The Waiting Room of Faith

In faith, from a particular aspect of it, and a very impactful aspect of faith, the title of our sermon today, The Waiting Room of Faith. The Waiting Room of Faith. And I invite you to open your Bibles, and let's turn to the beginning of the Bible, almost to the beginning, Genesis chapter 16. If you'll turn there with me, we will read verses 1 through 15 to establish our study today. That's Genesis 16 verses 1 through 15, where we come to the story which involves Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, and Ishmael. Do you know this story? Here in this story, it provides to us what I believe is an incredible, valuable moment in our spiritual journey that is recorded for us, specifically in our journey of faith. Concerning these four individuals, we have this moment again where it will give us, we'll be able to glean great spiritual wealth from it. In this whole matter of faith in God, and specifically faith while waiting. While waiting on God. Faith while waiting on his promises. Faith while waiting on his intervention. And I hope to bring this very personal to you today. I want you to participate in the message today by really thinking about how this specifically affects you and in your journey. If you find yourself waiting on God, what are you waiting on God for today? Perhaps some of us are waiting on God to intercede with a loved one. Perhaps you have a loved one, someone you love, to whom you've been praying and waiting for them to respond to their call from God and step into that relationship. Perhaps some of us are waiting for some kind of intercession with a family relationship. Perhaps a family relationship that's going through a period of stress. Waiting for God to provide some kind of resolution. Are you in that waiting room of faith? Perhaps waiting for God to intercede in a conflict. Perhaps a friend, maybe a conflict between a spiritual brother or sister. Waiting for reconciliation. You're in that reconciliation room, waiting room. Perhaps some of us, and I know many of us, are in the waiting room of faith, waiting for healing due to sickness or disease.

There may be some single individuals out there who find yourself waiting on God to answer a prayer of bringing you a faithful partner, perhaps a future spouse. Again, what are you waiting on God for today? Well, with all of this and all of these things that I mentioned and many more, we will find ourselves absolutely being tested in this specific area of faith.

And if you find yourself in that area, in that room, I do want today to bring you directly to and introduce you in a very intimate way this storyline of these four individuals, and particularly this couple that we enter into their life, Abraham and Sarah, as they find themselves in that very situation. So let's begin reading here. Genesis 16. We're going to begin in verse 1.

Here's the scenario. Here's the situation. Genesis 16 verse 1. Now, Sarai, of course later to be changed to Sarah, Sarai, Abram's wife, of course this is Abraham, his name would later be changed to, Sarah, Abraham's Abram's wife, had borne him no children, and she had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar. So Sarai said to Abram, See now, the Lord has restrained me from bearing children. Please go into my maid. Perhaps I shall obtain children by her. And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai. And Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar, her maid, the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife. After Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, so he went into Hagar, and she conceived. And when she, Sarah, saw that she had conceived, her mistress Hagar, with her mistress Hagar, her mistress became despised in her eyes. Then Sarai said to Abram, My wrong be upon you.

I gave my maid into your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, I became despised in her eyes. And the Lord's judge between you and me. So Abram said to Sarai, Indeed, your maid is in your hand, due to her as you please. And she dwelt harshly with her, and she, Hagar, fled from her presence. Verse 7, Now the angel of the Lord found her, that's Hagar, by the spring of the water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur. And he said, Hagar, Sarai's maid, here, where have you come from, and where are you going? She said, I am fleeing the presence of my mistress.

The angel of the Lord said to Hagar, Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hand. Then the angel of the Lord said to her, I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, that they shall not be counted for multitude. And the angel of the Lord said to her, Behold, you are with child, and you shall bear a son, and you shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lord has heard your affliction.

He, verse 12, shall be a wild man. His hand shall be against every man, and every man's hand against him. And he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren. Verse 13.

So then she called the name of the Lord, who spoke to her, You are the God who sees.

