The Empty Space - On Waiting

One of hardest things to do is to wait. This sermon explores the reality of waiting from the life of Elijah.

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Transcript

The Empty Space:  Good morning, morning, morning. The difference between an atom and the solar system is significant. One is almost the smallest unit of matter. And the other is the largest unit of matter that's immediately surrounding us. And yet the similarity is that for both of them, the component that occupies the most space is the empty space between. The matter, this empty space I would argue is critical for the existence of that matter. This morning in a sermon entitled the empty space. I want to look at the concept of waiting and I would argue that the periods of waiting "the empty space" is necessary and critical for the existence of periods of.

I was given this topic to speak on the topic awaiting from first Kings chapter 18, but I took some Liberty and I'm going to extend it to a chapter on either side the 17 through 19.

So I've divided this sermon into five parts. In the first part, we will look at the reality of waiting. Then we will look at the uncertainty of waiting. We will look at the promise in waiting, the lessons in waiting and finally the purpose of waiting.

First, let's look at the reality of waiting and we will be reading some portions of the Bible of these three chapters, obviously not the whole thing because of the lack of time.

So I'm going to assume that there is some kind of background knowledge and for the rest of it, we will fill it in, in quick, short sentences. All right. 

The reality of waiting in first Kings chapter 17, verses one to six, 17 verses one to six. Let me read it for us. Now, Elijah, the Tishbite from Tishbe in Gilead said to Ahab as the Lord, the God of Israel lives, whom I serve, there will be neither do nor rain in the next few years, except at my word, then the word of the Lord came to Elijah, leave here, turn eastward and hide in the carrot ravine east of the Jordan. You will drink from the Brook and I have directed the Ravens to supply you with food there. So he did what the Lord had told him.

He went to the character we need. So the Jordan stayed there. The Ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening. And he drank from. Now Elijah came out of nowhere and pronounced a drought on Israel. Why? Drought? Probably because the God that they were worshiping was Baal and Baal is the God of rain and thunder. The God of storm. So God said, you know what? Since your God is a God of rain, let me just hold the rain and see what happens. And so then Elijah goes away and stays near a Brook. And at this Brook, there is water, but there is no food. And so every morning he wakes up, he brushes his teeth with maybe a twig or something and he'd drink some water and he's hungry and he's waiting for food.

And then a couple of Ravens come with bread and meat. He eats the food, drinks, the water, and just waits around. His servant is probably with him. And by afternoon, There is no food. He drinks a little more water and he just waits for his food to come. Then in the evening, the food comes Ravens, bring food in the morning and evening.

So he has to wait. And this is a little lesson that God is teaching him. In fact of all the miracles that God did through Elijah, this one is directed toward him. All the other miracles are directed away from him through him. And so God is teaching this little lesson that Elijah has to wait.

Everyone must wait. If you've been a Christian Long enough, or if you've been in the ministry long enough, you will learn that it is a mandatory lesson.  , Abraham had to wait for 25 years. Moses had to wait for 40 years to get his calling. David had to wait after he was anointed with oil to become the king, he went back and he was still a shepherd. And then years later is when he became king. Disciples were in the upper room for 10 days. And Jesus said, wait for the gift that my father promised. And it'll be a few days. And they just waited. It happened to be 10 days. Even Jesus had 18 years of obscurity. You would think for a person who's gonna die at 33, that Jesus would have started as a ministry, I don't know, maybe 20 and done a ministry for 13 years or when he was 12. And he mesmerized the teachers of the law with his knowledge of the law. He could have started his ministry right then. But no, he had 18 years of obscurity, and then he came, he burst forth for three years of ministry.

Everybody has to wait. God is not in a hurry at all God is not in a hurry. He could have done creation in three seconds. Instead it took six days. He did a part. Then he waited morning and evening next day, another part waited morning, and God is not in a hurry. He could have done redemption very quickly right after sin, but he waited 4,000 years.

God is not in a hurry at all. The servant always waits for the master. 

Luke chapter 12, verse 36 reads like servants waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet so that when he comes in knocks, they can immediately open the door for him. The lessor always waits for the greater.. And if you find that you're not waiting at all, it may be that we are moving ahead of God and we should not be moving ahead of God.

