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Audio Transcript
Welcome again to the podcast on this Monday, and thanks for listening. Tomorrow we learn Isaiah 62–64 collectively in our Bible studying plan. And that results in at the moment’s query from a listener named Mattie: “Pastor John, hiya to you! I’m a doer. I’m all the time doing the subsequent factor. I’ve loads of power. If I see one thing I would like, or that others want, I get to work. After which I learn a verse like this one in Isaiah: ‘No eye has seen a God in addition to you, who acts for many who look ahead to him’ (Isaiah 64:4). I’m not a wait-er. I don’t look ahead to something. My groceries, my espresso — every thing — I preorder on an app so I can simply drive as much as the shop and get my stuff and drive off. What does an lively particular person like me must find out about ready on God to behave? What does ready appear like for an lively particular person like me?”
Tony, one of many issues that you simply and I each hope for in doing these podcasts is that, over time, folks is not going to solely get solutions from the Bible to their questions however will discover ways to go to the Bible and get solutions for themselves. And it could be useful with this specific query to offer a easy glimpse into how I put together to reply a query like this, or how she would possibly reply her personal query.
Looking out the Scriptures for Ourselves
I do that with most episodes. I take the important thing phrase or concept that somebody asks — on this case, “ready for the Lord.” I exploit a concordance or the word-search characteristic of my Bible software program to lookup how that phrase or concept is used within the Bible. So, for those who lookup within the ESV, for instance, the phrase “wait,” with all of its varieties (like “waited” and “ready”), you get 135 makes use of within the Bible. When you lookup the phrase “look ahead to,” you get 75 makes use of, and for those who lookup the phrase “look ahead to the Lord,” you get 12 makes use of with that exact wording. So, that’s what I did.
The purpose of studying all of those makes use of of the phrase “wait” within the Bible is to see what we will discover out about how God intends for us to know and apply this actuality of ready in every kind of circumstances, together with residing a really busy, lively life, which Mattie lives and most of us dwell at the moment. I take then a bit of 8.5-by-11 paper — I do that for sermon preparation; I do that for APJ preparation — and I fold it in half. I fold the 8.5-by-11 paper in half. I exploit loads of scrap paper, in order that I can simply fold it and use the again facet, and as I learn all these makes use of within the Bible, I make notes on the paper the way it’s getting used.
“The Christian life is actually a ready, longing, anticipating, hoping life, as a result of Christ is our supreme treasure.”
Then, as I gather all these notes, I mark similarities and variations. I’ll circle, “Oh, there in that psalm it had this which means. Down right here in Proverbs, it has a really related which means.” I’ll circle these and draw a line between these two so I can join these and see if there’s a sample rising. Once I’m achieved, I step again and have a look at that huge messy piece of paper and attempt to match all of it collectively to see whether or not or not there’s some sample that’s rising or some unifying theme that’s rising out of it. So, that’s what I did with “look ahead to the Lord.”
When We Anticipate God
So, right here’s a glimpse into what I noticed in regards to the which means of “ready for the Lord.” I’ll simply give my working glimpses after which draw some inferences for Mattie on the finish.
1. Psalm 106:13: “They didn’t look ahead to his counsel.” So, the primary which means of ready that I noticed was this: when you could have a choice in entrance of you, don’t run forward, consulting your personal intelligence, your personal preparation, consulting your personal professional, your personal physician first. All that’s high-quality, after all, however first, seek the advice of the Lord. There are loads of texts within the Bible that criticize God’s folks for working forward to Egypt or working forward to some helper reasonably than working to the Lord. So, flip to the Lord first and look ahead to his path reasonably than simply blundering forward.
2. Psalm 33:20–21: “Our soul waits for the Lord; he’s our assist and our defend. For our coronary heart is glad in him, as a result of we belief in his holy title.” So, ready for the Lord means not solely that we pause to seek the advice of his will, looking his phrase, however that, as soon as we all know God’s path, we belief him. We belief him. There’s a coronary heart disposition to count on and look ahead to him to behave in a reliable means.
3. Psalm 39:7–8: “Now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in you. Ship me from all my transgressions.” Psalm 130:6: “My soul waits for the Lord greater than watchmen for the morning, greater than watchmen for the morning.” So, ready for the Lord means not solely taking time to seek the advice of him, then trusting him, but in addition eagerly anticipating and hoping that he’ll act. We’re in search of his motion in our lives. That’s the textual content she quoted: the Lord “acts [works] for many who look ahead to him” (Isaiah 64:4).
4. Proverbs 20:22: “Don’t say, ‘I’ll repay evil’; look ahead to the Lord, and he’ll ship you.” In different phrases, since God says that he’ll settle accounts for you and that you shouldn’t return evil for evil, then don’t take issues into your personal palms. Go about your enterprise and look ahead to the Lord to carry justice. Anticipate the Lord to vindicate your trigger.
5. Isaiah 8:17: “I’ll look ahead to the Lord, who’s hiding his face from the home of Jacob, and I’ll hope in him.” There are occasions within the Christian life when God hides his face from us and places us to the check. Will we neglect him? Will we begin to construct our lives on one other basis when his visage has grown dim? Or will we look ahead to him with endurance in seasons of darkness till God returns and provides us mild?
6. Romans 8:23: “We . . . who’ve the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our our bodies,” and “we look ahead to it with endurance” (Romans 8:25). The entire posture of the Christian life is considered one of eagerly ready for the approaching of Christ and the redemption of our our bodies. The absence of the one we love, Jesus Christ, from this earth — his absence bodily from our presence and this earth — implies that the Christian life is actually a ready, longing, anticipating, hoping life, as a result of Christ is our supreme treasure, nothing on the earth.
7. Lastly, there’s a cluster of texts that clarify that this lifetime of ready is a life filled with Spirit-dependent motion. Now Mattie’s ears ought to perk up. For instance, Titus 2:11–14: “The grace of God . . . [is] coaching us to . . . dwell self-controlled, upright, godly lives” — it feels like Mattie could be very self-controlled — “on this current age, ready for our blessed hope, the showing of the glory of our nice God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself . . . [to make us] zealous for good works.” So, this can be a very lively, zealous, working ready. We’re “ready for our blessed hope,” and he makes us in that ready zealous for good work.
Busy however Ready
So, we step again from our very transient survey of a few of these 135 cases of ready. We step again from our assortment of biblical revelation in regards to the which means of ready and ask, Are there any frequent denominators working by all of those makes use of of the phrase “ready”? And I’d sum it up like this:
1. The one that waits for the Lord is first frequently acutely aware of God — his will, his guarantees, his grace to assist. It’s a God-conscious particular person, not an individual who forgets God all day lengthy. You’re not ready for God all day lengthy for those who’re forgetting God all day lengthy.
2. The one that waits for the Lord is wanting God to point out up and reveal himself and act in no matter means is required.
3. The one that waits for the Lord has a spirit of moment-by-moment dependence on the ever-arriving future grace of God — like a river coming towards you second by second. We’re relying on that.
So, for Mattie, this might imply that, in all her busyness, she doesn’t lose her consciousness of God, she doesn’t lose her continuous want for him to behave, and even in her most busy moments, she realizes that, until the Lord acts for her, in her, by her, all her busyness is in useless. So, she’s ever anticipating, ever ready for the moment-by-moment arrival of the sustaining, guiding, serving to grace of God.
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