going to talk about
our goals of waiting.
Our goals of waiting.
And secondly,
our process of waiting.
And thirdly,
our model of waiting.
So our goals,
our process,
and our model.
So let's frame that first point
as a question.
The question is,
what are you waiting for in life?
What are you waiting for?
Now everyone has things
that they hope to achieve,
and inevitably,
we spend time waiting for them.
I've already listed a few things
at the beginning
of things we wait for,
and Psalm 62 is no different.
It gives us a snapshot
of the goals that people
may have in the process of waiting.
And so in 62,
it seems like the psalmist
is facing adversity.
He's facing challenge from others.
He's waiting for relief.
He's waiting for deliverance.
Verse 3,
how long will all of you
attack a man
to batter him
like a leaning wall,
a tottering fence?
The imagery there
is like a structure
that's been battered,
and it's been rendered unstable,
a tottering fence,
if you can imagine,
that's what the psalmist feels like.
Verse 4,
they only plan to thrust him down
from his high position.
They take pleasure in falsehood.
They bless with their mouths,
but inwardly they curse.
Now, I don't know if any of you
have faced the adversity
that the author of Psalm 62
seems to be experiencing,
but I think we've all,
I'm sure we've all experienced
some kind of attack
or deceit
or hypocrisy
in some shape or form, right?
And in these times
of difficulty,
of challenge,
we want,
we wait for things
to get better.
And then in verses 9 and 10,
they give us
this good perspective
on what people
put their hope in.
Those of low estate
are but a breath.
Those of high estate
are a delusion.
in the balances
they go up,
they are together
lighter than a breath.
That's basically
addressing this issue
of social status.
And the psalmist realizes
that these things
have no weight.
Like if they're in a balance,
they just go up
like a breath.
No matter if you have
a high or low social status,
there is no eternal significance
in those things.
verse 10,
put no trust
in extortion.
Set no vain hopes
on robbery.
If riches increase,
set not your heart
on them.
You know,
many people
wait,
they wait all
their life
to get rich.
They might even
resort to violence,
to robbery,
to extortion.
But the psalmist
sees that wealth
and prosperity,
they're not worth
setting our hearts on.
They too,
like social status,
have no eternal significance.
so the psalmist paints
this picture for us.
He says this,
like basically in life
when you're facing
adversity,
the world tells us
that status
enriches
our solutions
to your problems.
you know,
we work hard
and then we wait
for that hard work
to pay off.
We're waiting all
day
for that day
where we reach
that goal
that we think
will give us
success
and satisfaction.
People spend
their entire lives
waiting for that day
that they'll finally
be happy
and they become
so enamored
and obsessed
with these goals
that they're even
willing to trample
on others,
to batter others,
to step over others.
And when you reach
that goal,
you realize
it's not quite
as satisfying
as I thought.
And then there's
the next goal
and the next goal.
And the psalmist
is basically saying
to us,
those goals
are empty
and you can just
read the news,
look at
your celebrity magazines,
your gossip
and OK Magazine,
whatever,
from the broadsheets
to the tabloids,
countless examples
of people
who are rich
and famous,
who crash
and burn,
who fall into
overdose
and addiction
and suicide
because they have
reached the top
but it was empty.
There's a pithy quote
from Jack Higgins
that I really
found compelling.
Jack Higgins
is a British writer.
His novels
have sold
over 150 million
copies worldwide,
translated into
55 languages
and as he was
reflecting on his success,
someone asked him,
what would you have
liked to know
as a boy
from when you
were a boy?
And this was his answer
that when you get
to the top,
there's nothing there.
There's nothing there.
But the psalmist
in 62
paints a very
different picture
of what we should
be waiting for.
For God
alone,
my soul
waits in silence.
God himself
is what the psalmist
is waiting for.
Through the psalm,
we see that God
is described
as a rock,
a fortress,
a refuge.
God is the source
of salvation
and glory.
Verses 11 and 12,
we see that power,
power and steadfast love
belong to God.
You know,
the things that we
chase after,
love and power,
are,
they actually
belong to God.
So this morning,
whether you're
Christian
or not,
no matter what
your worldview
or your faith,
Psalm 62
is drawing
this stark
contrast
between waiting
for God
and waiting
for everything
else.
God is the
source
of everything
good
while everything
else
passes
like a breath,
like vapor.
So the first
thing for us
to start
thinking about
as we dwell
on Psalm 62
is the question,
what are you
waiting for
in life?
What are your
real goals
if you're honest
about yourself?
The second
question,
the second
point is this,
how are you
waiting?
And this
speaks to
the process
that I was
talking about.
