Scripture
I waited patiently for the Lord; He turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.
~Psalm 40:1-2, NIV
Quote
Helping one person might not change the whole world but it will change the whole world for the one person you help.
~Image Quotes
Obviously, there is more than one type of ‘waiting’. We can wait anxiously or impatiently or we can wait patiently and expectantly. If we have complete confidence in God’s wisdom and timing, we can wait patiently but this does not mean that we wait idly. In your major restaurants, there is a person called the maitre d’. This persons supervises the seating of guest and the waiters. He or she watches constantly to see if guest are getting the proper attention from the waiter or waitress. This is an active waiting. A good waiter is never idle when it comes to attentiveness, they are constantly watching the tables they serve. In a very good restaurant, you do not have to asks for your drink to be refilled because they are watching your table. We have lost this servant mentality. When David talked about waiting patiently, we tend to think he is talking about passivity, do nothing other than waiting. We all know how Jesus felt about lazy servants. Slothfulness and biblical patience are two different things. I tell folks jokingly that I wait on June constantly: wait for her to fix my breakfast, my medication, my clothes, etc. but this is not an indictment on June, it’s on me. I am the lazy one and there is no praise for the slothful. Waiting passively is not the mark of a good servant. While some brag about their patience, what they are really doing is confessing their laziness. Of course, they are so filled with pride, they don’t realize what they are doing. Sorry folks, no pat on the back for being lazy.
So the moral of the story is that we do not wait in idleness for Jesus to return. We don’t join roof-top bible studies and discuss the signs of His coming. He wants us to be busy waiting on, attending to the needs of others. June was telling me last week about the new ministry teams at DBC who are attending to the needs of the shut-ins. I am deeply impressed. We have widow women ministering to other widows who are confined to quarters. Folks, this is what life is all about. I have observed that happy people are busy serving others; whereas miserable people constantly complain about the lack of service they are getting from others. Get off your lazy keester and find someone less fortunate that you can help. Be thankful that God has given you the health to help others and stop complaining about the way others treat you.
I don’t normally do a Sunday morning blog but today is an exception for several reasons. We have suffered a couple of accidents this weekend. Tray Williams was in a wreck Friday morning and Pat Vanderfer was in one Saturday evening. Pat got banged up pretty bad but is going to be OK. He has several broke ribs and some internal contusions but the doctors are very optimistic about his recovery. Pat and Brenda live just up the road from us. Brenda is one of the oldest members of DBC and she is not that old. She joined the church as a young teenager and came back to us a few years ago. She has been a member of DBC for over 40 years. This is a good couple and we want you to pray for them. There was a young man injured severely in Tray’s wreck: we don’t have a name but we want you to pray for his recovery. He is in critical condition at HH. Please pray for Ray and Darlene as they are anxious for the young man’s recovery. I love this family and my heart has been heavy since I got the news. It has not been a good weekend for me: I don’t like bad news. This morning I prayed for God to bring something good out of these situations [one which is unspoken]. He has that power and I am trusting HIM to bring something good from these tragic situations. I did the blog so you could join me in praying the Romans 8:28 prayer.
LORD willing, I will be preaching on JESUS AND THE LAW this morning and BLESSED ARE THE PURE IN HEART tonight. Please pray for Joe David and myself as we stand in the pulpit today. It is an awesome responsibility. Pray that God anoint us, that He lay His powerful hand upon on us: pray that our will would cease to exist once we feel His hand; that we will become HIS humble and obedient servants. Pray for lives to be changed and Jesus to be glorified.