For she said, Have I also here seen him who sees me? Therefore the well was called, Bear Lahyroy. Observe, it shall be between Kadesh and Bored, verse 15. So Hagar bore Abram's son, and Abram named his son, whom Hagar bore Ishmael. And Abram was 86 years old, when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram. 86 years old. Let's stop there. Well, that's the situation. Quite a dramatic passage, I'm sure you agree.

And as we begin here, we might do well to remind ourselves that when you begin to read your Bible, you will often discover that the heroes of faith are often painted in Scripture, blemishes and all. That is an absolute fact, I know you agree. Where the heroes, as they're described in the Bible, they are, we are given a front view of their successes, absolutely. But also, they're great failures.

And that fact really shows us that we have a God who is a God of ordinary human beings. So if you consider yourself ordinary, well, you're in good company. And I want you to feel connected to Abraham in this story, specifically. And with Sarah, you know, we look upon them and their great successes, and sometimes we can feel removed from them. Well, they were on this journey just as we are, and ordinary human beings who, with God's help, would do extraordinary things, of course.

But when you look at the life of this man, Abraham, Abraham is described as the father of the faithful, as he would become known. And we are giving a front row seat to his triumphs recorded again, but also his failures. And I got to tell you, when you look at chapter 16, this is absolutely one of the greatest failures described in all the Bible, we could say. When you look at this portion of text here, we notice that Abraham and Sarah faced a problem, a real problem, a real human problem, a problem that we could all connect to.

And I think this problem that they face could be summarized as the problem of waiting. Waiting. Specifically, waiting on God, waiting on his promise, waiting on his timing to fulfill that promise. And again, I do want to make this very personal, because if we're honest, we have this problem as well. You know, sometimes we can look at the small, insignificant things, and they can sometimes be an indicator of a bigger problem. How many of us, when driving on the highway, and there is a highway shutdown, like we experienced today, and perhaps at the first indication that there's a slow down ahead, how many of us then almost automatically begin to crank your head back and forward, your blinkers on, you know, doing all you can to maneuver into the next lane?

The next lane, which obviously has the more sane drivers, you know, because they're moving on in a speedily way there, and you're trying to devise a plan by which you can move over and manage this impatience that has emerged in your heart at that time.

If you've been in a grocery store, and you begin to naturally and automatically calculate the over-under of each line that you get behind, and you know, at the slightest notion that the person you're behind is going to perform some kind of shenanigans with how they pay or something, or perhaps acts the cashier some random question, you're devising a way to get into the other line. And then God, you know, so you do move yourself into the line, and God mercifully punishes you because the other line then goes quicker than the one you move to, you know.

You know, those are the circumstances we may face in our daily lives, small circumstances, insignificant at best, of course, but perhaps it is a small indication of something that needs to be addressed. Perhaps these small circumstances speak to a larger circumstance, an issue with waiting, something more significant. You know, this is a really needed self-examination because we're not talking about these daily situations merely, you know, the traffic situation, the grocery situation. There are real consequences when it comes to us being tested in the waiting room of our faith in God, and those issues have eternal consequences.

So we may have a problem in the waiting room of faith. Our faith in God is being tested.

It has been said that waiting, in spiritual terms, waiting often reveals more about us in our spiritual journey than anything else that we face. I wonder if you agree with that.

You know, because when you read the Bible, that might be so because the Bible constantly asks God's people to wait, wait on the promises of God, on the precious promises of God. And often, the promises are given without any kind of restraint, kind of time restraint, or time constraint, if you will. What you find in Scripture, most often, is that God's people are asked to wait on, wait not until any specific time revealed, but actually to wait upon a specific event to occur. I think you'll find that to be true. I'll repeat that. Most often, you'll find in Scripture that God's people are asked to wait, wait not on any specific time for an event to be revealed, but actually, we're asked to wait for a specific event to occur without any kind of time constraint added to it, you see. And that makes all the difference in the world with regards to our faith. Many of us have no problem, or we have an easier problem, when we're asked to wait until a specific time. Hey, I'm going to need you to wait on this until Thursday at three o'clock, right? And so we're able to, it's a much easier man, is that, okay, I can wait until Thursday at three o'clock. But take away the time constraint and ask for a future event to occur at some undisclosed time. That changes everything, doesn't it? But again, that's what the Bible most often exhorts us to do. We're told to watch, be ready, wait on the promises of God to be fulfilled, all given without any specific time context.