The second
point is the
process
of our
waiting.
So you
can be
waiting for
something
that's a
good thing.
You know,
maybe you're
waiting for
that job
offer.
You're
waiting to
be in
love.
Or you're
waiting for
that loved
one to
come around,
to get
better,
to recover
from illness
perhaps.
Maybe some
of you are
even waiting
for Christ
to return.
Now,
all those
things are
good things
and there's
nothing inherently
bad about
those things.
But if our
focus is solely
on those
specific things,
what happens
is that we
get stressed,
we get
impatient,
we lose
sight of the
process,
we lose
sight of
how we're
waiting,
and our
waiting starts
to become
agonizing
and frustrating.
the New
York Times
reported that
some years
ago,
executives at
a Houston
airport faced
a troubling
customer relations
issue.
The passengers
were lodging
just countless
complaints about
the long waits
at baggage.
Anyone ever
experience that?
Everybody,
right?
in response,
the executives
increased the
number of
baggage handlers,
right?
Very,
very sort of
prudent thing
to do.
And the
plan worked.
The average
wait time fell
to eight
minutes.
And this was
well within
industry benchmarks.
If any of you
guys work within
the aviation
industry,
you'd be like,
yeah,
that's really
good.
But the
complaints
persisted,
okay?
And the
executives were
puzzled.
Okay,
what's going
on?
Why are
these complaints
continuing?
So they went
and took a
more careful
on-site analysis
and they found
that it took
passengers one
minute to walk
from the gate
to the baggage
claim.
And then seven
more minutes
to actually get
their bags.
So in other
words,
roughly 90%
of their time
was spent
standing around
and waiting
for their
bags.
So the
airport decided
on a new
approach.
Instead of
reducing wait
times,
it moved
the arrival
gates away
from the
main terminal
and routed
the bags
to the
outermost
carousel.
So the
passengers now
had to walk
six times
longer to
get their
bags.
And guess
what happened?
No more
complaints.
It dropped
to nearly
zero.
So if you
studied
organizational
behavior at
all,
there's
actually a
lot of
examples
like this.
You know,
the notice
in lifts,
you have
lots of
mirrors
around you.
It's a
way for
you to
kind of
look at
yourself
and be
kind of
occupied
or look
at other
people if
you're
creepy like
that.
You know,
all the
candy and
magazines
you see
at the
checkout
aisle
when you're
waiting for
supermarkets?
That's
organizational
behavior there
because you
get annoyed
when you're
waiting.
You're
looking around
to the
people next
to you
and you're
like,
wow,
that's
faster than
me.
That
checkout's
faster.
But if
you're
looking at
the juicy
celebrity
gossip or
thinking about
which candy
to buy,
it's another
way for you
to be
waiting well
in the
perspective of
the supermarket
owners.
waiting,
it's another
thing.
It's another
thing that
is going to
be able to
have to
get to
the
money.
But hear me out
here.
I'm not saying
that what we
should do is
just distract
ourselves with
these trivial
things.
But what these
examples tell us
and tell you
from the
experts,
from people who
make a living
out of
waiting and
processing lines,
is that the
actual process of
waiting is
just as
important,
if not more
important,
than the
actual time
you spend
waiting.
So your
perspective on
your waiting is
critical from
every perspective
of these
experts.
I was thinking
about this for
myself.
I'm studying to
get my seminary
degree right now
and people often
ask me,
some of you have
done this
yourselves,
they ask me
when I'll
finish.
And because
I'm doing a
part-time,
it's going to
take a
while,
kind of just
chipping away
at this
statue.
It's going to
take quite a
few years and
if I'm honest,
sometimes I
think,
man,
this is going
to take
forever.
And there's
this creeping
kind of feeling
that,
oh,
I just wish
it was over
now.
I just want
to get it
over and
done with.
But the
issue is if
I'm focusing
on that
specific end
of getting
that degree,
I might
get discouraged.
But in
this process,
God's been
reminding me
little by
little that
every little
class I
take,
every chapter,
every book,
every paper,
that in and
of itself is
part of the
process.
And there's
inherent value
in every little
step on the
journey.
But if I'm
only fixated on
the prospect of
getting that
degree,
inevitably I'm
going to get
frustrated.
I'll miss
out on really
enjoying and
growing in
the moment.
You see,
the Christian
has a very
unique process
of waiting.
The psalmist
declares,
for God
alone,
my soul
waits in
silence.
The psalmist
not only
recognizes that
God is the
only one
waiting for.
He also
recognizes that
we should
wait for
God in
silence.
