What Are You Waiting For?

Introduction

Daniel, thank you for choosing the one song and for agreeing to lead the others. Good morning to all of you, especially those who are visiting. If you’re visiting, you should know that I’m not the normal preacher. I don’t think I meet the height requirement. But it is an honor to fill in for Brent this morning as they are with Xander and during the trials that their family has been going through. A few months ago, I think it was a few months at this point. A few months ago, I stood before you and we talked about the critical role that waiting plays in our lives. That we oftentimes look at waiting as something that we do, and yet the reality is God calls us to be certain kinds of people while waiting is happening in the background.

We talked about how Satan uses these times in our lives when we must wait on him. Satan uses them to break us and to take us away from God. We talked a little about how we as humans tend to focus on the waiting itself and we get distracted. And maybe me, or maybe it’s some of the feedback I received from you all. It seems that my assumption was right that we are all waiting for something. And so this morning, I wanted to take those thoughts of waiting a little further and consider the question what are you waiting for? If you were to stop and think about your life and how hectic and chaotic it is, and all of the things that maybe you wish were different, or that you could change, you would change if you could snap your fingers and make a change.

What is it that you are waiting for? Are you waiting for God to give you an answer? Are you waiting for Him to do something specific in your life? What are you hoping might change? If you’re like me, and I mean if you’re a human, eventually, I think it’s fair to say, all of us get tired at some point of just sitting idly by and waiting. We don’t like the idea that we are not in control. We don’t like just waiting for something to happen. The frustration of praying and hoping, and yet nothing happens over time, day by day, the nothingness, the waiting, the twiddling your thumbs, it can get to you. I shared last time some of the ways that me and my family had gone through difficult periods of waiting.

And maybe you’re going through something right now that is particularly difficult. Maybe you’re going through something right now that is weighing on you, and maybe your faith is waning. Maybe you’re struggling to wait. Does God hear you when you pray? Does he care about what you’re going through? At some point, our impatience and our frustration maybe reaches a breaking point. And maybe you found yourself asking God, what are you waiting for? Why am I waiting? What are you waiting for? Why don’t you act? Why don’t you do something? Why don’t you intervene?

1. Life Is Not Meant to Be Perfect

And maybe you’re not asking that question right now, but maybe you’ve had periods in your life in the past where you have asked that question. And as you think about some of these questions that we might, as humans, tend to ask ourselves, and you consider your own individual life and the things that you’re going through, I think it’s important that you know that life is not meant to be perfect. And this can be a tough thing to accept sometimes when life is really imperfect. I’m not talking about the times when maybe you wish you made a little more money because that would make a big difference. I’m talking about when it feels like the thunderstorms of life are stuck overhead and they won’t leave and they’ve been there forever, and the floods of life begin to rise around you.

It can be tough to accept that life is not meant to be perfect, especially in the world that we live in where social media is such a big part of so many people’s lives. Social media is a great place to get all the wrong information and all the wrong ideas.

Right? You ever been mindlessly scrolling through Facebook or Instagram or whatever social media is your preference? And you start to see people that you know, people that you care about, and you start to think, well, their life is so great. Man, if only my life was like theirs. I tend to think about that when I see people who’ve gone on vacation, because we can’t go on vacation. We can go to my in-law’s house, but eh.

I say that because they’re here. And I see people go on vacation and they take these flights to faraway places like Florida. And I remember the time that Amanda and I could travel. But we can’t anymore. And I think, man, if only I had their life. And in this world of perceived perfection, the problems in our own lives can stand out even more. But my mind goes back to a simpler time, at least with respect to technology in John chapter 9, and I want to read an account with you. John chapter 9, beginning in verse 1. John writes, as he that is Jesus passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, Rabbi, who sinned? This man or his parents, that he was born blind?

And Jesus answered, it was not that this man sinned or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am the light of the world, I am the light of the world. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud and said to him, Go wash in the pool of saloom, which means sent. So he went and washed and came back seeing.

Hopefully to you too. It seems completely reasonable to say that this man had an imperfect life. Would that be fair to you? A man who has always been blind from the moment of his birth, that he has an imperfect life or had an imperfect life. Imagine if any of you were to close your eyes right now and try to walk out of the building. How many of you would be able to get outside without hurting yourself or hurting someone else? How much of a challenge would it have been this morning to get ready to come here and be with each other? How difficult would it have been to get here without being able to see? Yet this man lived every single day of his life without his vision.

