What do you mean You want me to WAIT???

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God takes the time to do everything right! 

EVERYTHING!

So what about your dream?

You know that one thing you have secretly held in your heart, that thing that no one but you and God knows about that seems like it will never happen: What about THAT? 

Doesn't God give us the desires of our hearts? Yep, but it takes patience, because believe it or not, (and I hope you do) God’s timing is perfect. 

So let’s talk about waiting. 

O no! What a dirty word! Waiting. Oops, did it again! 

That word has caused more melt-downs than any I can think of. We hate to wait. Christian or not, people are impatient; especially Americans. Somehow we have the false notion that first, the customer is always right, and second that we should have what we want 2 seconds after we ask for it. We have been conditioned to being waited on and we need to learn to wait. But, this is not going to be about the practical applications of patience, though we all need to learn that lesson, myself included (believe me), but this will be a closer look at learning to trust God’s timing and what real “waiting” is.

Isaiah 30:18. (The Message) But God's not finished. He's waiting around to be gracious to you. He's gathering strength to show mercy to you. God takes the time to do everything right-everything. Those who wait around for him are the lucky ones. Oh yes, people of Zion, citizens of Jerusalem, your time of tears is over. Cry for help and you'll find its grace and more grace. The moment he hears, he'll answer. Just as the Master kept you alive during the hard times, he'll keep your teacher alive and present among you. Your teacher will be right there, local and on the job, urging you on whenever you wander left or right: "This is the right road. Walk down this road." You'll scrap your expensive and fashionable god-images. You'll throw them in the trash as so much garbage, saying, "Good riddance!" God will provide rain for the seeds you sow. The grain that grows will be abundant. Your cattle will range far and wide. Oblivious to war and earthquake, the oxen and donkeys you use for hauling and plowing will be fed well near running brooks that flow freely from mountains and hills.

Did you think I was making this waiting thing up? Nope, I wouldn’t do that to you. But this week we will break this passage down bit by bit and when it is all said and done; we can "geek out" together over the great things we have learned and the exciting things God has for us that are still to come.


Today we will look at this: God is not finished with you and I. 

The finished work is the Cross. He sent Jesus to die for our sin so first we could be redeemed (bought, purchased back from death) and second so we could become the sons and daughters of God. But you and I are His workmanship, like fine art pieces that take time to sculpt cure, and fire before they are priceless works.(Ps 139:14, Ephesians 2:10) Keep in mind, He is our potter, we are the clay. (Isaiah 64:8)

Sculpting a Work of Art

I know a little about sculpting because I loved to sculpt in college. This involves pounding the clay out, beating it on the table, shaping it with hands and other hard tools, sometimes even cutting away large chunks of clay all together. OUCH. 

And that is just the first part of sculpting: there is curing, which involves being left up on the shelf for a long period of time slowly drying out. Then there is glazing, which means you get dunked in muck, slathered in slime and left to dry again. And the most difficult part is the firing. Temperatures get so hot and pressure so high in the firing that only the strongest and well-formed pieces come out without cracks. 

Sound like something you are ready to sign up for? 

With a Master craftsman working on us, the outcome will be worth it! What if I told you that in this final state, after all the work was done, you would bring glory to your Creator? Interested now? The process is the hard, but necessary part, and we often become impatient to get to the end without the willingness to go through the “creative process”. That is why the passage says the ones who do wait on Him are the lucky ones.


So does that mean we just sit around waiting for some burning bush moment before we get to begin to live our dream, before we get to be that masterpiece? Nope. Let’s look at what wait means in the original Hebrew. Wait means to wait (duh), to tarry, (hang around) to long for (those heart’s desires) and it comes from a root word that means to carve out, to engrave (To achieve our dreams there has to be some preparation right?) So while we wait there is work to be done!

But Wait! There's More!

They that wait upon the lord shall renew their strength… (Is 40:31) But it doesn’t stop right there. They shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.


There are things to do in the waiting, running the race God set before us and walking out our faith daily. You don’t prepare for a half marathon by simply reading about it, dreaming about it and talking about it. You practice running, you feed your body what it needs, and you don’t slack off just because it isn’t a full marathon or a cross-country event in the Olympics - you know- those things you “dreamed” about doing all your life.

In Pursuit of More

I want to close with this. Years ago, a man who spoke a tremendous amount into my life through Bible School, and later when I was a praise and worship leader at his church, told me something I will NEVER forget. 

“Pursue the desire of your heart in the name of Jesus, giving glory to God in both the big and the small things, and you will be in the will and call of God for your life”- Pastor Jimmy Kirby.

Pursue is defined as this: to follow in order to overtake, chase. 2. To follow close upon 3. To strive to gain; seek to attain or accomplish (an end, object, purpose, etc.). 4. To proceed in accordance with (a method, plan, etc.). 5. To carry on or continue (a course of action, a train of thought, an inquiry, studies, etc.).

So when we look at the journey, THEN waiting becomes not just sitting around, but actively pursuing the things of God in our lives and continually striving for that dream He put in our heart in the first place. 

If we want to become His workmanship we have to understand The Master’s creative process. While you walk the path God has for you, and you faint not, you will find (much to your joy) that He gives above and beyond all we could ask or think. The dream you thought was the culmination of all you wanted to become may just be the beginning of what He is doing.

Do you have a "waiting" story?