We should be waiting for God to move first. And then we move.

 Second let's look at the uncertainty of waiting. The uncertainty of waiting in first Kings chapter 17, verses seven through 24. I'll read verses seven eight. First Kings 17, 7, 8, and nine, sometime later, the Brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land.

Then the word of the Lord came to him go at once to zarephat in the region of sidonand stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food. Now, Elijah was at the Brook, the Brook dried up and God said, go to the widows. Insight. And I wonder why there, no, there could have been many other places. Maybe because queen jezebel is  from there and the, the headquarters of Baal is in Phoenicia insight.

And so God is showing well, he was supposed to bring rain and he didn't bring rain. Now let me go to his backyard and show him that he doesn't exist. Which by the way is a completely illogical statement that I just said, because if he doesn't exist, then you cant show that he doesn't exist. And if he does exist, you know, you can't show that he doesn't exist.

So, but you get the idea. God wanted to show in general that Baal doesn't exist. And so Elijah is here miraculously supplying food to the widow in Baal's backyard. What was Elijah doing here? What is the larger doing? He was waiting. What was he waiting for? His next assignment? There was no other assignment.

This was the assignment. He was waiting for the command that God would say it's going to rain. Okay. So let's read, let me read two verses 17 verse one says Elijah, the Tishbite from Tishman Juliet said to a hub as the Lord, the God of Israel lives, whom I serve, they will be now the do no rain in the next few years, except that my word there was no end point.

just next few years. chapter 18. After a long time in the third year, the word of the Lord came to Elijah, go and present yourself to Ahab. And I will send rain on the land. It ended up being three years. And these are the hardest, right? And there is no end point. If Abraham knew that his waiting period was going to be 25 years, he would not get into trouble with Hagar.

But he didn't know the end point. It's like, if you're playing hide and seek and you say, okay, you count to 20 and I will go hide. And after the count is done, they come and find you. But whatever you said, you count and keep counting and let's see,  you know, you'll stop at some point. 

Most of our waiting is uncertain because there is no end point. There is an end point when God says there is an end point at the end point, not at the beginning of the waiting. And so the more we wait without an end point, then we wonder about so many different things. Doubts start coming in. did God hear me?

Am I doing the right thing? Am I following God's will or should I have gone? Did I do something wrong? Is God punishing me for sin? It's the uncertainty of waiting. That is the most difficult thing. I moved from India to the U S in 2003. When I moved from India, I was involved in a lot of ministry in India.

I was the pastor of the English, part of the local church, where my dad was the pastor of the colloquial language. And I was preaching two times a week. We had a ton of Bible study in the middle. We had a lot of. College meetings going on, we had monthly medical meetings going on. I was teaching at a Bible school.

I mean, there was so many things going on. And when I came to the U S a couple of people promised and said, you know, when you come, we will make sure that you have plenty of ministry. I said, that's great. And I came here and like Joseph, Who put all his cards in the hand of the Butler to save him and get him out of jail.

That didn't work. I was in Chicago for two years. Never got a chance to do any minutes. And when you've been in the ministry and you've done certain things, or you have any kind of gifting and then you don't do it, it's one of the most miserable things. I went to Boston for a couple of years, hardly any minister I spoke in on a Sunday afternoon, somewhere every now and then, but that was a two years there went to new Orleans for one year.

Nothing. Came to Kansas city. And two years in Kansas city, I started attending a church and I went and spoke to the pastor. And it's my dad who was there at the time, because I wouldn't really go and announce my credentials. If you will. Do that, I'm not that kind. So my dad said, oh, he's got a doctorate ministry from fuller Robin right off the bat.

He told pastor at that time, oh my son, he's got doctrine, Minnesota fuller. And he's a preacher. And so, yes. And about a few weeks later, pastor Kim may, I mean, one of the most godly people I've met, pastor Kim may said okay, why don't you come and speak at our adult Sunday school? On the topic of Jesus.