Something that we so readily take advantage of. Without any concept of sight or light or what a single thing looked like. I imagine him as a kid, maybe playing with siblings or friends, and at some point someone says, Look at this. And he can’t look at it. I imagine, perhaps, as an adult, his inability to see probably made him feel like he was still trapped in his childhood. That no matter how old he gets, he will never be independent. He will never not need someone’s help. He will never be able to live his own life. I recently read someone who described what it was like to be blind. And it really, it really stuck with me. Because if you’re like me, you probably think about being blind as seeing darkness.

Because for us, if you can see, you can close your eyes and you see darkness, but you can’t see anything else because your eyes are closed. As in if you’re blind, you see darkness. Perhaps everything just looks pitch black. The absence of light. But this person described blindless blindness by countering that idea, and they described it as that you wouldn’t see darkness, you wouldn’t see anything. And they use this metaphor that if you imagine if you tried to see out of your elbow, you can’t see out of your elbow.

They said, that’s what blindness is really like. It’s not seeing darkness, it is seeing nothing.

And that hurts my brain. I cannot imagine seeing nothing. And yet that was this man’s reality. As he sat outside in public view, likely begging for money because he couldn’t hold a job because he couldn’t see.

2. We Are Not Owed Anything by God

What is God waiting for? Or the things that we’re waiting for, that our attitude toward God can shift from one of thankfulness where it ought to be to one of entitlement. And we won’t read this account for the sake of time, but I couldn’t help but think of the ten lepers in Luke 17. And as that account goes, those ten leopards sought Jesus out and they asked Jesus, have mercy on us. And he tells them, as is the law, go and show yourselves to the priest. And as they were going to the priest, they were healed. And do you remember how many came back to thank Jesus? Out of ten people, he had a 10% return. One person. One leper came back to Jesus. Only one recognized that Jesus didn’t have to heal them.

Jesus was under no obligation to honor their request. Only one of them realized that he wasn’t owed reprieve from a disease that would eventually kill him. And I think it’s incredibly critical that we understand we are not owed anything by God. Whatever it is you’re waiting for to be changed in your life to be different, the thing that you have been praying for, you don’t deserve, you are not owed to get the answer that you want.

Grateful that God even bothers to hear us. How incredible is it that God hears us, that he listens to us. Because he doesn’t have to. He doesn’t have to care about us. He doesn’t have to give us the time of day. But he does. Because he loves us and he has mercy on us. We should be thankful and grateful that God hears us. And instead, we should look at all of the good things in our lives. Even though you might be focused on the bad things, the things you want to be changed, the things you want to be different. There is no doubt in my mind that you have good things in your life. You have things worthy of thankfulness. You have things that God has blessed you with that you don’t deserve in a good way.

The things that you have that are good in your life that you don’t deserve and you could never earn.

3. Imperfections Can Do Good in the World

But rather the struggles and the imperfections of this life ought to cause us to yearn for the perfect that is to come when this life is over. There’s a valuable lesson in understanding that this life is not meant to be perfect, and instead that it points us to something better that lies beyond this life. And really, we should see this imperfect life in a positive light. Because the bad things, the negative things, those aspects that we would like to see changed or different in our lives, those are some of the most powerful ways that we can bring glory and honor and lost souls to God. We don’t usually see life’s imperfections in this positive way, though. Gotta say there have been many years, many days, many hours, many minutes when I have wondered why God chose to make Abigail the way that he did.

I don’t have an answer for you. I don’t know why. And you would think that an almost five-year-old who is utterly and completely helpless, what can she do for the kingdom? What can she do to make an impact? How can she bring glory to God? The last five, six years, we’ve really lived very in-depth, and what I would consider what I would call a world of disabilities. Because when you deal with a child like what we have, you tend to find other people who have kids who are the same way, and then they know people who have different kids, and then they know people who have different kids, and before you know it, you just get off social media altogether because all you see is children suffering.

But I can tell you, as a matter of fact, living in this world of disabilities, living in this world of imperfections, that it is practically human nature, I would say, to feel bad for people who are different.

I have.

Reminder or should be a constant reminder to me that life is not meant to be perfect, and those imperfections can do good in the in the world around us. Our physical lives, everyone here, everyone here. And those watching at home, every one of our lives are very much imperfect. And I would guess many of you could identify the same way. We don’t know why things are the way they are. Regardless of what your life circumstances are, you don’t know why things are the way they are.