We're exhorted to wait only in the context of the faithfulness of God, and we're asked to put our faith in Him. You see? So again, I want to bring it personal. What do you find yourself waiting on in this spiritual context? Waiting on God to intercede with a loved one, waiting God to, for reconciliation, repair of relationships, waiting for healing in a sickness, waiting for prayers to intervene with our partner. You see? And we ask God, and we're asked to have faith in God's promises without knowing when those promises will be fulfilled. Faith often, if not always, demands that we wait. That we wait. And the interesting thing here with Abraham is you will discover this one man who would become known as the Father of the Faithful. When you read his story, one of the most effective things to move him into that designation was that God was constantly asking him to wait. Go out, I'll tell you when you get there, and I'll tell you when to stop. You know, all these different things. Abraham's life was really marked by this technique, this use of waiting to build his faith and to move him into that designation of being a Father of the Faithful. And here in chapter 16, where you really get to the heart of the matter here, when you think of God's promises, when you look at chapter 16 verse 1 again, here's the crux of the matter, the heart of the matter. Chapter 16 verse 1, when it says, now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. Okay, but what were we told just one chapter earlier? Turn back to chapter 15 verse 5. What was the problem? What was the promise here? Look at chapter 15 verse 5 here. She had borne him no children, but look at the promise. Chapter 15 verse 5 and 6. Here's what occurred earlier. Then he took him, that's Abram, Abraham, outside. So God took Abraham outside and said, look now toward heaven and count the stars if you're able to number them.

And then he said to Abraham, so shall your descendants be. Verse 6, and he, Abraham, believed in the Lord and God accounted it to him for righteousness. Okay, let's stop there.

Okay, but then again, just a short period later, we discover Sarai had borne him no children.

So in the midst of the promise, he believed, Abraham believed, yet he still confronted with the waiting process. God asked him to be in that waiting room of faith, where his character would be tested and tried, and if he responded properly, over time his faith would be built. So the call of God came upon this couple with the promise inherent within it, and then from them would come this promise of an inheritance, but here some 10 years later after that promise, presumably as each month passed, their hopes may have risen and decreased. With each year passed, the hopes would rise. Maybe this is the year that God will fulfill this promise he's made to us. If we could give us a child, but the months passed, the years passed, and went. Abraham and Sarah growing older, growing tireder, becoming more weary, less hopeful.

Can you connect with this? Life in the waiting room of faith?

But you know, look at the last verse here of chapter 16. Again, chapter 16 verse 16, what does it say?

Chapter 16 verse 16, Abram was 86 years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram. So that means Sarah was in her 70s at this point. Elderly woman, well past childbearing years, looking into her husband's eyes every morning, saying with each day, this can't happen. This is not going to happen here. And so what you find is that human reasoning in the shadow of God's promise, human reasoning takes center stage. Human reasoning. Just so you know, and you can be careful to watch for this, human reasoning can be very hostile in relation to our faith.

Very often, human reasoning, it's unable to bow and submit before the promises of God. Okay, this is what's occurring here with Sarah and Abraham. Once human reasoning appears, it begins to decide what God is able to do or not able to do. Is God still with us?

Did he really mean what he said? Will he actually fulfill his promise? Is he so displeased with us that the promise is annulled? Has he removed himself from us? You know, they believed God was real. They believed he was all-powerful. They believed that God had promised them a son, but they don't have a son.

So, would they allow these questions in their time in the waiting room to diminish their faith?