I mean, there's no greater topic. The topic of Jesus coming, speaking to, I said, sure, I got my little laptop and went there. And he was there attending the adult Sunday school in this little tiny room on the other side of the church. And he was there taking notes. And after that little session was done, he came and said, that was great.

I took. Oh, who says that, which senior pastor says that to this new guy who came out of nowhere. And since then I was on regular teaching schedule at church, so that was seven years since I first came to the. And that is about 11 years ago. I was on the earlier side of life.

Not as I am now. The hardest part is the uncertainty, is not knowing the end point, not knowing the end point. If we all just knew when that answer would come, whether it is two years or 10 years, no problem. You know, in that time I'm going to do a bunch of stuff. That's never the case. 

Third, let's look at the promise in waiting first Kings chapter 18.

41 to 46. Mark asked me to speak on the earlier passage, which is, first Kings, chapter 18 verses one to 40, but sorry, mark. I skipped just that one section. I went to the, it turned out that the rest of it I had the stuff for us. So the earlier a  part of this chapter has the major. story that we know about where, they had the experiment as to which God is going to answer by fire.

And the God of the balls did nothing because he doesn't exist. But the God of Israel Galloway was the one who answered by fire. But after that, there is an almost insignificant account that we're going to look at and I'm going to read. First Kings chapter 18, verse 41 through 45. Okay. First Kings 18. So this is after that major event on Mount Carmel on Mount Carmel itself is where this event happens.

And Elijah said to Ahab, go eat and drink for there is the sound of heavy rain. And when you read the rest of the story, you realize that there no rain yet. So when he says there is a sound of heavy rain, it's just that God told him that there is rain. And he's confident that there is rain verse 42. So he had went off to eat and drink, not wasting a minute, but Elijah climbed on the top of Mount Carmel bent down on the ground and put his face between his knees.Marker

Now, the rain that had been held back for three years is about to come. Verse 43, go and look toward the sea. He told his servant and he went up and looked. There is nothing there. He said. Seven times Elijah said, go back the seventh time, the servant reported a cloud as small as a man's hand is rising from the sea.

So Elijah said, go and tell Ahab hitch up your chariot, and go down before the rain stops you. Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, a heavy rain, started falling and Ahab rode off to Jezreel. 

Now I'm going to read a couple verses again, and I'm going to add a little bit of, but what could have happened?

Verse 43, go and look toward the sea. He told us. He went up and looked, there is nothing there. He said, then Elijah told him, go back a second time. The servant went and looked and he came back and said, there is nothing there. Then a third time Elijah told him go and look, the servant came back and said, there is nothing.

The fourth and fifth times Elijah told him go and look, the servant came back and said, there is nothing there. The sixth time Elijah told them go and look, the servant came back and said, there is nothing there. What's going on in Elijah's mind. He's heard the sound of rain that God said that he would give. In fact, Purpose of him coming from Zara fat to here and doing this whole thing is because God said that it would rain and there is no cloud,

but he sends him a seven. And this time, a cloud, as small as a man's hand. You see if God said that it would rain, even if it means seven times, you're going to go back the seven time until you find the cloud that God said would be there. Okay. We pray. we depend on the promises of God and we pray for numerous things that are in accordance with God's will.

I'm not talking about those things that we don't know are God's will, I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about matters that we know are the will of God. And we know God said that he would answer, and yet we go time after time after time and wait month after month after year after year. And there is no answer. We just have to keep going back.

Let me give you some examples of things that are God's will that we end up waiting for. How about conversion of non-believing family members, you pray and pray and pray. You've told them everything, they know everything. They have the head knowledge and you pray and pray and you don't see any change.

How about prodigal children? They heard the gospel. they saw the Christian life being lived out and then they went away and you're praying day after day after day for that person to come back and goes on forever. There is no endpoint. How about secret sins? God wants to make us pure. And yet we struggle with anger or,  lost or whatever the case may be week after week.

And we're trying, and we know God is helping us. We know the spirit of God is helping us and yet. There does not seem to be a perceptible change. How about problems in marriage? God wants us to have healthy marriages. God wants our churches to have healthy marriages. And in spite of struggling, it just seemed so hard.