But wouldn’t it be great if he did? If God was sort of like this genie in a lamp, and we could rub the lamp and God would come out and we could say, God, please tell me why is this thing the way it is? And God would say, I’m glad you asked. Let me tell you.

Maybe it’s not even that we want to necessarily change something, but more often than not, we just want to understand why. God, what is your thought process? What are you trying to accomplish? What do you hope comes from this thing? We just want to make sense of what we see and what we feel around us. And I’m gonna guess, this is an assumption, but I’m gonna guess that the blind man probably did not see his blindness as a good thing. I doubt the blind man was standing on the street corner telling everybody, hey, don’t you wish you could be blind? Because being blind is great. Let me tell you about all the benefits of being blind. Somehow I don’t think that was the case. Being different is never easy.

4. Blind So God's Power Could Be Seen

I know because of Abigail, but I knew long before Abigail because I’m five foot four. There are some of you, especially the men who will stand up when we have the invitation song, and me standing up here, we will be at eye level. It’s not easy being different. And having to deal with difficulties that others don’t, if we let it can be destructive. Whatever you’re dealing with that maybe I don’t have to deal with. If we dwell on it, if we let it become our focus, it can become destructive. Yet it is precisely these imperfections. It is precisely the blind’s man, the blind man’s blindness that enabled him to bring glory to God. Jesus says so explicitly himself. If we go back to John chapter 9, we go back to look at that account, I want to note a few things.

First of all, the disciples had grown in their trust and their faith in Jesus, and they felt like if we ask Jesus this question, he’s gonna know and he’s gonna be able to time that idea of like, when I get to heaven, I want to ask God about X, Y, Z. Like, I want to understand, I want to know why. And yet the disciples had Jesus in the flesh, and they wanted to know why. Why was this man blind? Why is he the way that he is? And seeing this blind man, they assumed that his blindness was because someone at some point did something wrong, which to you and I might be an interesting assumption, but to them that made the most sense. They didn’t ask Jesus, did someone sin?

They asked him, Jesus, who sinned? Did this man sin or did his parents sin? Then Jesus reveals a truth that very well may have shocked them. Jesus says that neither of them have committed any wrong that have caused the blindness. Because again, they were assuming that was the case. And then Jesus goes on to say something that must have blown their minds in a way that they probably did not comprehend in the moment. Jesus says that this man is blind so that God’s power could be seen in him.

But he’s blind.

These are problems that I wish would go away. These are things that I wish would change.

But Jesus says he’s blind, so God’s power can be shown through him. What? You mean this blind man is blind for a reason. It must have been truly a confusingly eye-opening revelation that the disciples heard from Jesus that this man was blind his entire life. He was not just recently made blind, he was blind his entire life for a specific purpose. And I tend to wonder what was the blind man thinking. Because the context in how this story is presented, this account is presented in John chapter 9, causes me to assume that the blind man heard what Jesus said. The group, Jesus and the disciples, they walk by and they see a blind man, and the disciples ask about his blindness, and Jesus says that he’s blind to show God’s power.

But it doesn’t say that they walked over to the blind man. It doesn’t say that they saw the blind man from a distance. And yes, this is an assumption on my part, but then it is something that I assume. I assume that the blind man has heard this interaction. It is probably not uncommon for him to have heard people talking about him. Just like us, when we take Abigail’s places and we watch people walk by and stare at her as they walk by and almost run into a wall or a pillar or miss their turn because they’re staring at her.

And if that’s the case, if you were the blind man and you heard Jesus and the disciples talking about you being blind, and you heard Jesus say, well, this man is blind so that people can see the power of God, what would you be thinking? I don’t know what I would be thinking. If someone walked by and said, Abigail is completely helpless to show the glory of God.

Just so I could be healed today? Really? Like I’ve gone through all of this just for this moment today? Was there no other way or better way that God could have shown his power? Did I really have to suffer all this time for this moment? The blind man was blind his entire life, specifically so that God could use him and his entire life for this very moment. What an incredible thing to hear if you’re this blind man. Maybe incredibly frustrating. Maybe causes all sorts of questions. And as much as this might not make sense from a human perspective, in reality, it makes complete sense. As humans, it probably seems pretty unfair that God would allow this man or allow any of us with whatever it is in life that we want to change.

