CrossTrainers

Date: May 19th 2010

Speaker: Bob Stouffer

Title: God Built –  “Wait for the Lord”

Opening

You have probably heard me speak about the fertility issues early our marriage.  We tried and tried, but Cheryl could not get pregnant.

Over the course of several years, we suffered through frustration.   We tracked body temperatures and optimum periods of ovulation.

I was poked and probed by two doctors and an intern, and they discovered that I had testicular varicosity of the veins, thus constricting the production of sperm.  A little embarrassing it was.

Month-in and month-out, we tried new strategies, but no pregnancy. The doctors said our next option was in vitro fertilization, which would have cost $10,000 an attempt – with no guarantee of success.  I was a teacher making around $15,000 a year!   We said, “No, thanks.  We need to step back and be give this some more time.”

One month later, Cheryl was pregnant with Molly! Praise the Lord!  I will never forget that winter day when Cheryl poked her head into my classroom during a school day, her eyes brimming with tears, a grin spreading across her face!

Fast forward a few years.

The infertility issues continued. Cheryl had to deal with thyroid cancer, and the radioactive iodine treatment was unsafe for conception.  She got a clean bill-of-health.  We kept trying.  No success.

Cheryl’s cycle would last weeks on-end.  We decided she better have the equivalent of a hysterectomy.   So, natural childbirth was out of the question.  But we still wanted more children. We looked into adoption.  We were set to adopt through an international agency in the Dominican Republic, but adoptions were discontinued when insidious people in that country were blinding infants for black market corneal transplants.

We started figuring that God was trying to “tell” us something.  Perhaps we should be grateful to have Molly alone.

Then, my sister-in-law, Amy, found out about children who were available for adoption in Brazil.  I called Ed Nahas, who had done our home study.  I asked if we could get another copy of our home study in Spanish.  He asked if we would be willing to adopt a bi-racial child in the Des Moines area.  Adoption agencies have greater difficulty finding placements for bi-racial children, since these children eventually live in two worlds of race.

Obviously, if we were willing to adopt from the Dominican or Brazil, we would be willing to adopt a bi-racial child.

At that time, the attorney who did 60% of the private closed adoptions in Polk County was also, not coincidentally, the father of two sons who had been students at Urbandale High School while I was Principal of UHS.

In fewer than 10 days, Cheryl and I picked Hannah up from this attorney’s office!  She was 21 days old!

Praise the Lord!  We were parents again, and we had no less joy in an attorney’s office than we experienced in the birthing room!

There was a lot of waiting in those stories, wasn’t there?  Perhaps you were even frustrated for Cheryl and me at certain points of these testimonies.

But wasn’t God so good in blessing us with Molly, and wasn’t God so good in blessing us with Hannah – in his perfect timing?!!

Waiting on the Lord.

Steve Farrar has it right in his book, God Built — “Waiting is easy to write about.  But it’s hard to live out.”  (p. 147)

Discuss these questions with one other guy –

#1  Who in the Bible was willing to wait on the Lord?

• Noah, even if everyone else thought him foolish

• Moses, for 40 years as a shepherd

• Joshua, marching around Jericho and, as for his household, he served the Lord

• Job, in spite of his tragic circumstances

• Elijah, Elisha, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and the other prophets of God

• Hannah, who gave her son Samuel over the Lord for ministry

• David, who could have killed Saul on more than one occasion, and who had been anointed by Samuel

Steve wrote in his book, “Interesting, isn’t it, that when God looks for a man after His own heart [David], the test of that man’s heart is his willingness to wait.”  (p. 140)

• Ruth

• Daniel, Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego

• John the Baptist

• Jesus

• John

• Paul

• Peter

• Stephen

#2  Who in the Bible was not willing to wait on the Lord?

• Adam and Eve

• Sarai, not waiting for the son promised by the Lord, and Ishmael was the result

• Jacob, who stole his brother Esau’s birthright

• Moses, when he took matters into his own hand and murdered an Egyptian

• King Saul, who built an altar when told not to and who didn’t kill all of his enemies’ livestock, when he was told to

In God Built, Steve Farrar wrote, “Saul was unwilling to wait.  And he lost the kingdom that could have been his for generations.  Resisting God’s training, he just didn’t have the heart to obey.”  (p. 140)

• The Prodigal Son

• All of the disciples who walked away from Jesus and His hard teaching

Text of Analysis

Joseph was falsely thrown into jail, and he was forced to wait.  But Joseph was good at waiting.  And God is good at being faithful.  Joseph waited from his 17^th birthday until his 30^th birthday until the Lord placed him in a position of honor, power, and prestige.

God “is in control over prolonged waiting.”  (p. 129)

“. . .none of us likes to wait – for anything.”  (p. 130)

We often ask, “Why doesn’t God do something miraculous and instantly change our situations when we are waiting?”  (p. 130)

“We’re sometimes compelled to wait in uncomfortable, uneasy circumstances, where the outcome is far from certain.  But even then – perhaps especially then – God is at work.”  (p. 130, emphasis in original)

Isaiah 64:4 – “No eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him.”  (English Standard Version)

“. . .God is always working.  While we are waiting, God is working.”  (p. 131, emphasis in original)

South African Pastor Andrew Murray –

In difficult and unwanted circumstances –  waited and journaled –

“Let me say I am here,

1. By God’s appointment
2. In His keeping
3. Under His training
4. For His time.”

That’s good, isn’t it?!

“Joseph was being trained in prison while he waited.  He had to learn to wait on God for His timing.”  (p. 138, emphasis in original)

“You never read one word about [Joseph] complaining to the Lord or becoming bitter.”  (p. 139)

And “Going into his two-year stint of prolonged waiting, Joseph had no idea how long he would be in that mode.  The Lord had determined two years, and two years it was.”  (p. 141)

Lamentations 3:1-25   “. . .the LORD is good to those who wait for Him.”

Psalm 130:5 – “I wait for the LORD, my soul does wait, and in His word do I hope.”

“If you are waiting on God, the only way that you keep hope alive is to stay in your Bible.  Read it, chew on it, and embrace the promises. . . .Keep your Bible open and live off the promises.”  (p. 148)

Questions for Consideration and Applications

• How do you draw closer to God while you are waiting on Him?
• Steve Farrar wrote, “We’re sometimes compelled to wait in uncomfortable, uneasy circumstances, where the outcome is far from certain.”  What sorts of spiritual disciplines or daily activities might help us hold onto our faith when we’re in situations like this?
• Read Psalm 25:3, 27:14, 28:9, 37:7, 37:34; 48:14, 62:5, and 147:11.  Read Isaiah 40:31 and 46:3-4.  What does the Word of God promise for those who wait patiently on the Lord?
• Andrew Murray wrote, “Let me say I am here by God’s appointment, in His keeping, under His training, and for His time.”  Which of those aspects of waiting bring/s you the most comfort and encouragement right now, and why?
• What answer to a prayer are you waiting on right now?  How patient have you been during your wait?
• What are the dangers of refusing to wait for the Lord’s timing and bulling ahead on our own schedule and in our own wisdom?

Closing

God blessed us with Hannah and Molly, but Cheryl and I could have been childless.  Children, income, possessions, prestige, and power do not, ultimately, satisfy.

God sustained the Israelites with daily manna and water.  But such bread and water pale in comparison to Jesus.  Jesus is the “living water” and the bread which brings eternal life.

Wait on the Lord.

Wait on the Lord.

Wait on the Lord.

God is enough.

God is enough.

God is enough.

Let’s pray. . .

Click HERE for the Full Audio for this message.

(notes provided by Bob Stouffer)