From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him.

Isaiah 64:1-4

From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him. Isaiah 64:4

This morning, as I prepare to teach and lead a Sunday school discussion on James 5:7-11, I review and fine tune my presentation one final time, and review another short podcast episode from DesiringGod.com entitled How Do I Wait for God.  Here, John Piper uses text from Isaiah where the prophet is talking to Israelites who are "in danger from enemies, Assyrians and then Babylonians. Now, the danger that God sees is not so much the Assyrians and the Babylonians, but the temptation to run to Egypt for help instead of to God. Instead of waiting for God’s help, he sees the temptation looming large that they’re going to go after human help."  We are referred to Isaiah 31:1 where God speaks through Isaiah warning Israel not to fall prey to self-reliance but instead to pray and trust and wait on the Lord.  As he describes what waiting on the Lord means, Piper emphasizes that in our challenges and trials, "the first thing that waiting on God means is this: before you make one peep of an effort to solve your own problem or hire a human agency, pray. Seek the counsel of God."  Piper then shares how sometimes God tells us to be still in our waiting - and we are referred to Exodus 14:13-14.   Piper concludes by sharing a third way in which God wants us to wait on Him - this is to wait and act but to act with a spirit of waiting (or expectancy) knowing that it is God that must work through us and get all the glory.  We are referred to God's counsel to David in 2 Samuel 5:19, Proverbs 21:31, and Psalm 33:16–17, 20–22.

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My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an awesome God who loves me and who is full of grace and compassion for me - giving me Your Word and providing for all of my needs, most importantly my salvation.  Thank You Jesus!  I am not deserving of such blessings!  My sin is great and it continues...daily.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please continue to heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

Then the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad.

1 Samuel 1

Then the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad. 1 Samuel 1:18b

As a follow up to a presentation I prepared for teaching and discussion in Sunday school tomorrow, I sought further study on the topic of waiting for the Lord.  I found this awesome short podcast episode - entitled The Miracle of Waiting Faithfully - from DesiringGod.com's Ask Pastor John podcast series. This short podcast highlighted the story of Hannah in 1 Samuel 1 where the Bible chronicled her struggle with infertility.  In 1 Samuel 1:10, scripture shares that Hannah "was deeply distressed and prayed to the LORD and wept bitterly." In v11, Hannah makes a vow to the Lord that if He gives her a son, then she will give him back to the Lord.  This is amazing on many levels - because first Hannah recognizes that it is God alone that provides all things, including life.  Next, while Hannah desperately wants a son, she knows that all life is created to bring glory to the Lord - that human life exists to glorify God.  Of course, since the Fall we know that sin and evil exists also, but we also know that God has providence over Satan and sin and God uses Satan to serve Himself (see John Piper post here) - there is mystery over how God does this but we can take comfort that as John Piper says, Satan's will is not decisive, God's is.  Hannah's prayer and petition to the Lord is pleasing to Him and one of the priests at the temple - Eli - tells Hannah to no longer be anxious but instead to go in peace (v17).  It's not entirely clear but it seems implied that Eli conveys a message from God that Hannah should go in peace because God both heard her prayer and told Eli that it would be answered. In v18b, Hannah "went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad."  This is the definition of supernatural peace that surpasses all understanding (Philippians 4:7)! The podcast guest shares that "I think a lot of times we are praying for things that we have no intention of giving back to God in the first place.  I wonder if Hannah’s heart had changed in such a way where everything that she was going to get from God, and everything that she wanted to get from God, she only wanted it for his glory. I think that part is what changed her heart so that she was able to walk away and no longer be sad by what seemed to be an unanswered prayer — before the prayer was even answered.... I think God is always doing a variety of things in secret that we don’t realize or don’t see. I think the miraculous thing is that faith is not natural to me; sin is, rebellion is, unbelief is. The miraculous thing is that God will somehow use my waiting as a means to grow my faith so that I could see Jesus and want Jesus and crave Jesus."  Crave Jesus indeed!

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My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an awesome God who loves me and who is full of incredible grace, compassion, and mercies...and these blessings are daily!  Thank You Jesus for making me one of Your elect.  I am NOT deserving.  My sin is great and it continues...daily.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day. 

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

Titus 2

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. Titus 2:11-14 (ESV)

I maintain my pause of my study of 1 Corinthians as I participate in a men's discipleship group (d-group) at my church.  This morning, on week 4-day 6, the focus is once again Titus 2:11-13, scripture memorization for this text, and I am assisted by a DesiringGod.com Look at the Book (Lab) for this text (including v14). In this lab, John Piper unpacks the text by describing the structure of how two actions below produce both negative and positive effects and how ultimately, the waiting for our blessed hope works through these negative and positive effects. 

1. The grace of God appears...training us to renounce (negative)...and to live...(positive)
2. God gave Himself...to redeem us from (negative)....and to purify for himself a people (positive)
   

After describing the two actions above that have both a negative and positive effect or result, Piper explores how the remaining text in the middle - the waiting for our blessed hope - correlates with the other text (the two actions).  He suggests that the essence of God's grace appearing and Christ's self-giving trains in us how we are to renounce and live what Paul seeks, and how it redeems us from all lawlessness, and purifies us to become zealous for good works.  ALL of this is done by producing in us a joyful and confident hope of glory that frees us from being slave to sin and to the world...we are free to love God as He intends and to serve Him out of the overflowing love we have for Him (see snapshot of John Piper's lab notes below).  See also Philippians 4:7.

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My Prayer:  Lord Jesus, You are an awesome God who appeared to me to save me, and you love me, train me and equip me to endure challenges and live with Christian freedom.  Thank You Jesus!  I am not deserving of such love and blessings.  My sin is great and it continues...daily.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.