And we wait. How about burdens in ministry? The Bible says that God will grow the church and you point that to God and say, you said, God would grow the church. You would grow the church. There's no growth..

Then we have two week of hard labor month after month and year after year. It's just endless. But if God said it would happen, it will happen. That is the promise in waiting. In Habakkuk chapter two, verse three, it reads, "for the revelation, awaits an appointed. It speaks of the end and will not prove false though.

It linger, wait for it. It will certainly come and will not delay." There is always an appointed time for the answer. If you prayed for your nanny, you know, three years ago and your nanny did not get saved for two and a half years. And your nanny got saved three years from your first prayer. That was the appointed time.

God is not going to speed it up just because we prayed because there's always an appointed time for his answer. And the promise is that the answer will come for things that are his will. God's will is God's will only in God's time. God's will is God's. Well, only in God's time, if it is on our time, it is not God's will.

We are always living between the promise and the fulfillment. Always. And there may be a thousand things that you have been promised and you're waiting for, and you're always living between the promise and the fulfillment of that promise. Is there any other reason why God is silent and makes us wait, maybe he is trying to change something in us or teach us something.

And that is what we will look at in the next section, we will look at lessons in waiting.. First Kings chapter 19 verses one through eight first things, 19 one through eight. Let me just, I read this passage and I will make some commentary as we go along. Now, he had told  everything Elijah had done, which is he killed hundreds of them.

And how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. So  sent a message juror to Elijah to say, may the gods deal with me? Be it ever so severely if by this time tomorrow, I did not make your life Like that one of them actually on, that's probably the worst promise to give because your gods didn't show up.

So maybe you should have said something else, but you know, Verse three, Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. Then he came to birth Sheba in Judah. He left his servant there while he himself went on a day's journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom Bush sat down under it and prayed that he might die.

I mean, that's, that's intense. You gotta agree. That's intense. 

I've had enough Lord. He said, take my life. I'm no better than my ancestors. Then he laid down and fell asleep. Then he laid down under the Bush and fell asleep. 

So Elijah said, Lord, I am done with this, take my life. I want to die. And he lies down under the broom Bush and falls asleep.

Maybe he thought that he was going to die under the Bloomberg. Imagine his shock when all at once an angel touched him. If you fell asleep, thinking that you're going to die and wanting to die, and you wake up to an angel touching.

And so he says, so the Bible says he looked around verse six, he was still under the broom Bush. There was no, there were no in displaying harps to welcome him home and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals and a jar. He ate and drank and then lay down. The end of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, get up and eat for the journey is too much for you.

So he got up and ate and drank strengthened by that food. He traveled 40 days and 40 nights until he reached Horeb the mountain of God. I want to point to two lessons, two common lessons. There are numerous lessons in the, aspect of waiting. Let me point to two lessons that God wants to teach us as he makes us wait.

The first one is trust. God wants us to trust him. This is probably the biggest lesson. God is teaching us to depend on him. Jebel threatened Elijah. He ran away and he was done. it says that he came to birth Sheba in Judah and there he dismissed his servant. But Sheba in Judah is the Southern most tip of.

So when it says he came to bear Sheba, let go of a seven. It means that he was done. He was done with ministry. He was done

and then says he traveled another day south as far away from the mission field as he could go, he traveled far away. And he says, I have had enough. Sometimes we feel that way. Right. Even in circumstances that are God ordained circumstances. It's one thing. If you are in your own mess created by your own sinfulness, but in God ordained circumstances, come to a point where we say nothing is working, nothing is working and I'm done.

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If you're trying to teach your five-year-old to trust you. You know, we play this  game with little kids where  we hide behind a pillar and  then we show ourselves. And and then they all jump, oh, that's great.

I'm here. I'm right here. You know, I haven't got anywhere, then you hide again and then you come back and then you hide a little longer from them because. Teach them that, well, eventually I'm going to come back. I'm not gonna, you know, disappear behind the  pillar. Garden is teaching us to trust him.

