Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:12] Speaker A: Welcome back to another edition of the Weekday Podcast. We've been in Isaiah 9 this week, and verse 7 says, There will be no end to the increase of his government or of peace on the throne of David, or over his kingdom to establish it, to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. And the zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this. This is the tension that we live in in this season. The already, but not yet, that Jesus has come. The light has broken into darkness. The Prince of Peace is here, but his kingdom isn't fully established yet. There's still pain, there's still injustice, there's still brokenness. And so what do we do? We wait. But not passively, not hopelessly, but with confident anticipation, knowing that God that started it is the same God that will finish it. The phrase at the end of the verse 7 says, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this. The word zeal means the passion or the intensity, unstoppable determination of God. God isn't casually working on his plan, wondering if it's going to work out. He's not wringing his hands. He's zealous about keeping his promises. He's all in. And what he promised in Isaiah 9 he delivered in Bethlehem. And what he's promised for your future, he's already preparing it now. You know sometimes when you check your Amazon app to see if your package arrived early, even though it clearly says arriving next week and it's Monday the week before, but you still refresh. You're tracking the page. You refresh it over and over again, as if the system made a mistake and it's actually on your porch right now. That's how it is with us and God. Except God is never late. We're just impatient. And unlike Amazon, he's actually preparing something better than what we actually ordered. Maybe you're in a season of waiting right now. You're waiting for healing, or waiting for a breakthrough, or waiting for clarity, waiting for reconciliation. And the waiting feels heavy. The waiting feels long. It feels like nothing is happening. And so you've started pulling back. You're still showing up, but you're honestly checked out. You're going through the motions, but your heart's not in it. It's like waiting at a restaurant when they say it'll be 10 or 15 minutes for your table, and at minute 12 you're fine. At minute 20 you're checking with the hostess stand. At minute 30, you're making eye contact with every single server. And by 45 minutes in, you're convinced the forgotten you, the restaurant's a scam and you're one sigh away from leaving. That's us with God. During waiting seasons. We start patient and then suspicious. Then we start planning our exit. Now here's what happens when you decide to pull back. You drift. And that drift actually creates distance. And that distance, well, it creates a disconnect between you and God. And I've watched people pull back from God during waiting seasons. They stop praying because they're tired of asking. They stop going to church because it feels hollow. And they tell themselves, I'll come back when things get better. When God shows up, when I get my answer. But that's backwards. The waiting is when you need to lean in the most. Because here's the truth. The waiting is not wasted. The waiting is where your faith grows. God isn't late, he's not distracted. He's preparing something that you cannot see yet. And we're terrible at waiting. We microwave leftovers because four minutes feels like an eternity. We pay for two day shipping even though we don't need it until next month. Patience isn't our strength. But God works on crock pot time, not microwave time. A crock pot.
It always tastes better. You just have to trust the process. So the action today is to lean in. To lean in. Don't pull back, don't give up, don't check out. Lean into trust, not answers. In other words, choose to believe that God is working even when you can't see it. Write down one thing God has been faithful about and let that anchor you. Lean into faithfulness, not your feelings. Keep showing up, keep praying, keep serving. Especially when you when you don't feel like it. And lean into his character, not your circumstances. God's goodness does not change based on what's happening in your life. Hope is not about the destination. It's about trusting the one who's leading you there. So here's the reminder. God is not late. He's preparing you for what you can't see yet. Have a great day. We'll see you back here soon.
[00:04:19] Speaker A: Sam.