Now, I
don't know if
you really
picked up on
that, but
when I first
read it, I
was like,
what does
that mean?
Why is it
in silence?
And the
Hebrew word
for silence
carries this
idea of
stillness,
of rest.
It carries
this idea of
a quiet
confidence.
So when we
wait for
God, we're
not doing it
with some
kind of
wishful,
hopeful
thinking.
We wait
with confidence
because, like
the psalmist
says, power
and steadfast
love belong
to God.
The God we
wait for is
powerful and
faithful, and
when we wait
for God, we're
waiting with
trust in
his character.
Now, you
might be
thinking to
yourself, well,
Jeremy, it's
easy to wait
when you're
doing something,
you know, like
building towards
a degree.
You're taking
these classes.
It's very
active.
You're doing.
It's hands-on.
You're thinking.
You're looking
at yourself in
the mirror.
It's very
active.
You love
looking at
yourself.
These are
very active
things that
engage us, but
what about the
hard things in
life?
The things
that don't
seem like
there's anything
active I can
be doing?
What about
things that
I have no
control over?
What about
those really
big things
that keep me
anxious at
night?
It's not
something like
waiting in a
checkout line.
That's so
trivial.
What about
relief from
the suffering
and anxiety
that we
experience?
I'm not here
today to just
give you some
kind of formula.
about waiting
through hard
times.
But Psalm
62, it gives
us some really
good indicators
about how we
should be
waiting.
You know,
when we face
adversity, it
can seem a lot
of times that
we're just
waiting around.
There's nothing
we can do
about it.
We're just
waiting
passively.
But the
psalmist shows
here that he
is waiting in
a very active
sense.
If you
recall in
previous messages
in this series,
we've talked
about how
psalms are a
lot about
preaching to
yourself.
See that very
clearly here.
So verse
one, for God
alone my soul
waits in
silence.
And then
it's repeated
in verse
five.
But notice
it's a little
different.
It says,
for God
alone,
oh my
soul,
wait in
silence,
for my
hope is
from him,
from the
Lord.
You see
how it
switches?
And you're
directly
addressing
your own
soul.
You're
telling your
soul,
heart,
mind,
wait in
silence,
in confidence,
for the
Lord.
So when
you're
waiting for
God,
you're
actively
preaching
to
yourself.
And that's
very,
very important
when we're
going through
the psalms.
You're
reminding
yourself.
When you're
doing
communion,
you're not
just putting
a cracker
and juice
into your
mouth.
You are
reminding
yourself
and preaching
to yourself
of what
God has
done.
Notice
all these
action words
in the
psalm.
Verse
8,
trust,
trust in
him at
all times.
Pour
out your
heart to
him.
You know,
there's
nothing
passive
about this
kind of
waiting.
God is
telling you
to be
brutally
honest with
him because
you don't
need to
sugarcoat
your
feelings.
You don't
need to
sugarcoat
your
frustrations
with some
kind of
Christian
bubble wrap
because God
already knows
everything
good and
bad that's
swirling around
in the depths
of your
heart.
For
Christians,
the process
of waiting
can be
an active
opportunity
to rely
on God
and ask
him,
God,
what are you
teaching me
through this?
What can I
learn from
you?
how can I
grow through
this season
of waiting?
So next
time you're
waiting in
that lift
for seemingly
endless,
endless time
and you're
looking in
that mirror,
instead of
being fixated
on yourself,
just think
about how
you're made
in the image
of God.
Think about
the God
who fashioned
you,
who created
you,
who loves
you.
that you're
precious to
him.
I also
want you to
notice that
in this
section,
not only
is the
psalmist
preaching to
himself,
he's calling
out to the
people around
him,
guys,
listen,
people,
trust in
God.
And I
can't stress
this enough
because it's
not just
that you're
preaching to
yourself.
The reason
why God
gave us
a church,
a community,
is for the
very precise
reason that
we were
never designed
to live
and grow
as individuals
isolated.
That's why
we're called
Watermark
Community
Church.
That's why
you go to
your community
groups and
you meet
and you check
up on each
other and
you remind
each other
because the
psalmist is
telling you
that it's not
enough to
just preach
to yourself
because we
are forgetful.
people.
And as we
see God
working in
each other's
lives,
as we
hear of
God's
faithfulness,
as you
tell each
other in
your community
groups how
good God
is that you
should trust
in him,
I can't tell
you how many
times I've
just been
reminded and
encouraged and
challenged by
the people I
see in my
life, by my
community group
hearing about
God at
work.
So this
process of
waiting is
meant to be
done in
community, not
in isolation.
So we have
to think about
our goal in
waiting.