Well, unfortunately, they did decide not to wait. Okay, and rather than wait, they decided to formulate their own plan to bring about the promises of God. Very interesting there. I wonder if we have ever done that. Formulate their own plan in themselves bringing about the promise of God. Okay, so think about how do we do that? What are some examples? You know, well, the pattern in Scripture is that God would have me leave my parents and join to someone else and come together as one and be fruitful and multiply, but there is no one. God has brought me no one. So, I am going to look past all of these hesitations and looking past that this is not the person for me, and in doing so, I am going to try to manufacture in my own way to bring about God's intentions in my life and promises in my life. You see, that's just one example. I'm going to bring it about and somehow convince myself I'm participating in bringing about the promises of God. All the while, though, not seeing this is motivated by my own human nature.

So, really think about where human nature perhaps has entered into your thought process and really bring it to God and ask God, what do you want me to do in this circumstance? I find myself in this waiting room and I find myself being tested. My faith is being tested.

Where do I go forward? Where do I pull back? What do you want me to do? And wait for clarity.

Ask God to make it obvious, because we don't want to go forward in the way that Abraham and Sarah did. In trying to manufacture God's promises, all chaos broke loose. You read about the descendants. We read just then of Ishmael. All chaos would break forth from them manufacturing or trying to bring about God's promises in their own timing. It's so logical and so reasonable. After all, he's in his 80s. Did God want them to wait another 10 years? That doesn't make any sense. Why would God want to wait another 10 years? He made the promise.

Does God expect me to wait? I believe that this aspect of faith is a means by which God brings us to the highest pinnacle of faith. I think it was the case for Abraham. The highest realms of faith. God may be calling us to wait and to find joy and purpose and meaning and peace in the waiting room. And by doing so, we're walking in the deep path of faith. He's calling us to receive challenges and receive delays at the same time and to not look for another resolution on our own terms, in our own timing. There's challenges in these delays, but God is moving in our lives, perhaps to take us to a higher level of faith here. I hope you're up to the challenge. I hope you're up to the challenge. There's this challenge of preparing ourselves for the long haul and the delays. I believe God is working with us specifically in this area. Here is a local congregation. I think we have a wonderful, faithful group here, and many of us find ourselves in the waiting room of faith, and it's a good place to be. It's an effective place to be spiritually, I believe. God is faithful, and you can have faith in Him, no matter the delays. Because look at chapter 17. Go forward to chapter 17, beginning in verse 17. We find here in chapter 17, Abraham now is some 99 years old, that God now makes a promise to him, and he keeps his promise.

God is not the author of unfinished business. Look at this. Chapter 17, verse 1 and 2.

Here it is, when Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to Abraham and said to him, I am Almighty God. Walk before me and be blameless, and I will make my covenant between me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly. That's amazing. So, God made the covenant with Abram in chapter 15. Abraham and Sarah make a whole mess of it in chapter 16. And what does God do? Well, he comes in chapter 17, and he renews the same promise he made to Abraham.

And look how he comes here. Look at the middle of verse 1. How does God reveal himself to Abraham after the mess of chapter 16? The Lord appears to him and says to him, I am Almighty God.

So, he reveals himself to Abraham as El Shaddai. That's, I am El Shaddai. That's the words here.

Let me remind you, Abraham, who I am. I am God Almighty. And then look at verse 3 and 4. Then Abraham, understandably so, fell on his face, verse 3, and God talked with him, and saying, As for me, behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations.

Amazing here. As for me, Abraham, now, I don't know about you. We're working on your faith. You know, we're working it out. But just so you know, God says, as for me, you shall. I'm faithful. You shall be the father of many nations. It's going to happen. Why is it going to happen, Abraham? Because I said it was going to happen, God says.

Do we believe that? Do we believe that? That's a very important aspect of faith in the waiting room. Now, often what you will find as you're sitting there in this room is that from our perspective, resolution, solution, often almost seems impossible. It's not. Impossible is not in the vocabulary of God. How will God stretch our faith this upcoming year? Well, what he's going to do is he's going to allow for some impossibilities to come into our life in order to stretch our faith. In order to stretch our faith, he knows we need some broken bridges. We need some walls that are too high to scale. We need some water that's too deep to swim in. And perhaps add some crashing waves for good measure. Why? It's because at those moments we have nothing else to do that we can do except rest in the faithfulness of the world.

