Meeting #2: Waiting on God

This week, we talked about waiting on God.  I took the handout for this week and filled it in with "my talking."  

Wait for it…

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

A Quick Guide How To…fail at fixing yourself 

 When I went to Ellerslie this past summer, I was determined to learn everything I possibly could.  I was sick of myself, and I wanted to be completely broken, so that Jesus could reform me in His image.  For the first week or so, I did my absolute best to break myself, but it worked about as well (and was as smart as) trying to break my own arm.  Finally, after a miserable week that accomplished nothing, I realized that I have to wait for God.  He knows what He wants to fix in me...but He wants to do it in His own time.  I need to wait for Him...while doing what He has shown me I need to do.  So, I started waiting on Him.  

God has His own timetable. 

The Bible talks about waiting a lot. I finally realized that I should take a look in the Bible and see what it has to say on the topic of waiting.  The following verses are just a few of the verses I found that talked about waiting.  (I used NASB)

• Psalm 25:3 “Indeed, none of those who wait for You will be ashamed…”
• Psalm 25:12 “Wait for the Lord; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord.
• Psalm 37:34 “Wait for the Lord and keep His way, And He will exalt you to inherit the land…”
• Psalm 40:1  “I waited patiently for the Lord; And He inclined to me and heard my cry.”

 Now, Hebrew is a lot like English in that it has a lot of words that mean "wait".  We have linger, stick around, bide, dally, sit tight, and so on.  In the four verses above, the same Hebrew word for "wait" is used.  That is the word QAVAH (kah-VAH)
 

Qavah  To eagerly wait for, even to the point of lingering.  Like a rope that endures a lot of tension over a span of time, qavah is an enduring wait.

• Therefore, return to your God, Observe kindness and justice, And qavah for your God continually.  (Hosea 12:6)
• Therefore, return to your God, Observe kindness and justice, And eagerly [wait, even to the point of lingering], for your God continually.  (Hosea 12:6)

 However, QAVAH isn't the only word used for wait.  There is another word that is used to described, not only how we wait for God, but how He waits for us.  This is the word CHAKAH (khah-KAH)

Chakah  To wait and long for.  Chakah implies a long wait for something desired.

•  Isaiah 30:18  “Therefore the Lord longs to be gracious to you, And therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you…”
• Isaiah 64:4  “For from days of old they have not heard or perceived by ear, Nor has the eye seen a God besides You, Who acts in behalf of the one who waits for Him.”
• Zephaniah 3:8  “Therefore wait for Me,” declares the Lord, “For the day when I rise up as a witness.”

 Now, we know that we are to wait for God.  But...what does that look like, lived out?

The Great Dance

 I've heard the Christian Life described as a tango dance.  In a tango, the two people are completely connected.  The man knows where he is going in the dance, and all the woman needs to do is instantly mirror his movements.  So if he steps right, she needs to step in the same direction.  When they are in complete unity, the dance is smooth and enjoyable to watch.  In the same way, we need to be attune to God and His leading.  If He "steps left", we need to respond right away.  If He tells us to help our sibling with a project, we'd better go do it!  But we need to wait for HIM to lead.

But what about…

• Philippians 2:12 “So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling…”
• 1 Thess. 2:9 For you recall, brethren, our labor and hardship, how working night and day so as not to be a burden to any of you, we proclaimed to you the gospel of God.
• 1 Timothy 4:15  “Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress.”
• Colossians 3:23  “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men…”

How can you wait…AND work?

This is the hardest part of the lesson and the part that I am still growing in.  So don't take anything I say with absolute authority, and, as always, PLEASE check what I say against the Bible.  That being said though, as I was pondering how to wait on God AND "work out my salvation," I came upon this verse.

•   Colossians 1:29 “For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.”

 I realized that, as I wait upon God, He gives me the power to deal with what He shows me.  If He shows me a problem, I need to act upon it.  I am waiting for Him to show me something that I need to correct...while correcting what He has already showed me.

Now, the concept of waiting on God doesn't end with the Old Testament.  I found quite a few verses about waiting in the New Testament, using a variety of Greek words.  There was one in particular that I wanted to share with you: APEKDOCHOMAI (a-peck-DECK-hoe-my).

Apekdochomai  To assiduously and patiently wait for.  It requires a complete separation that is not desired.   Apekdochamai is the active and persistent waiting for the separation to be removed.  

• Hebrews 9:28 “…looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus…”
• 1 Corinthians 1:7 “…so that you are not lacking in any gift, awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ…” 

This means that we have been forcibly separated from the One we love, and we long to be with Him again.  We are waiting ever so eagerly for His return, and we won't be at rest until we are with Him again.  This concept comes out really well in the following passage.
 

                 Romans 8:23-25

• ²³ And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, apekdochomai-ing for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. ²⁴ For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? ²⁵ But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we apekdochomai for it. 

Now, there's one more concept I want to share with you.

Don’t Pitch Your Tent

This story I heard at Ellerslie.  Eric was a very good singer in college, and he managed to convince one of the top four vocal coaches in the world to take him on as a student.  At the very first lesson, the coach told him that he wanted Eric to practice for 6 hours a day.  Eric was rather dismayed, because singing for 6 hours a day is a huge chunk of time.  Obviously, he wasn't able to do it, so he'd come in each week having practiced only two hours a day, and his coach would yell at him.  Well, this went on for about 8 months.  Eric would practice or perform like his coach would demand, yet never once did he hear a complement from his coach.  So, after 8 months, he plucked up the courage to ask him.  The coach asked, "When you were a kid, you played soccer, right?"  "yes..."  "How good were you after a month of playing?"  "I stank!"  "...exactly!"  Of course, this took Eric aback, but his coach went on, "However, you have done more than 99.9% of the population.  See, singing is an endless frontier, and you have taken one step into it.  Most people never take that one step.  However, you are looking for a place to pitch your tent.  DO NOT pitch your tent.  Ever.  You can always get better!"

And that's what I want to say: don't EVER pitch your tent.  You could read the book of John once and understand the gospel.  But you could study it a lifetime and still not understand half of God is saying through it.  So don't get comfortable with where you are.  Always keep moving forward in the endless frontier of knowing Jesus! 

Bible Verse for next lesson: Micah 7:7

After the lesson, we played a game that taught following skills.  Once that was over, we split the girls into three small groups, who then discussed the lesson within their groups.  We closed the evening with singing.