Part III God’s Waiting Room

Waiting can feel like wasted time, like the door won’t open and God has gone quiet. We tackle that head on by reframing the delay as God’s waiting room, a season that is meant to form you, not flatten you. I share why waiting patiently is not passive, and why the hardest work of hope is staying obedient, worshipping anyway, and serving even when nothing seems to move. If you’ve been tempted to fret, panic, or take control through rushed decisions, this is a steadying listen. 

We walk through Scripture that pulls our attention off the immediacy of the problem and back onto the sufficiency of God. From David’s long road before the crown to Isaiah 40’s jaw-dropping picture of a Creator who measures oceans in His hand, the message is simple: God is bigger than creation, so He is not threatened by your timeline. I even use a few science and scale illustrations to make the point stick, not to be clever, but to help you feel the difference between your worry and God’s capacity. 

We also get real about the emotional crash that can come after a “good week”, using Elijah in 1 Kings 19 to show how fear and isolation can hit hard, and how God reminds him who controls the events. I close with a personal story about stepping out of an aircraft with a parachute, because trust often feels exactly like that: leaving the illusion of control and relying fully on God to bring you down safely. If you’re waiting on healing, breakthrough, direction, or peace in your family or work, press play, then share it with a mate and leave a review if it helps.

Good morning, good afternoon, wherever you are in the world - Welcome to Grapevine Ministries.

