Quotes about Waiting on God

Isaiah 40:27-31

Theme: Wait, Trust and Hope in the Lord (Isa 40:31): "But those who wait on 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" (Isa 40:31, NKJV). "But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength" (Isa 40:31, NLT). "...but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength" (Isa 40:31, NIV).

An entire sermon could be preached on every single one of these quotes about WAITING ON THE LORD:

What’s the purpose of waiting on God? "Biblically, waiting is not just something we have to do until we get what we want. Waiting is part of the process of becoming what God wants us to be." John Ortberg.

Why should we endure our problems? "What then are we to do about our problems? We must learn to live with them until such time as God delivers us from them…we must pray for grace to endure them without murmuring. Problems patiently endured will work for our spiritual perfecting. They harm us only when we resist them or endure them unwillingly." A.W. Tozer.

Be Our Strength Every Morning (Isaiah 33:1-16)

"Lord, be gracious to us! We wait for You. Be our strength every morning and our salvation in time of trouble" (Isa 33:2, HCSB).

Isaiah 33 continues the description of the kingdom of the true messiah. It is introduced by the 6th and final woe in this section that began in Isaiah 28. But this woe is not addressed to the people of Israel or its leaders, but to the enemy of Jerusalem, almost certainly Assyria. The true king is the one who can bring about the deliverance that the drunken blind leaders cannot. 33:1-16 has two parts:

1. The woe and an appeal to God (1-6).
• the woe (1).
• an appeal to God (2), which is based on
• God's character and power (3-6).
2. Deliverance to come from God (7-16).
• the hopelessness of the situation (7-9).
• a promise by God to take action (10-16).

God Graciously Waits (Isaiah 30)

Isaiah 30 (1-7, 8-18, 19-26, 27-33)

"This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: 'In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it'" (Isa 30:15). "Therefore the Lord will wait, that He may be gracious to you; And therefore He will be exalted, that He may have mercy on you. For the Lord is a God of justice; Blessed are all those who wait for Him" (Isa 30:18, NKJV).

Isaiah 28-33 can be titled "The Folly of Trusting the Nations" (or "Woe to those who do not trust or wait on God"). Isaiah pronounces "woe" [the funeral word] six times in this section (Isa 28:1; 29:1, 15; 30:1; 31:1; 33:1), because the refusal to trust God will only lead to destruction.

6) The Waiting (Mark 5:21-43)

Chap 1: The Dance (Trinity) (Mark 1:9-11): Do you expect others to dance around you?
Chap 2: The Gospel and The Call (Mark 1:14-20): Do you have good news or good advice?
Chap 3: The Healing (Mark 2:1-5): Are your sins mainly against God or people?
Chap 4: The Rest (Mark 2:23-3:6): Do you still try to find rest in your efforts for significance?
Chap 5: The Power (Mark 4:35-41): Do you enjoy goodness and calm in a storm?

Quotes:

"Patience is love for the long haul; it is bearing up under difficult circumstances, without giving up or giving in to bitterness. Patience means working when gratification is delayed. It means taking what life offers--even if it means suffering--without lashing out." (59)

"Be aware that when you go to Jesus for help, you will both give to and get from him far more than you bargained for." (64) "If you go to Jesus, he may ask of you far more than you originally planned to give, but he can give to you infinitely more than you dared ask or think." (66)

"When I looked at the delays of God in my own life, I realize that a great deal of my consternation has been rooted in arrogance." (67) "We're not God, but we have such delusions of grandeur that our self-righteousness and arrogance sometimes have to be knocked out of our heart by God's delays." (67)

Scene: Jairus, a synogogue ruler, pleaded for Jesus to heal his dying daughter (Mark 5:21-24). On the way, a desperate woman who had been subject to bleeding for 12 years, touched Jesus' cloak and her bleeding immediately stopped (Mark 5:25-30).

Power (Gk dunamis) Left Jesus when the Woman was Healed

If we want to be a source of healing for others, we will have to lose power, as Jesus lost his power to heal the woman (Mark 5:30). No one will be healed if we are unwilling to lose power.

Patience

To help this woman tell the whole truth (Mark 5:30-33) surely tested the patience of Jairus, and irritated his disciples, as Jesus took his time. What Jairus feared happened. News came that his daughter had died (Mark 5:35). Knowing how Jairus felt, Jesus calmly said to him, "Don't be afriad; just believe" (Mark 5:36). It meant, "Trust me. Be patient. There's no need to hurry." Every culture has a different sense of time. Yet, God's sense of timing will confound ours, no matter what culture we're from. Jesus' grace rarely operates according to our schedule. When we are in a major storm of life, is God's grace entirely sufficient? (2 Cor 12:9) Do we feel the strong urge to impose our understanding of schedule and timing on God and others?

God Expects More from You, and Gives More to You

Jairus expected Jesus to come before his daughter died, yet she died. The woman expected just to be healed privately, but Jesus asked more of her and demanded that she go public. Why?

She had a superstitious understanding of Jesus' power. She thought his power was manageable. Jesus made her identify herself so he could say, "Your faith has healed you. Go in peace" (Mark 5:34). Jesus wanted her to know that through faith she is in a life-transforming relationship with him. There's a huge difference from a superstitious healing, and a life-transformed follower of Jesus for all eternity. God expected more from her, and gave more to her.

To Jesus There's No Difference between Raising the Dead and Curing a Fever

It seemed to Jairus and the disciples that Jesus was delaying with the woman for no good reason. But they didn't have all the facts. Often others and ourselves are unable to understand why God isn't coming through for us, or why he is delaying, as Jesus did with Jairus.

Jesus knew she was dead, but said she was sleeping (Mark 5:37-40). He said, "Talitha koum!" and immediately the 12 year old girl got up (Mark 5:41-43), which in our vernacular would be, "Honey, get up." Jesus, the Lord of the universe, is saying by his actions, "If I have you by the hand, death itself is nothing but sleep."

Christ Crucified in Weakness Gives God's Power to the Weak (2 Cor 13:4)

Christ became weak so that we can be strong. There's nothing more frightening for a child than to lose the hand of the parent in a crowd or in the dark, but that is nothing compared to Jesus' own loss. Jesus lost his Father's hand on the cross, so we could know that once he has us by the hand, he will never, ever forsake us. He went into the tomb so we can be raised out of it. The only way for Jesus to give us this power and life was to go through weakness and death.

Questions: Are you trying to hurry Jesus? Are you impatient with him and with the waiting? If God is delaying something in your life, are you ready to give up? Can you simply trust him with peace? Can we see how powerful, loving and tender God is even in his painful delays?

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