“Learning Through Waiting”
Learning from Life Series: 11/9/08
Genesis 29:16-20

Introduction: One of the tensions we live with, is our desire to have things when we want them, and yet so often having to wait. Technology has caused us to have a lack of patience, and to expect things to happen more quickly. You can cook a meal with a microwave a lot faster than you can in the oven. You can telephone or e-mail someone a lot faster than it would take to drive to their house. You can get your food a lot faster at a fast-food restaurant than you can at a nice sit down restaurant. We really have become spoiled when it comes to waiting.
If you haven’t been to Disneyland in a while, you might not be familiar with “fast passes.” What fast-passes are is a ticket that lets you cut in line. You heard me right, it lets you cut in line. There are many rides at Disneyland (usually the rides that have the longest wait) where you can take your ticket to a machine and get what is called a fast-pass. This pass lets you come back to the ride during a certain time (say 4:15 – 5:15 pm), and you can walk through the fast-pass line, which is always a shorter line. In essence, you are by-passing all those who are in line, to go to the front of the line and have a much shorter wait.
This morning, as we continue our series in Learning from Life, I want to talk about how sometimes there is a benefit to waiting; sometimes God has a plan for our waiting. As the saying goes: “Good things comes to those who wait.” And so I would like to use the WAIT (w..a..i..t..) to talk about what God teaches us through our waiting.

I. Will of God- (2 Peter 3:8; Ecclesiastes 3:1)
The first point I want to talk about is the “WILL” of God. As we talked
about last week, God has a plan, a will, for our lives. We can even know God’s will for our lives. But God’s will doesn’t come quickly; it is something we need to seek out, and wait for God to reveal it to us.
God’s will is muli-faceted. First there is the INTENTIONAL WILL of God; or God’s intentions for His people and His creation.
1. We were created in the image of God to be in relationship with God.
2. We were given charge over the creation to care for it.
3. We were created to be in relationship with each and to love each other. When this doesn’t happen, we are called to be reconciled to each other.
4. We were created to do good works so that others would be blessed and God would be glorified.
Being in relationship with God is not something that happens quickly, it is a daily experience, and one that is to last our lifetime and beyond. Caring for this creation is something that takes great care, concern and time. We are always to be evaluating what needs to be done, and what needs to be done better. This call from God is to be handled for as long as this earth exists.
If you know anything about relationships, you understand that they take a great amount of time, energy, and patience as well. Relationship can’t be rushed. In those times when we try to rush through our relationships, problems usually are created, and the relationships are broken. We then have to move to reconciliation, which again takes time, energy, and patience. And God calls us to go good works. Every one of us is capable of doing good works. We just have to be open and ready to do them when the opportunities come. This, then, is God’s intentional will for our lives.
But God also has a CIRCUMSTANTIAL WILL for our lives. God’s circumstantial will is God’s will in the midst of specific circumstances. As we live our life, we will encounter many circumstances that can be challenging, where we need to try and understand what God would have us to do in them. We need to ask: What is God’s will in this circumstance? It could be an opportunity for a new job, it could be the need to break off a relationship, it could be a problem in the family.
When these circumstances arise, we often want to get through them quickly; we want to bring a quick resolution. But often times these circumstances are there to challenge us, and grow us, and an important part of the circumstance is our just going through the experience. God isn’t concerned with the time frame, but the result. As 2 Peter 3:8 tells us, “But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day.” And Ecclesiastes 3:1 reminds us, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.”
Waiting on God is an important part of understanding our life, our place in this world, and God’s intentions for us. When we try to rush through life, when we lack patience, we will miss much of what God wants us to know and experience.