Transcript

Active Waiting And Total Trust

David And The Waiting Room

Isaiah’s Questions And God’s Scale

Light Speed And The Size Of Heaven

Atoms And A Spoken Creation

Walking Through The Valley

Elijah’s Crash And God’s Lesson

The Parachute Story And Closing Charge

SPEAKER_00 0:28

Sorry for the delay. Um, but I suppose we are talking about waiting patiently. So, had a few technical problems this morning. Hopefully, I've sorted that out now. So, this is part two and what it means to wait patiently. And sometimes this is what we need to do. Look, as hard as it is, we need to remain spiritually active, not passive. Waiting on the Lord is the hardest work of hope required us to remain obedient, worship, and serve while we're waiting. It is look, I mean, easiest way of putting this, it's time for total trust in his control. Waiting affirms that God is in control of the situation and the timing is his, not ours. It's being still. Um, we're gonna go through Psalm 4610. Now, I'm not gonna rattle off the whole you know passages of uh Psalm 46, but I want you to listen to parts of it and then read it yourself and digest it yourself. It starts off by this saying, resisting the temptation to fret, panic, and walk away from him, or just take matters in your own hands through anger or premature action. God in the waiting room explores the intentional non-wasting season between God's promise and the fulfillment. This period matures us through our faith, builds character, and fosters dependence on God's timing over our own. It is a place of active preparation, not passive defeat. It's designed to strengthen believers for what lies ahead. As demonstrated by figures like David, and it still amazes me when you look deep into the scriptures, David had to wait and deal with so many things before he became king. It's also very evident of his constant interaction in our lives. Even when you don't see it before, before the Lord gave me this passage of uh scripture and what I'm going to be working on, strangely enough, I was led one day when I was just cruising through um my streaming platforms. I was led to the house of David. David endured so much, and it enabled me to take a deeper look at what he went through before he became king. Now, I'm not saying that you need to endure not only the same things, but you need to wait as long as what he did. But it's a clear picture of God working in our waiting room. See, if you read through David, you know, and you'll um it's it's repeated a couple of times. Um, we know that um Samuel was uh the prophet at that time, and you've got to remember that God is bigger than all creation. It doesn't matter how you look at it, you can look at any of the great leaders or those that are in positions of authority within the uh the scriptures, and you see that there was a period of time when they seriously had to wait. Now we're looking at Isaiah 40, 12 through to 14. Now, the the prophet here offers a series of five hypothetical questions, right? And they're aimed at focusing your attention away from the immediacy of your problem and into the ultimate sufficiency of God. The first is found in um verse twelve and emphasizes that God is bigger than all creation. Look at it with me. Is this what it says? Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance. Who has done all of this? Clearly, Isaiah was saying, only God can do this. Man is making progress, but he cannot hope to manage creation as described here. See the man and the oceans, they are a mighty force, right? Even to the extent that it is easier to travel into space than it is to the depths of the ocean. So to God, they are like bits of water that you might hold in the palm of your hand, and the distance of the heavens challenge our imagination. So I want you to hang on to your seats for just a moment, okay, and I want to consider a few, you know, historical facts, okay. Now, I've done my research on this, and so I always tell you guys to do your own, but I want you to to listen to what I'm saying. I mean, okay, it's a bit of a science lesson and a math lesson. Now, I'm not very good at either in the natural, but when I'm doing the research for uh God and trying to explain the scriptures in a different context for you, I just want you to sort of like try and get your head around this for a minute, right? Now, light travels at 186,000 miles per second. That's nearly eight times around the circumference of the earth in one second. I can remember as a young man when I first found out that light even had a speed. I used to take my flashlight outside, point it at the sky, and turn it on and off and to try and see where the light disappeared into the heavens. Now, I was a kid, okay, and I couldn't quite track it because in in all seriousness, um, it's probably still going. When I turn my flashlight on and turn it off, it's probably still going somewhere out in outer space. But let's not confuse things with me as a kid and me now. For light to get from the sun to the earth, it takes about eight minutes. Now let's go a step further at a speed of 186,000 miles per second. Sorry, I'm in old um equations. Okay, you work it out if you want to do it in kilometers, all right? I'm old school, all right. So um, so lights travel 186,000 times, all right. 60 seconds per minute times 60 minutes per hour times 24 per day times by 365 days of the year, almost cop this six trillion miles in one year. I can't give you any reference points for that, but it's it's starting to get beyond my ability to comprehend, but we are told that at the speed it takes about four point four years for light to get from the next closest visible star, which is Alpha Centauri, uh, to Earth. It's four point four years. That's more than twenty-six trillion miles. Are you staggered yet? Well, I was just looking this up, and I thought my mass was wrong, so I checked out a scientific book that I had and I found it there. So it's about a hundred years ago, astronomers believed our universe to be about five thousand light years across, and that's five thousand times six trillion. Don't know about you, but I got lost in the mathematics quite easily. But I thought I'd persist because some of you might be interested in knowing this sort of thing. Okay. Today it is believed that the universe is not 5,000 light years, but at least 27 billion light years across. And who could imagine that? But look at verse 12 again in this let's go back to um yeah, let's go back to um Isaiah 40 12, okay, and um and just let's read it again, and it says, How does God measure that expanse? Whatever it may be, it says he marked off the