6 Sermon Illustrations on Waiting On God

"Some years ago," says a lady, "I made the acquaintance of an old peasant in a little German village. He was called Gottlieb, signifying 'the love of God.' If ever heart was filled with love to God and to all God's creatures, it was his. He possessed one or two apple and pear trees; and used to amuse himself in the summer by picking up the fallen fruit, and heaping it up in a corner of the shed. Once I came upon him as he was stooping to pick up a fallen apple. 'Don't you weary, Gottlieb,' I asked, 'stooping so often, and then lying all alone by the roadside?' — 'No, no, miss,' he answered, smiling, and offering me a handful of ripe pears; 'I don't weary: I'm just waiting, — waiting. I think I'm about ripe now, and I must soon fall to the ground; and then, just think, the Lord will pick me up! O miss! you are young yet, and perhaps just in blossom: turn well round to the Sun of Righteousness, that you may ripen sweet for his service.'"

I had an experience of waiting that was very difficult a number of

years ago. Ed Woodhall and I were supposed to fly to Bogotá, Colombia

to meet with the leadership of a prison ministry there. We had to make

connections in Miami. It was a difficult trip that we didn't really

want to make because we had to bring the bad news to our brothers and

sisters in Colombia that we were not going to be involved in their

ministry anymore, for important reasons. Also, it was a time when the

Colombian drug lords were running the country, and American

businessmen were being kidnapped off the streets. So we felt some fear

and apprehension. But we knew that it was the right thing to do. So we

left San Francisco at 7:00 a.m., and we were supposed to catch a 4:00

p.m. flight on to Bogotá in Miami, but because of mechanical problems

we missed that flight and ended up having to wait for twenty-four

hours in Miami.

Late that night, after a full day of traveling, we were in a shuttle

bus being driven to north Miami to sleep in some fleabag hotel that

the airline had grudgingly provided for us. We were not in the best of

moods, to confess honestly. Ed and I were talking about what was going

on: "Why is God doing this? What does it all mean?"

We were the last people to get off the bus. The Jamaican bus driver

said to us, "You men are Christians, aren't you?"

"Yes," we replied.

He continued, "I asked God last week to bring me in contact with a

Christian who could tell me how to accept Jesus."

Ed and I both said, "That's what's going on here!" We had the amazing

pleasure of praying with this dear brother as he came to faith in

Christ. Then God gave us the next day to get our own hearts straight,

to pray together and plan together. We were anxious to get to Colombia

and get out, yet God said, "Wait. I've got some things I want to

accomplish." From Doug Goins -- Joshua Sermons

I’m an impatient, restless person. Slowing down and waiting seem like a waste of time. Yet waiting seems to be an inevitable part of the human condition.

Henri Nouwen said, “Waiting is a period of learning. The longer we wait, the more we hear about him for whom we are waiting.”

Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase of Romans 8:22-25 resonates with Nouwen: “Waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting” (The Message).

During a time of waiting, God is vibrantly at work within us.

SCRIPTURE:-- Psalm 27:14; Psalm 126; Psalm 130; Hebrews 10:36