It probably seems pretty unfair that God would allow this man to live an undoubtedly difficult life just for this particular moment. And you know how I know that? Because there are many people in the world who would use this example of the blind man who would look at people like Abigail or would look at people like you and your struggles and say, this is proof positive that there cannot be a God. Why would God make this man blind or allow him to be blind or cause him to be blind? And why would he make this man suffer all his life just for this moment? The reality is, if you look throughout your Bible, God has used imperfect people since Adam and Eve to bring him glory since the beginning of time.

Look at any character of the Bible. Think about anyone in your mind in the Bible, except for Jesus, who led people to God, or led God’s people, or brought glory to God? And immediately I think in the Old Testament, I think about Moses, and I think about David, and I think about Joseph. Maybe you think more in the context of our specific story here in John chapter 9, the disciples, Peter, Matthew, the blind man who was healed? Which of these people, or the people you’re thinking of in your own mind were ever perfect? Which of these people were flawless? Which of them brought people and glory to God? Can blindness, can a physical disability bring people to God? Yes.

Can those things have an impact on the kingdom? Can your imperfections and the things that you wish were different in your own life, can they have an impact on the kingdom? They can. And they do.

5. How Can My Struggles Bring Glory to God?

I think about what Paul told the Romans in Romans chapter 9, beginning in verse 20. And Paul says, but who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Well, what is molded, say to its molder, why have you made me like this?

Has the potter no right over the clay to make out of the lump, out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? The clay has no right. We have no right to ask God, why have you done what you’ve done? Why have you chosen what you’ve chosen? Why have you made me the way that you’ve made me? Instead of asking God why he’s made us the way that he’s made us, or why he’s put us in the scenario that he’s put us in, or why he’s given us the trouble that he has given us. We should be asking, how can my struggles, how can my problems, how can these imperfections bring glory to God? How can they impact the kingdom?

How can I make a difference and bring people to salvation? Because let me tell you, it’s becoming more and more apparent as life goes on. The world is a dark and difficult place. And maybe this is me getting older. But it seems like it’s getting there quickly. Many people struggle, and they look at their lives and their difficult circumstances, and they say, This struggle is why I don’t believe that a God could exist. How much more impactful does that make us when we are going through challenges in life when we show that life doesn’t have to be perfect, life doesn’t have to be ideal. We don’t have to get the answers that we want from God in order to make a difference in the world around us, in order to bring souls to God in order to impact the kingdom.

Because as Christians, we know that this life was never meant to be perfect, and this life is not all there is.

6. God Is Doing the Important Waiting

All I ever hear from them is, woe is me, and how bad their life is, and how much they wish these things would change. Why would anyone feel the need to be rescued from an imperfect world when all we show them is that the imperfections make a bigger impact than God’s love does on us. We may go through life asking God what he’s waiting for, and what’s keeping him from answering our prayers or taking away our difficulties, but in a very real way, God is asking us the very same question. When all is said and done, it’s really God who is doing the important waiting.

I think about 2 Peter chapter 3, verse 8, where Peter says, but do not overlook this one fact, beloved that with the Lord. One day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that anyone should perish, but that all should reach repentance. If you do not belong to God, if you do not have a relationship with God, if you have not been baptized and been washed by the blood of Jesus this morning, God is in effect asking you, what are you waiting for?

And he tells in verse 16 of Acts 22 what Ananias said to at the time Saul, and why do you wait? What are you waiting for? Arise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name.

Conclusion

What are you waiting for? Because God won’t wait forever. You can look at the parable of the ten versions in Matthew 25. And at some point, the bridegroom comes and the door is closed. You can look at Revelation chapter 3 and verse 20. Where to the church at Laodicea, Jesus says, Behold, I stand at the door and knock. What are you waiting for? Why aren’t you answering the door? But at some point, he’ll stop knocking. At some point, he will not wait any longer. So this morning I would ask you, whatever difficulty you’re going through, what are you waiting for to put him first? To live a godly life despite those struggles and those troubles, despite the test of faith that it is praying and not receiving the answer that you want.

What are you waiting for to get your focus back where it needs to be? And if you’re not a child of God, but you understand what you need to do to become a child of God, and you understand what it means to dedicate your life to putting him first and to focusing on him and bringing others to him, what are you waiting for? If we can help you this morning to make your life right, to pray for you, or to become a child of God, we would ask you to not wait and instead