II. Anger Can Be Avoided- (Proverbs 13:3, 29:20; Jonah 4:2; James 1:19-20)
Along with us needing to wait to experience and understand the will of God,
waiting can also help us with our anger.
ILLUSTRATION: In a Calvin and Hobbes comic strip, Calvin, a five-year-old boy comes up to his dad and says: “Dad, your polls took a big dive this week. Your overall performance rating was especially low.” At this point Calvin hands his dad a clipboard and then says: “See? Right about yesterday your popularity went down the tubes.” At this point his dad gets very upset and yells: “CALVIN, YOU DIDN’T GET DESSERT YESTERDAY BECAUSE YOU FLOODED THE HOUSE!” To which Calvin responds as he walks away: “I’d suggest a new line of work, ‘dad.’”
Children can test our patience and cause us to get angry. Our job can bring us much frustration and anger. So can our neighbors, our family, the traffic as we drive, lack of money, and on and on I could go. There are many things that we can get angry over, and so we need to learn how to “WAIT” when this anger comes upon us.
James 1:19-20 tells us: “…Let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger; for your anger does not produce God’s righteousness.” How often do we react in anger, and say things that just make the situation worse? How often do we fail to really listen, and our anger causes us to say hurtful things? The book of Proverbs is full of reminders of this; Proverbs 13:3 says, “He who guards his mouth preserves his life; he who opens wide his lips comes to ruin.” And Proverbs 29:20 says, “Do you see a man who is hasty in his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him.”
Many of us would do well to listen more and speak less. Much of our anger could be done away with if we learn to wait before we speak or act. Much of our anger could be more constructive if we take time to seek God before we respond.
And we see the example of God in His waiting. In the book of Jonah, we see that the Ninevites are a sinful people; their wickedness is evident before God. But instead of God coming to a rash judgment against them, God wants to send Jonah to speak a message of repentance in hope that they will turn from their wickedness and turn to God. The book goes on to tell the story of how Jonah doesn’t want to speak to them and tries to run away from this call. Finally, Jonah is convinced by God to go, and the Ninevites hear God’s message through Jonah and give themselves to God. In Jonah 4:2, Jonah acknowledges God’s example of waiting as he says: “…you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing.”
Oh how we could learn from God by being slow to anger and ready to relent! Communication in general can be difficult. For example, here are the actual statements of people trying to make car insurance claims:
One lady says: “I was on the way to the doctor’s with rear end trouble when my universal joint gave way, causing me to have an accident.” Another person writes: “As I approached the intersection, a stop sign suddenly appeared in a place where no stop sign had ever appeared before. I was unable to stop in time to avoid the accident.” And still another: “In my attempt to kill a fly I drove into a telephone poll.”
It is hard enough to communicate well, it is especially difficult when we are angry. When we find ourselves dealing with anger, we should stop, and WAIT for a time, to get our bearings, and then speak. This is good advice!

III. Investment Reward- (Genesis 29:16-20, 16:1-4a)
Right now is not a good time for investments. But the truth is, whether it is in
the current economy, or in a better economy, it is always good practice to wait on your investments. A lack of patience, when it comes to investing, can lead us to try the “get rich quick” scheme. And this scheme rarely pays off. Usually “get rich quick” schemes only pay off for those who are taking the money from the people who are trying to get rich quick. Without patience, you and your money will soon be parted.
Our scripture reading this morning tells us of a story of patience; one who was willing to WAIT for his reward. It is the story of Jacob. Jacob meets Rachel, and falls in love with her; love at first sight. But then he has to deal with her father, Laban. Jacob offers to serve Laban, since Jacob is a relative of his. Laban doesn’t want to have Jacob serve him for nothing, so he asks Jacob in Genesis 29:15, “Because you are my kinsman, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your wages be?” We are then told in verse 18: “Jacob loved Rachel; so he said, ‘I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.” Laban agrees to this, and Jacob serves Laban for seven years. We then read in verse 20: “So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her.” Ahhhhhhh, so romantic.
It seemed to Jabob just a few days! Why? Because Jacob’s love for Rachel was so great that he was willing to wait so that they could be together. The reward was worth the wait.
But sometimes we get impatient, and we don’t want to wait. What happens then? We try to make it happen ourselves. We see an example of this with Abraham. God had promised him that he would be the father of many nations. But the years were going by and Sarah wasn’t getting pregnant. They wondered how Abraham could be the father of many nations if he wasn’t even the father of one child. So Abraham and Sarah got impatient and didn’t want to wait anymore. We pick up the story in Genesis 16:1-4a, “Now Sarah, Abraham's wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar; 2 so she said to Abraham, "The LORD has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family through her." Abraham agreed to what Sarah said. 3 So after Abraham had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarah his wife took her Egyptian maidservant Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. 4 He slept with Hagar, and she conceived…”
End of the story, right? All things worked out for the best, right? NOT AT ALL! Sarah ends up having contempt toward Hagar. God tells Abraham this is not how it is to be, and Abraham goes through many struggles because of his impatience! The reward was not what Abraham and Sarah wanted, nor what God had intended. In the end Abraham and Sarah do have a son, Isaac, and Isaac carries on the line of Abraham and a wonderful leader of his family and his people.
If Abraham and Sarah would have waited, they would have saved themselves much grief.