We have to
think about
what we're
waiting for in
life.
We also
think about
how we
wait.
We think
about the
process of
waiting.
But I
don't want
us to hear
these things
and just
think, okay,
I just need
to do a
better job
focusing on
God, and
I just need
to do a
better job
waiting.
I just need
to have
better waiting
techniques.
I don't want
you guys to
think of that
because ultimately
the beauty of
the gospel is
that God has
also given
us a model
for waiting,
a model of
waiting that
provides us
with everything
we need to
wait throughout
our lives.
So that's
our third
point, a
model of
waiting.
You see,
you know,
when you're
waiting, you're
always modeling
your hope after
someone or
something.
Maybe you
see someone in
your life or
you read about
somebody, you
see someone who
has something
you want, and
you see how
they've waited
for it, and
they finally get
it.
Maybe it's
that story
that a lot
of us have
read, you
know, that
story of
that hot
single person
was waiting
for that
special someone.
But first
he learned to
find contentment
and singleness,
and then God
provided, and
he got married.
You know, those
are great
testimonies, and
I'm not knocking
that at all.
I've seen that
happen, and
it's amazing.
God doesn't
promise that we'll
get exactly what
we want just
because we wait
long enough or
pray long enough.
The story, the
testimony could
just go, just as
well go like this.
The single person
learned contentment.
He continued to
grow in contentment
for the rest of
his life.
He trusted that
God knows what's
best for him, and
that testimony would
be just as
wonderful just as
God glorifying.
So my point is,
when we're
modeling our
waiting, we have
to remember that
waiting is not a
way to manipulate
God.
It's not a way to
earn what we
want.
It's not a way to
earn what we think
we want.
we deserve.
That's not what the
psalmist means when
he says that God
will render to a
man according to
his work.
Psalm 62 and
the whole Bible,
it's about
salvation.
It's the reality
that we as human
beings need to be
saved.
We need to be
saved because we
have rejected the
only thing that
matters.
God.
We've turned away
from having eternal
life in a loving
relationship with
him, the one who
created us.
So when I read
Psalm 62, that God
is my salvation, I'm
declaring that my
salvation rests on
God.
That's what the
psalmist is saying.
It rests on God, not
anything that I've
done, not any
technique that I've
applied in my
waiting.
Everything is
resting on God and
because of that,
because I'm relying on
God, God will give me
according to the work
of relying on him.
Psalm 62 shows us
that there is a real
model of waiting.
It's no one that you've
seen in your life.
It's nothing that you've
seen in the world.
The model for waiting
is God's faithfulness.
It's his character.
It's what he did
throughout the entire
Old Testament, from
Genesis to Revelation.
Saving people, Exodus,
bringing the people out
of captivity.
And as a Christian
today, looking at the
psalm, we have an even
clearer model.
And that model is
Jesus Christ.
In Jesus Christ, God
became a human being.
He experienced
everything we
experience today.
He waited in every
way that you wait
today.
But instead of
sinning, instead of
falling short,
instead of becoming
unrighteous, Jesus
lived a perfect life.
He should never
have died.
But he chose to
die in our place.
And he was
resurrected with
the new
heavenly body.
So guys,
today, if
your faith
is in
what Jesus Christ
did for you,
you're in
relationship with
God.
You're waiting for
eternal life.
And in that
eternal life, God
will render to
you
according to
your work
today.
When we
model our
waiting after
Christ, we
have this amazing
assurance that is
just incomparable.
No matter what
you're waiting for
right now, no
matter how long
you've waited for
it, you can be
absolutely certain
that God is your
heavenly Father,
that He loves you.
unconditionally, He
knows what's best
for you.
He's promised you
eternal life when
everything will be
made right.
There's a lot of
good things to be
waiting for in life,
and I'm not telling
you now to just
kind of give up
waiting for them.
but Jesus gives
us this ultimate
model for waiting
in His life,
death, and
resurrection, that
we are actually
waiting for
eternal life,
heavenly bodies
in a new
creation with
no sickness,
sorrow, or
pain.
All of your
waiting today,
small or big,
it all ties back
into this grand
story of waiting
waiting for
the ultimate
redemption,
ultimate
restoration.
And we have to
see this big
picture to
understand how
every step of
waiting is part
of a greater
waiting that
Jesus points us
to.
But the amazing
thing is unlike
anything else you
wait for in life,
anything in this
world that you
might wait for,
the amazing thing
is you don't ever
have to wonder if
this kind of
waiting, a
waiting that's
modeled after
Jesus, you
don't have to
worry that it
won't pay off
or it won't
result in
anything.