He starts with small things. He makes us wait like about 10 days  for the answer to the problem.  And then he comes through and then the next problem you face maybe a six month wait for something. And then he comes. And then maybe it's a two year wait and then he comes through because he always comes through

So if you're in a 20 year, wait. It's a good thing. It means that you pass the six month test or the two year test and the other smaller tests. If you're taking a math test in 10th grade, that means you've passed your math test in second grade, you've moved on. That's a good thing. It would have been a bad thing if you were still getting only three months waits,  it means that, well, we probably failed those early tests and you're still failing the early tests. the people of Israel, as they were walking around in the wilderness, that was their problem.

 next time the water ran out, they forgot about the numerous times God provided water. And they would grumble. God was just, just tired of it.

God brings us to a point where there is no option, but to trust him. And it is ironical that a believer trust God to take them to heaven, but struggles with trusting God to get them through earth.

God wants to change that. God wants to bring us to a point where we trust him completely. And  if it's a problem, that's come before us. Or if there's a waiting situation that comes rather than asking God, when is it going to happen? When is it going to happen? When is it going to happen? We sit back and say, God's got it, and I'm going to learn whatever lesson there is along the way

in this 2014 songs sovereign over. Michael W. Smith sings. These words, there is a strength within the sorrow. There is beauty in our tears and you meet us in our morning with a love that casts out fear. You're working in our waiting. You're sanctifying us when, beyond our understanding you are teaching us to trust.

The second lesson that I want to talk about today in the aspect of waiting is preparation. Preparation. Elijah was not ready for the next step. So God, through the angel fed him twice. He was preparing him for the journey. Preparing him for what is about to come. We are not ready for the next step, unless God says we are ready.

And if we are not ready, then God needs to put a pause and we need to get ready for the next step. When Moses  was the prince of Egypt and he had all the stuff going on for him. And he could have been the savior of Israel two days after his 40th birthday. And yet God sent him to the wilderness for 40 years because God could not use the impulsive, angry Moses that killed.

Could not. In fact, a later account of Moses says that he was the meekest man on earth. So God had to work on his character and it took 40 years, but God also had to work on experience because Moses being 40 years in the desert and unbeknownst to him, he was learning the desert terrain. Because years from now, he will lead the people of Israel along that desert terrain.

So on Mount Horeb where he saw the burning Bush, years later, he would come back to that spot and get the 10 commandments. So God had to work on his experience as he forced him to wait.

Is it character that God is trying to build while he makes us wait? Or is it experience or both?

Not only does God have to build up certain areas to make us useful for the calling, but he also has to break down certain areas that will be detrimental to them.

maybe there's somebody here who wants to become a Fugu chef. It is a fish that served in Japan. It's a very poisonous fish that carries a clear toxin called tetrodotoxin, and to learn how to cook it properly without killing your customers, he will take about 10 years. So if you want to be a Fugu chef in two years,

okay. It takes a certain period of time based on our temperament, based on our resistance to God's hand  for God, to teach us character and experience. So it depends on how long it takes for us to learn character and experience.

Who knows maybe if God didn't make you wait before you got into the ministry that you have gotten into the ministry, and rather than turning people toward the gospel, you may have delayed the evangelism of some people from coming to the gospel,

the bigger, the task that God has for us, the bigger, the preparation, and therefore the bigger. 

We looked at the reality of waiting. We looked at the uncertainty awaiting. We looked at the promise in waiting and we looked at the lessons of waiting. 

Finally, let's look at the purpose of waiting. First Kings chapter 19, verses eight through 15 first things.

Eight through 15. So he got up and ate and drank strengthened by that food. He traveled 40 days and 40 nights until he reached Horeb the mountain of God there, he went into a cave and spent the night and the word of the Lord came to him. What are you doing here, Elijah? This is a very interesting question.

What are you doing here, Elijah? What is Elijah? Do? He lists all his. He replied. I have been very zealous for the Lord. God almighty, the Israelites have rejected your covenant torn down your altars, put your profits to death with the sword. I'm the only one left and they're trying to kill me too. Most of this is not completely true.

He is not the only prophet left. I mean, Obadiah had saved a hundred profits in two caves and that's there in chapter 18, the first three verses. And he had just seen the demonstration of God's power on Mount Carmel.

