Mosaic "Esther with Mordecai" by Lilian Broc (contemporary).
These are my notes on the continuing series with Jamie Rasmussen, senior pastor at Scottsdale Bible Church.
If you read my notes about part one of this series you can understand that I was looking forward to this particular message (part2). I explained, in the previous post, that my wife and I are currently in "wait mode" and working hard to have "God room" in our lives.
To be honest, I don't really know what I was expecting. Perhaps some lightening bolt moment where everything now seems clear. Some clear message, from God, that says, "there David, go here".
So...there we are...sitting in the pew. Jamie says, "How do we carve out more God room in our lives?" I have my pen at the ready. I am ready to hear the voice of God on high. "How do we carve out more God room in our lives?" Wait!
What? Wait? Are you kidding? Wait? I must not have cleaned out my ears well this morning. Wait? Come on Jamie, wait? I have been waiting for a year.
As it turns out, I learned that I could do a better job at "waiting". Frankly, a good percentage of what I have been doing in that past year has not been waiting at all. Let me explain.
In our 21st century culture, we don't like waiting. We want our food "Hot & Now", we want to download our movies and watch them now. In this culture we want everything and we want it now. Can you hear Freddie Mercury, of Queen fame, singing, "I want it all, I want it all, I want it all..and I want it NOW"? Our culture see waiting on God as a dreadful, long suffering process.
Waiting God's Way
1.) We need to learn to wait expectantly:
Psalms 40:1-3, "I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD".
If you think about it, there can be some delicious about waiting. My wife teaches me this every Christmas. Each year at Christmas time I spend a month or so finding just the right gift to demonstrate to her, in this small way, that I love and treasure her. Once I find the perfect gift, I then go hide in the bedroom and wrap it, as best I can, and set it under the Christmas tree.
One of my character traits is that I want her to open the gift before Christmas. I want to see her joy NOW! She on the other hand delights in the wait. She has this picture, in her mind, of what it might be like to open this special gift only on Christmas day. She will mull this picture over and over in her mind and gets great delight out of the wait. In fact, somehow, something would be lost if she opened the gift before its prescribed time.
I do have a sense of expectancy, but I can do a better job and will seek to remedy my "want it now" mentality.
2.) We need to learn to wait actively:
Psalms 130:5, "I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope".
Jamie Rasmussen pointed out to us that once Esther decided to put a plan in place the first thing that she did was fast and pray.
Esther 4:15-16, "Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: "Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish."
The point here is that the first thing that Esther did was make some "God room". She did this waiting with action by fasting and praying.
The lesson for us, in waiting actively, is to pray, fast, read God's word, fellowship with other Christians, and seek wise counsel. Certainly sitting on our butts is not waiting actively.
3.) We need to learn to wait joyfully:
Our culture tells us that our happiness depends completely on our circumstances. If you are beautiful, thin, rich, and talented then certainly you must be the happiest person on the planet...right?
All we need do is look at the tabloids and we quickly learn that this is not true. Yet for some reason we tend to long after this cultural ideal.
Isaiah 25:9 "In that day they will say, "Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us. This is the LORD, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation."
Isaiah was a prophet. In this verse he was talking about the coming Messiah and yet, if you understand the heart of Isaiah, you understand that he had joy today about something that he wouldn't even see in his lifetime.
To be completely honest, this is a hard one for me. My temperament leans towards the melancholy. I did not see a lot of joy modeled in my formative years. I see people around me who seem to have joy. My wife is a great example. I see people singing in the choir who, seemingly, have joy. Please don't misunderstand me, I am not depressed. I am just...well...quiet, contemplative. I am happy on occasion but I am not sure I understand joy.
Got to work on this one methinks! If you are reading this, please send a prayer on my behalf that I could begin to understand and experience God's joy.
Well...that's it. I have some work to do from this lesson. I am committed to working on this lesson and taking possession of the ability to wait expectantly, actively and joyfully. I intend to be a doer of these words and not just a hearer.
How about you? Did you learn anything from this lesson?
Hit the comment button below and let's hear your thoughts.
Here is the link to Jamie's message.