You know for
sure that God
will give
eternal life
because he
showed us
factually,
historically,
in Jesus
dying on the
cross.
This isn't
something that
we just conjured
up to create a
hopeful thing.
This is historical.
This is truth
that Jesus died
and resurrected.
He is our
model for
waiting.
Jesus is our
rock.
Jesus is our
salvation, our
refuge, our
glory.
So if you're
following Christ
today, when you
think about your
goals of waiting,
when you contemplate
the process and
how you are
waiting, you can
be sure that you're
not just waiting for
God in some
abstract sense.
happiness, it's
not the power of
positive thinking.
You're not putting
your hope in some
general made-up idea
of God's goodness.
You are putting
your hope on
Jesus.
It's based on the
truth of the
gospel.
If you're not a
Christian today, the
question that Psalm
62 continues to
pose to you is
this, what are you
waiting for in
life?
Is it something of
this world that
will pass like
vapor, that will
disappear inevitably
on your deathbed?
Or is it something
everlasting that can
only come from the
God who created you,
who loves you,
who wants to spend
eternity with you?
I want to close
with just a little
bit more research
on waiting that I
came across.
There are two
recent studies from
some top-tier
universities that I
came across.
We're talking about
big names.
University of
Chicago, Cornell,
UC Berkeley.
And one study
found that, this
is the main
conclusion that it
found, it found
that waiting
actually makes us
more patient
because we
place a higher
value on what
we're waiting for.
Okay?
And the other
found that waiting
can actually make
us happy because
if we're waiting,
especially if we're
waiting for an
experience, the
data actually
showed that the
waiting for that
experience made
people happy.
And as I was
kind of thinking
about these
studies, it
hit me, it's
great that these
top-tier schools
and institutions
and top minds
are thinking
about this issue
and they're
researching these
topics in the
21st century.
But with a lot
of things, God's
word addressed
that about 2,000
years ago.
In the book of
Romans, God tells
us that the
sufferings of the
present are not
worth comparing
to future glory.
We read in
Romans 8 that
all of creation,
it's groaning
and waiting
eagerly for
freedom.
We're waiting
for our bodies
to be made
new.
And then God
tells us something
interesting.
He says,
hope that is
seen is not
hope.
For who hopes
in what he
sees?
But if we
hope for what
we do not
see, we
wait for it
with patience.
If we hope
for what we
do not see,
we wait for it
with patience.
That sounds
like some of
these conclusions
that people are
finally coming to
today.
Because we
don't know
exactly what
eternity will
look like.
We don't know
exactly what
eternal life
will look like,
but God
promises us
that it
will be
amazing.
So God,
along with
these top
tier universities,
they're telling
us that we
can find joy
even in
waiting.
Even in
waiting because
the most
amazing
eternal
experience is
ours to have
through Jesus.
All the
waiting,
all the
wondering,
all the
suffering in
this
lifetime,
the Lord
says,
it is worth
it.
The
psalmist
calls us
to wait,
to hold
fast to
the Lord's
word,
and follow
Christ to
the end.
I'm going to
invite the
band to come
back up right
now.
But before
jumping right
into just
singing again,
I think
there's
something in
what the
psalmist is
telling us,
to wait in
silence.
And I
don't know
if you do
that often.
But to
wait in
silence in
that
confident
rest.
Let's take
a minute to
do that right
now because
every single
one of us
here is
waiting for
something.
And I
can't speak
to exactly
what it
is.
Some of
you in
here may
be waiting
for very
good things,
but they're
not just
good things,
they've
become your
ultimate
things.
And that
waiting is
causing you
anxiety and
frustration.
Because even
though they're
good things,
things that
you will enjoy,
that God may
even desire
for you,
you have
made them
your ultimate.
and you're
no longer
waiting for
eternal life
in God's
presence,
you're just
waiting on
God to
give you
stuff.
Some of
you may be
waiting for
God intently
and God
tells you to
wait in
silence because
He will
return,
He will
provide,
He will
assure you,
you never
know when
He will
return.
And He
says wait
patiently,
wait
expectantly,
wait with
hope and
trust.
Some of
you may
have no
idea what
you're waiting
for this
morning.
So take
this time to
just reflect,
what is it
really that
you're waiting
for, if
you're honest?
Is it just
that promotion?
Is it just
that special
someone?
Is it a
child?
Is it
having kids?
Is it
that next
vacation?
And where
does that
fall within
God's call
to wait for
Him and
wait for
eternity?
So just
take this
time to
reflect and
close your
eyes if you
want,
meditate,
and Julie
and the band
will lead us
when we're
ready to go.