IV. Understanding Time- (
Ultimately it is about understanding the time we have. If we can give up control over our time to God, if we can trust the time that God gives to us, then we can be better at waiting.
ILLUS.- There is a wonderful story called “The Keeper of the Spring.” It is the story of a quiet forest dweller who lived high above an Austrian village along the eastern slope of the Alps. The old gentleman had been hired many years earlier by a young town councilman to clear away the debris from the pools of water up in the mountain crevices that fed the lovely spring flowing through their town. With faithful, silent regularity, he patrolled the hills, removed the leaves and branches, and wiped away the silt that would otherwise have choked and contaminated the fresh flow of water. The village in time became a popular attraction for vacationers. Graceful swans floated along the crystal clear spring, the mill wheels turned day and night, farmlands were naturally irrigated, and the view from restaurants was picturesque... Years passed. One evening the town council met for its semiannual meeting. As they reviewed the budget, one man's eye caught the salary figure being paid the obscure keeper of the spring. Said the keeper of the purse, "Who is the old man? Why do we keep him on year after year? No one ever sees him. For all we know, the strange ranger of the hills is doing us no good. He isn't necessary any longer." By a unanimous vote, they dispensed with the old man's services…For several weeks, nothing changed…But when early autumn came and the trees began to shed their leaves, the leaves and small branches fell into the pools, hindering the rushing flow of sparkling water. One afternoon someone noticed a slight yellowish-brown tint in the spring. A few days later, the water was much darker. Within another week, a slimy film covered sections of the water along the banks, and a foul odor was soon detected. The mill wheels moved more slowly, some finally ground to a halt. Swans left, as did the tourists. Disease and sickness reached deeply into the village…Quickly, the embarrassed council called a special meeting. Realizing their gross error in judgment, they rehired the old keeper of the spring, and within a few weeks, the veritable river of life began to clear up. The wheels started to turn, and new life returned to this town in the Alps.
I think our time is like this keeper of the spring. The keeper of the spring seemed unimportant. He wasn’t flashy or prominent. He just took care of the basics of what was important. So, with our time, we must not take it for granted, or get too caught up in the details. We need to not try and make things happen. Instead we should just monitor it daily; wait and enjoy the simple blessings of what God calls us to do each day.
God has given us so much time each day. He wants us to monitor the time. He wants us to enjoy the beauty of each minute. He wants us to wait for His leading. He wants us to organize our time in a way that is most useful for the life that He has called us to.

Conclusion: ECCLESIASTES 8:6a tells us, “For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter…” Let us not presume that we know what is best, or what we are to do. God has ordained time, and sometimes the most important thing that we can do is to wait. We need to let God lead us, not trying to force our hand. If we are patient, at peace, trusting God, we will use our time wisely, and be all the more blessed in our lives. In James 4:14-15 we read: “Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that.’” Where are you anxious? Do you have an important decision to make? Is there a sense of urgency in some area of your life? Give this all to the Lord, and let yourself wait on the Lord. The prophet Isaiah gives us this charge in Isaiah 30:18, “Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!” AMEN