(0071) – Supportive1
“When God is Late”
Preached by Rob Sinclair
Sunday Morning – 10/1/17
Introduction:
- Hurricane season “Harvey” – “Irma” – “Jose” – “Maria”
- Vietnam – Pearl Harbor – 9/11
- Ebola – Black Plague – Cancer
- Sometimes we get frustrated in our walk…even frustrated with God Himself, maybe disappointed that things don’t go the way we think they should go.
- Perhaps you’ve asked the question, “Where’s God?” … and this question can sometimes fester to the point that we become so discouraged that we lose our faith in the Lord…He’s not there…it doesn’t do any good to pray…and if He shows up to help, He’s usually late!
- Have you ever felt that God showed up too late, or didn’t show at all?
- Let’s start with this…
Body:
- God and Time – Does He Even Care?
A.Being Eternal, God isn’t confined by time
1.2 Peter 3:8 – “…with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.”
2.Exodus 3:14 – “God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
3.John 8:56ff – “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.” So the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.” Jesus says that He is the I AM (they understood the implications of what He said…not just that I’m “really old” but that I existed…I am eternal…prior to time)
B.God is concerned with time – He created it!
1.Galatians 4:4 – “But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law…” – at just the right time! Why didn’t He come 5 minutes after Adam and Eve sinned? Why not just before Hurricanes Harvey and Irma?
2.John 2:4; 7:6; 7:30; 8:20 – Sometimes people or events would try to push His schedule, but He said, “My hour has not yet come”…there are still some reasons why I have to remain
3.John 17:4 – The hour has come
C.God isn’t bound by time, but He uses it…He’s concerned about it…He lays His plans in connection with time
1.But that still leaves the question for some…then why does He seem late?
2.Is He showing favoritism when things seem to work out better for this person or family or city…but not for others? Did they pray harder or better than others, so He comes to their rescue rather than others?
- When God Was On Time
A.Illustration: Watching Westerns with my dad…just when it seemed hopeless, the bugle would sound and the cavalry would charge in and save the day.
1.God is seen doing this countless times in the Scriptures…
B.Exodus 14 – Crossing the Red Sea
1.God was there…He showed up on time and saved them
C.Daniel 3 – Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego
1.If you don’t bow down and worship the king, you’ll lose your life…maybe you didn’t hear me right…bow down!
2.God was there…He was on time
D.Daniel 6 – Daniel in the lion’s den
1.God was there…He was on time!
- When God Was Late
A.READ John 11:1-7
1.John 11:21 Martha – “Martha then said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”
2.John 11:32 Mary – “…when Mary came where Jesus was, she saw Him, and fell at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” They suffer because God is late
3.Look at verse 15 – “I was glad for your sakes that I was not there…………………so that you may believe…”
4.Jesus is talking to the Father in verse 42, and says, “I knew that You always hear Me; but because of the people standing around I said it so that they may believe that You sent Me.”
5.Was Jesus really late? Or did He use that occasion to reach even more people?
6.What if Jesus had just healed Lazarus from a distance like we know He did on other occasions? No one would have known He did it!
7.There was purpose! Even when He was late, He was right on time!
B.Mark 5:21-43 – Jairus’ Daughter
1.The hemorrhaging woman interfered…Jesus stops and has a conversation with her…if you were Jairus and your daughter was sick and dying, wouldn’t you be hurrying Jesus? Let’s go! Let’s go! Forget about this! We’re going to be late!
2.Then the officials come in verse 35 and announce that his daughter is dead…was Jesus late?...No…it gave Him another opportunity to go in and raise that child from the dead.
3.It’s not pleasant to wait on God…it’s uncomfortable…it’s heartbreaking…but He wasn’t late…He was right on time.
C.Hebrews 11:35-38 – The deaths of many faithful
1.Barak, Samson, Jepthah, David, Samuel (vs. 32) – who by faith did this that and the other thing…Right in the middle of this rockstar list, we read verses 35-38 – “…others were tortured…and others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground.”
2.So what? God was on time for the people earlier in the list, but He showed up late for the rest of them? No…God showed up for them as well
D.What about your story?
1.What has happened in your life that you wish had not happened to you? That you could look at God and say, “God, why weren’t you there? Why didn’t you do something? Why didn’t you stop this? Why didn’t you head this off when you have the power to stop it?”
2.We all have those stories in our lives…but is it because God is late? …or could there be another explanation?
3.Can we not learn that God can sometimes use suffering and hardship and heartache and even death to advance His cause?
a.To bring about glory?
b.To discipline and refine us…to being more faithful and dedicated people?
c.Who’s to say that God is late, just because I don’t get what I asked for…when I ask for it?
- Remember Two Things
A.God is all knowing
1.There are things that God has in consideration that you haven’t begun to think about Aren’t there things as a parent that you understand better than your children…and your children don’t understand why you do the things that you do…but there’s no sense in trying to explain it to them because they’re not able to grasp it…but you know.
2.Trust Him
a.There was a time in the book of Job that Job questioned this…
- Job 40:2 – “Will the faultfinder contend with the Almighty?”
- Job 40:8 – “Will you really annul My judgment? Will you condemn Me that you may be justified?”
b.Wait a second Job…are you really telling Me that you’re going to correct Me?
c.Job, who do you think you are? Questioning Me? Counseling Me? You’re going to tell Me when My timing is on or off?
d.God then spends the next few chapters making sure Job knew who the created was, and who the Creator is…and I need to remember that too.
e.When I feel that God has made a mistake, there has been a mistake made…by me!
B.Don’t ask the wrong question – “Where is God?”
1.How much does an hour weigh?What color is a mile?
2.The question, “Where is God?” is the wrong question…He did not choose to reveal Himself by the way of knowing where He is and knowing what He’s up to at any given moment…
3.But rather, we should be asking, “What did God say?” God has revealed Himself in this way…. With God, it’s not “Location LocationLocation” – But “What’s in the word, what’s in the word, what’s in the word?”
4.It’s not “Where are you God?” It’s, Okay God, what did you say about hardship? Heartache? Loss? Grief? What have You given me and prepared me with to endure this?
5.1 Corinthians 10:31 – We’re to do all to the glory of God – That’s what God said – in good times and in bad…
6.Philippians 1:20 – Paul said Christ is going to be magnified in my body, whether by life or death
a.Magnify Him in your body, even if it means your death
b.That’s God showing up on time.
Conclusion:
- There are going to be bad things that happen to you in life…and you’re going to cry out to God for deliverance…..and you might have the best deliverance just the way you want it…it may happen that way…and it may not…and when it doesn’t, don’t raise a fist to God and say “God, where were you?!” He’s right where He’s always been…on His throne………….what we might say is, “God what did you say? What have you revealed to us? What can you give me that will help me through this situation? And whatever that is…God is on time…
- Let’s learn to let God be God and trust His sovereign timing.
- When we do, we’ll see that He’s perfectly on time to accomplish His purposes.
Invitation