Waiting on
God
but those who hope in the LORD will renew their
strength. They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow
weary, they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:31
Christian writer, Beth Palm tells how this scripture from Isaiah saved her
sanity if not her life:
(Isaiah) was the first passage I highlighted as a youth in my Bible. I found
it when I was sixteen after stumbling, collapsing actually, when my father
died. My world stopped. I foundered. I fell. I didn't know how I'd ever rise
again...I've imagined how my life would be different if I had not had access
to the Bible and teachers helping me to know about God's character when my
life shattered. I don't believe I'd be alive to tell the story now...The
world's options for coping with that kind of pain would have led me to destruction.
Instead I experienced the process of healing, and my spirit found freedom
to soar with eagles.1
A country song that says much the same thing is Boz Scaggs' Fly Like
a Bird.
In the song, he tells how his grandma comforted him in his distress as a
baby and taught him to soar above the pain of abandonment.
Now the years have passed and memories come and go
He hears that voice that rocked him gently so
Well, the rain's gonna fall and the wind may blow in the darkest night
Sometimes I cry, sometimes I fly like a bird.
A calm will descend and there's peace at the end of the darkest night
Sometimes I cry, sometimes I fly like a bird2
Isaiah says, those who wait upon God will renew their strength. They will
mount up on wings as eagles.
We will learn to soar above the pains and the sorrows as well as the burdens
of life.
Isaiah says the first thing is to regain your perspective by remembering
who God is.
“To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?” says the
Holy One. Lift your eyes and look to the heavens:
Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and
calls them each by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.
One of our greatest accomplishments in space was to send Voyager to the outer
edges of the solar system. In thirty years it has traveled about nine million
miles away from us, a pretty good distance by our reckoning, but only about
a tenth of the way to the outer edges of the solar system. Our galaxy, the
Milky Way, is one of billions in the universe. If the Milky Way was
the size of the continent of North America, our solar system would fit in
a tea-cup.
Remember the advertising slogan, "You've come a long way baby?" By
comparison with the known universe, in thirty years we are not even out the
front door.
When you remember who God is, you begin to recalibration your sense of proportion.
Think about eternity. Our issues and problems rarely last a lifetime, which
to us feels like forever.
Compared with the eternity we have in God, its a drop in the ocean.
Something else to remember, however. God takes our issues seriously, even
though they are small stuff to Him.
We may be small in the scale of things, but we are important in the eyes
of God, who holds us in the palm of His hand.
Or as Paul would say in Romans, "if God if for us, is there anything that
can be against us?"
The first step in waiting on God is to remember who God is, and who we are
in comparison.
Psalm 111:10 says, "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom".
What that means is remembering who God is and who we are in comparison is
the place to begin.
In fact that is the place to begin in waiting on God.
How do you wait on God?
What is meant is often what's called centering prayer.
This is not the prayer where we bring our laundry list of needs and concerns.
When we wait on God we leave behind our chatter. We sit before God in respect
and observe silence.
In fact, I think that is one of the best prayers of all-- just to sit quietly
in God's presence remembering and with reverence for who God is.
You would not casually just walk into the presence of kings, queens or prime
ministers.
You would wait to be invited in and then you would proceed respectfully.
In most cases you would be told, unless you are a friend and frequent visitor,
that you should remain quiet until addressed.
This is a good practice for us.
It does negate that Jesus has told us we can call God, our father, Abba,
or daddy.
We should come into God's presence happily.
But we should also learn to practice waiting prayer--just sitting in God's
presence in respect and waiting.
Here are some helpful steps in centering prayer--learning to wait on the
presence of God: 3.
1. Find a place and time free of distraction and sit comfortably in God's
presence.
2. Settle quietly for a brief time to clear your mind.
3. Repeat from memory or read a brief portion of scripture that welcome's
God's presence and consents to God's activity within you.
Psalm 111:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of
wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To you belongs
eternal praise.
Psalm 139:23-24 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts. Ps 139:24 See if there is any offensive
way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
Psalm 131:1-2 My heart is not proud, O LORD, my eyes
are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too
wonderful for me. But I have
stilled
and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child
is my soul within me.
Or some passage like it. Samuel's prayer before God is simple and eloquent:
"speak Lord, your servant is listening."
This is a time to just honor God and open yourself to God's presence.
This is not for all your petitions.
God knows them anyway, but if you are an anxious kind of person, just say,
"you know all my prayers, God. But now I just quiet myself in your presence
out of respect and admiration. Do your work in me as you see fit."
3. As distractions come--as they will-- greet them not with hostility but
with a brief moment of humor. "oh there they go again" and go back to your
centering words--Search me O God and know my heart..., or whatever you have
chosen. The simplest is "I am here and I still wait on you."
Do this for ten to fifteen minutes at the beginning of the day.
Then close it off by saying, "I give my day to you Lord. Help me to hear
your voice. Guide me as I go. Amen"
Those who wait on God will be renewed.
You will be amazed over time at how God's spirit will change your day and
change your experience of it.
Preached February 8, 2009
Dr. Harold McNabb
West Shore Presbyterian Church
Victoria, British Columbia
Notes
1. Beth Palm, a devotion for Feb. 3, 2009, Disciplines, Upper Room Publishers.
2 Boz Scaggs, "Fly Like a Bird"
3. These steps are adapted from centering prayer taught by Rev.
Thomas Keating.
Online Resources Consulted
http://www.preachingtoday.com/
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