heavens with a span, a span of the width of a human hand, the distance between the thumb and the forefinger, as big as creation may be. So that just shows that God's expanse of his hand is far greater than ours. Now that now that's enough of the mathematics. I mean, maybe I'll maybe some of you guys could send me an email or a or a message and I could tell you about it because uh at the moment I'm getting a headache going through this. But I wanted to make a point here. In this passage of scripture, he's talking about the hills and the mountains have been weighed out and apportioned by God, and the dust of the earth is like the leftover portion after something has been removed from balance. See, God is bigger than all creation. The reason being, of course, is that He is the creator. Both yourselves and me may not understand it, but there is a very valid reason the prophet Isaiah penned this. And this also illustrates the importance of the Old Testament in relation to the New Testament and the covenant God has with us. There are many ways that God's creative genius is exemplified in creation, but let me just uh one other illustration for you this morning, okay? Just bear with me. We are all aware that material things are made up of atoms, and that atoms are made up of even smaller electromagnetic particles called electrons and protons. Far too small to see, but conforming to the theories which clearly demonstrate that all atoms are their own tiny universe with protons at the center in the midst of a rapidly whirling electrons. Now I said this once before, now this is not research or something that I've acquired, it's just that I actually I actually came to this conclusion myself, and I may be wrong, so if I am, I will stand corrected. But you know, when people are talking about uh the Big Bang theory and they're talking about uh creation, you know, I personally believe that when God said let there be light, he didn't say let the light stop. So we talk about how God speaks things into existence. So the word the word is very powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword, cuts deeper to the deepest marrow. So when God speaks, you know, and if you go through the scriptures, um at several points you see the the awesome ability of God speaking a word, right? A classic example when Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane. Now we know that if you if you've seen the Son, you've seen the Father, and the Father is in the Son, and the Son is in the Father. Okay? Now, when they asked, he says, Are you Jesus of Nazareth? And he said, I am. Now, some versions of the Bible say that when he said, I am, all the soldiers were thrown to the ground, okay, and people came up out of their graves and were running through the garden. The thing is, in old scripture, you know, well, let's go back to the old scriptures, okay. Well, sorry, the old testament, not old scriptures, they're all old. But but it's when when Moses got there and he goes, Well, how how are they gonna know that I was sent by you? You know, he says, I am who I am, you know. I am is what the Israelites referred to God in the Old Testament as being I am. We know that he has many names and and he's omnipresent, omniipotent, all of these different variations, and maybe one time I'll go through them. But what I'm saying is that um here he's making a point that I am, and so I believe personally that when he said that the light went forth, and he said, Let there be light, but he never said let the light stop. So some believe that the universe is continuously growing and growing and growing because that light's still traveling. Um, that's not um scientifically accurate or biblically accurate, that's just my take on it. Because if you look at it from this perspective, protons and electrons are electrical charged particles that repel each other, they must ultimately be equal in number or the whole universe comes crashing down. Modern scientists estimate that if they were not present in in you know, like looking at the equivalent numbers to the accuracy of one part, one thousand and thirty-seven electromagnetic forces in the universe would also have to be overcome gravity and forces that the galaxies and the planets and the stars would never have been formed without this being maintained. So just imagine a pile of dimes, or you know, that's American terminology, five cent pieces, okay? That's or pesos. Uh I'm not going to go through all the currencies, okay? Just a small coin, okay. If you pile them on, say, the coast of America, the north coast of America, and you piled them all the way to the moon, okay, two hundred and thirty-nine thousand miles. Now imagine one billion such piles of dimes or pennies or um five cent pieces, and there's one red one mixed in there. The odds of finding that is one thousand and thirty-seven to one hundred thousand to just indicate the the balance of things, you'd never find it. Okay, it's like dropping a one cent, well, we don't have them anymore, but I mean, um the thing is we used to have a uh a denomination of currency uh here in Australia, which was a one cent piece, uh, a bit like the American penny, but we don't have them anymore. But if if we did, and I dropped one of those into the you know the Atlantic Ocean, okay, and I just gave you say a 10-mile square grid, the probability of you being able to find that one coin in that area is like a billion to one or something, it's just ridiculous. Now I'm getting all sort of like stuck down with this, but just a few other prevalent facts. I'm trying to get you to understand that if you're in the waiting room, God has got you there for a purpose, but he wants you to be proactive, he doesn't want you to just be there. I know I've mentioned this probably 50 or 100 times uh throughout my sermons. Um, when you look at just one passage of scripture, yea, thou walk through the valley of shadow of death. I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Okay. Now, the key part here is everybody looks at oh, I'm in the valley of death. Okay, everybody thinks, oh wow, I'm in trouble here. No, the the key point that has been trying to be made in this passage of scripture is that you're walking through it. So anything, any circumstance that you find yourself in right now, good, bad, or ugly, okay, it's all temporal subject to change. It doesn't matter how bad your situation is, what you're going through, God may have you in a waiting room at this point in time. You are there, okay, waiting and preparing yourself for what God has got coming for you. See, there's a plan and a purpose behind everything God