Based on Sermon on August 3, 2025, Pastor Nathan Johnson
In our fast-paced world, we often find ourselves wrestling with the concept of delay. Whether it’s sitting in a doctor’s waiting room, enduring flight delays at the airport, or even waiting for our order at a drive-thru, the challenge of delay is a common human experience. But what about the delays we face in our spiritual lives? How do we handle it when God’s timing doesn’t align with our expectations?
Many of us suffer from what we might call “right now-ism” – the desire to have what we want immediately. We’re fine with others waiting on us, but we struggle when we have to wait on someone else. This mindset can lead us to dangerous spiritual territory, where we begin to question God’s awareness of our situation or His willingness to act on our behalf.
The ancient Israelites faced a similar struggle during their 70 years of captivity. They reached a point where they felt God had hidden His face from them, that He had dismissed their case. “My way is hidden from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over by my God,” they lamented. How often have we felt the same way in our own lives?
But here’s the truth we need to grasp: when we jump to these conclusions about God, we’re operating on faulty assumptions. We’re forgetting who God is and what He’s capable of doing. The prophet Isaiah reminds us of God’s true nature:
“Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.”
Let’s break this down:
- God is everlasting. He exists outside of time and is not bound by our human limitations or schedules.
- God is the Creator. He specializes in making something out of nothing, bringing order out of chaos, and light out of darkness.
- God never grows weary. Unlike us, He doesn’t need breaks or rest. He’s always actively working, even when we can’t see it.
- God’s understanding is limitless. His ways and thoughts are higher than ours, and He sees the full picture when we only see a fragment.
When we’re tempted to doubt God during times of delay, we need to review these truths about His character. We need to reject the wrong conclusions our impatient hearts want to draw and instead remember who God has revealed Himself to be.
It’s also crucial that we recognize our own limitations. The scripture tells us that even the young and strong will grow weary and fall. Our natural strength, our education, our accomplishments – none of these are enough to sustain us through life’s challenges. We need something more.
That “something more” is found in waiting on the Lord. But this isn’t a passive waiting. The Hebrew word used here, “qavah,” is an active verb. It’s the word used to describe the process of making a rope – twisting many strands together to create something strong. It also means to wrap around, like a thread around a nail.
When we wait on God, we’re actively wrapping our lives around Him. We’re intertwining our weakness with His strength, our limited understanding with His infinite wisdom. We’re choosing to trust in His justice, mercy, love, and grace. We’re clinging to His omnipresence, omnipotence, and omniscience.
Most importantly, we’re wrapping ourselves around the truth of what He’s done for us on Calvary. The cross reminds us that God has already taken care of our greatest need – the forgiveness of our sins. If He was willing to go to such lengths to secure our eternal salvation, can we not trust Him with the temporary delays and disappointments of this life?
When we learn to wait on God in this way, something remarkable happens. Isaiah tells us:
“But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”
This renewed strength manifests in three ways:
1. Soaring strength – “mount up with wings like eagles”
2. Running strength – “run and not be weary”
3. Walking strength – “walk and not faint”
God promises to meet us at whatever level we need, whether we’re flying high, running our race, or simply putting one foot in front of the other.
In a world that offers many things to wrap our lives around – people, positions, possessions – only God provides the unshakeable foundation we truly need. Other people, no matter how much we love them, have the same limitations we do. Positions can be lost. Possessions can be taken away in an instant, as those affected by natural disasters can attest.
But when we wrap our lives around Jesus, we’re connecting ourselves to an eternal, unchanging source of strength and hope. This truth applies to everyone, regardless of profession or station in life. Whether you’re a student, a professor, an engineer, a doctor, an educator, an entrepreneur, or anything else – you need Jesus.
So as we face the inevitable delays and disappointments of life, let’s challenge ourselves to wait on the Lord actively. Let’s review His character when we’re tempted to doubt. Let’s recognize our limitations and reaffirm our connection to Him. And as we do, we’ll find our strength renewed, enabling us to soar, run, and walk through whatever life brings our way.
Remember, delay is not denial. It’s an opportunity to deepen our trust in God, to wrap ourselves more tightly around His promises, and to experience His renewing strength in fresh ways. So the next time you find yourself in a season of waiting, don’t just sit there twiddling your thumbs. Actively wait on the Lord, and watch as He renews your strength in ways you never thought possible.