And so in verse 11, God says, go out and stand on the mountain   in the presence of the Lord for the Lord is about to pass by now. The Lord is answering him without answering him. Okay. So you heard his complaints of care.  I'm the only one Jebel is out to kill me, I'm going to die and Israel is in shambles. Now God is doing a demonstration of his power, essentially to show Elijah that no matter what your problem is here is my power. It should take care of any concern you have. A great and powerful wind  tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord.

But  the Lord was not in the wind. It was an east wind that blew the red sea in two parts. It was a wind that the Lord sent that almost destroyed Jonah's ship. So when it says a heavy wind came sent by God, you better believe it's a powerful. After the wind, there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.

As soon as the people of Israel entered the promised land, it was an earthquake that God made custom made to get rid of Aiken and his family. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. If there is any. Element that lighter is,  aware of it is the element of fire because he just a few days ago dealt with the element of fire.

And if there's one thing that we can learn from that encounter between Elijah and the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, it was that fire is superior to water if God wants it to be.

and the funny thing is God made all these natural disasters happen. Supernatural. And if anybody could be killed, he would have been killed. So God made the disaster happen and saved them out of it to show his power. And after the fire came a gentle whisper verse 13, when Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face, went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

Then the voice said to him, what are you doing here, Elijah?  You would think he would have a different answer, but he didn't. He said I've been very zealous for the Lord. God almighty, the Israelites have rejected your covenant toned on the altars, put the profits to death. I'm the only one left and now they are trying to kill me too.

God asks in the exact same question a second time. If God is asking you the same question a second time, you probably need to modify the answer because when an omniscient being asked a question, it is not. He knows the information. He's trying to find out what you think about it and he says the exact same answer.

Israel has rejected God, he's the only prophet yesable wants to kill him. What was the light or waiting for?

What was Elijah waiting for? God showed his power. He was waiting for an answer to his problem. Maybe he thought God would say, this is the answer. Step one, step two, step three. This is the answer to your problems. But how does God answer God answers with his presence? God answers with his presence. the focus of the manifestations, the wind, the earthquake, and the fire was the presence of God. He is the answer, all the questions that we asked and pleaded and cajole and begged God for, we will waiting for an answer, but God was the answer.

Unbeknownst to us while we were waiting in the darkness, in the period of waiting, waiting for the answer to come. What we didn't realize was that in that period of darkness was the answer himself because we had come face to face with God. Yeah.

And we don't need another answer.

then the waiting is the goal because in the waiting is the answer. We think we are waiting for the answer to come at the end of the waiting period. But ladies and gentlemen, the waiting is the goal because that is where we meet God face to face.

I have learned more lessons and I'm sure you have learned more lessons in the waiting period. Then in the periods of activity, we learn more about God in the waiting period. Then in the periods of activity, I'm going to end with the story. 

The most performed symphony in the world is the ninth, seventh.

Bye Ludwig van Beethoven. It is a 17 minute choral symphony written in the early 1920s. In 2001, his original handwritten manuscript of the score was added to the memory of the world heritage program, heritage list established by the UN becoming the first musical score to have that. Nicholas Cook in a book in 93 that he wrote about the symphony route Beethoven's ninth symphony his apology is one of the Supreme masterpieces of the Western tradition. More than any other musical work. It has become an international symbol of unity and affirmation. In his later years, Beethoven Tobin started to lose his. Initially, he was upset by it and he insisted on playing his concerts and he would bang the keys so that he could hear what he was playing.

But as his deafness worsen, he realized that the outside noises were coming less to him and that he was able to use his, expertise. Ladies and gentlemen, when Beethoven wrote his ninth symphony, he was completely  Def

when the world closes around us and the roads have closed in front of us. And we are sitting here in the darkness. That does, when the distractions are gone and we are alone, face-to-face with God. That is the purpose of our lives. That is the actual purpose of your life. That is being fulfilled during the waiting period.

And so we will never stop. We will never stop waiting because we have fellowship with God. The empty space is the answer because God, in that space, thank you.