And we need to be aware of the importance of our Almighty Father and give ourselves fully over to Him. Have faith in Him according to His timing. Well, in the end, God did fulfill His promise. Forward to Genesis 21, verse 1 and 2. If you'll turn there with me now. Genesis 21, verse 1 and 2, the conclusion of it all, God was faithful in fulfilling His promises to Abraham and Sarah, where we read these words here. Genesis 21, verse 1, And the Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as he had spoken.

For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, by the way, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. Let's stop there. What a valuable two Pat 2 scriptures here. So valuable. Don't miss these words here. Verse 1, As God had said, and as he had spoken.

Also, verse 2, at the set time. At the set time.

What's the takeaway for us? Just as it was not the timing of Abraham and Sarah, perhaps God will intercede according to our desires and our timing, but not always. Particularly if he's looking to stretch our faith. So it'll be according to his time, and his timing is perfect, and not our way. Often God's going to intercede and intervene in a way that is unexpected. So expect the unexpected while you're waiting there in the waiting room of faith. But with Abraham and Sarah, now at this moment, what seemed impossible, what once caused doubt, what once led to missteps in the waiting room, was ultimately fulfilled by the unchanging faithfulness of God. Isn't that awesome? That God is faithful even when we're not.

And he's so patient, and he's so loving, and so caring, that he fulfills his promises and shows us the example of what he wants from us. And that's grace, you know, and grace can have the biggest impact on us in the realm of faith.

So let me leave you with this simple, yet profound, I believe, in its application.

When you find yourself needing to exercise faith in the waiting room, focus on who God is. Focus on the who. Who is he? Remind yourself of that.

Focus on the what. What loving promises has God spoken to us? So focus on the who. He's faithful. Focus on the what. His loving promises to us. Focus on the why.

The why is that he's perhaps looking to develop just an unshakable faith in us.

The why. So that's the who, the what, and the why. And avoid, when you're in the waiting room of faith, avoid focusing on the when.

Avoid focusing on the when. And just rest in the assurance it'll be according to the perfect timing of our gracious Father.

So, waiting, waiting for healing. Waiting for healing. God is faithful.

His promise, he will restore, renew, and sustain you. He spoke those words. I will restore. I will renew. I will sustain you. It's a pretty good promise to focus on. And the why. Father, allow this time in the waiting room with regards to my health, allow it to be to produce an unshakable faith in me. And I'm going to put off those thoughts of when. And I'll just say, be gracious to me. Father, be merciful, if you would.

Restoration in a relationship. God is faithful. What's the truth? What's the promise? What can you think about if you're looking for a reconciliation in a relationship?

Well, God reconciled humanity to himself through Jesus Christ. That's a pretty good thing to think about. And then God has given us a ministry of reconciliation, meaning He's enabled us to have that same capability, the same power for reconciliation. So you have it within you, the power, and you're enabled to move within that ministry of reconciliation.

That's a good thing to focus on, to move your thoughts away from when. What can I do while I'm waiting? Maybe one more. Waiting for direction with a difficult decision. Waiting for answers.

Well, if you seek it, God will—His promise is He will direct you and carry you through it. He will answer your prayers. Absolutely. He will guide your steps. A good practice is to research all of the promises God has made with regards to this issue that I'm facing, you see. And I'm going to believe them. I'm going to believe them. And I'm going to believe God and know that He will fulfill it. And just overall remind yourself that God is El Shaddai, the Almighty God. This is whom He revealed Himself as to Abraham. And He will act in perfect time, never too early, never too late, but exactly according to His will.

So, brethren, just as it was with Abraham and Sarah, may we find peace and even joy in the waiting room of faith. May we exercise the who and the what and the why and learn from this incredible story that's been revealed to us through Scripture. And stay strong while you're in the waiting room because on the strength of who God is, He is worth the wait.