does and allows to take place, and I think it's important to understand that in all of this we Have our free will, which He has also given to us. Now, if we just go back a little bit further, go back to 1 Kings 19. Now, I'll just give you, I'll lay the foundation for you. Okay, so you don't have to read it if you don't want to. The background here is that Elijah had just had a little encounter with the 450 prophets of Baal at Mount Carmel, right? The encounter where God never answered, but Elijah called down fire out of the heaven to destroy the altar which was drenched with water. Now all 450 prophets of Baal lost their lives. Now, follow me here. Elijah called down the rain out of heaven that had been closed for more than three years. I think it's fair to say that Elijah had a pretty good week. Probably he was feeling pretty good about himself at this stage, which is of course just when Satan will attack. It's always wise to remember that when the Lord is active in our lives, all honor and glory must always go to him. See, um, because this uh Elijah was having a really good week here, Jezebel, the queen, sent Elijah a little love note that basically read, Hey sweetie, how you going? I understand that you've bested the and slain all the prophets. Uh please be advised that I intend to see you in the same condition by this time tomorrow, love Jesse, basically. Read the passage of scripture, all right. Ever fail in your faith, ever feel like you just blew it for no reason that you or anyone else could not explain, and you just wanted to curl up and die. Well, join Elijah. For this man who could personally face down 450 prophets of Baal found himself quaking in fear at the mere message from one woman. Now, I don't want to go on about women, I don't want to make any statements about here, but you know, I give you a rough idea. I've got a fifth degree black belt, um, ex-special forces, uh trained in all sorts of combat, but sometimes my wife can be quite scary. I hope she doesn't listen to this sermon actually. Right. Okay, long story short here, okay. God stepped in and said, Arise and eat, then you can run some more, and he did, which led him to finding Elijah just arrived in Herob near Mount Sinai. See? Um basically Elijah was running away from her because he was he was scared of a woman, a single woman, after he had just taken out 450 bad uh prophets, all right. But God stepped in, okay, and so he's at Mount Sinai, which is like 200 miles from Mount Carmel, where he goes through a little encounter with God. Um, I'll just read this little bit, alright? It's 1 Kings 19 9 to 12. There he came to a cave and and lodged in it, and behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said to him, What are you doing here, Elijah? He said, I have been very jealous of you, Lord, the Lord of hosts, God of all things, for the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down the altars and killed your prophets, and slain him with the sword, and even I only am left. And they seek my life to take it away from me. And he said, Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord, and behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broken pieces and the rocks for the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind, and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake, and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. Elijah was discouraged, and he was in God's waiting room, feeling alone, deserted, and unappreciated. So God took him through this little exercise. Why? Well, why not? What was God's point to all of this? Why it was to demonstrate that God was bigger than creation, to show Elijah that he was underestimating his own God, to show before he informed him that he was not alone, that God was not controlled by events, but he was the controller of the events. Next week though, but just just take this to heart. Does God care if you have rain for your crops or deliverance from cancer or relief from whatever physical condition is afflicting you? Of course he does, but thankfully he is much more interested than we have learnt to trust in him. That we need to grow in grace and that we have to minister to others, that we don't get too comfortable with the lifestyle that we have, and a thousand other reasons that he sometimes says no, so what we are asking, or at least where he places us, is in that waiting room. If you are in God's waiting room today regarding some physical issue, then take heart. He has not abandoned you, and he is bigger than creation. You must trust him. Is it many years ago when I believed God was not who I know him to be today, I remember stepping into an open doorway of an aeroplane in flight, looked out and then jumped, having never done anything like this before in my life. Having taken that step, I was totally at the mercy of the laws of gravity, having abandoned all hope of survival, except that I had a parachute, and more importantly, I was physically connected to the ripcord that knew exactly when to release the chute in a timely fashion to allow a descent to create a safe landing, and at that point in my Christian walk, which was zero, my only reliance on a safe landing was the word from a military instructor which was saying it was all good, and I had to rely on that and nothing else. Now, listen, if you're in God's waiting room, you must abandon all hope except in Him. I tell you, He is bigger than creation. He will land you safely where he wants you to be, but you must trust him completely. By having faith in our creator, you will allow him to give you the peace and the comfort while you're in that waiting room. It doesn't matter what your circumstances are, what's going on in your family, what's going on in your workplace, what's happening, you know, um, as far as your job is concerned, next door neighbor, a family member who's you know addicted to drugs or alcohol or he's uh abusive. It doesn't matter what your circumstance is. I don't know what your circumstance is, but right now he may have you in his waiting room preparing you, giving you the tools, the equipment, everything that you need, so that when you step out of that waiting room, you are ready to take on the battle that stands before you. Because we are overcome by the word of the Lamb and the word of his test of our testimony. God is always with you, never leave you nor forsake you. Matthew 28 20 tells you that he's always with you. Trust the process, trust him, and everything will work out the way that he's planned it, and you'll be able to give all honor and glory to him. Alright? Talk to you next week. Bye for now.