Steve Woods: Being Poised with God | 18:01:26

2026, huh?

>> Here we are. How's it going? 18 days.

18. Is it the 18th today? 18 days. Good

days, bad days.

>> Sorry.

A bit of both. Isn't it funny how we um

we put so much on this whole thing that

you know as if at the 31st of December

at midnight everything's going to be

fixed and we can just leave all that

behind and we'll just go into a fresh

new thing and it's all going to be

great, right? What how long does it

last? Minutes, hours.

>> Sorry.

>> An hour and 25 minutes for Tracy. Um

like I don't know. We we create this

false hope. I think that that uh if we

could just if we could just start again,

if we could just like forget about that,

not worry about those things. If um all

those people that annoyed us in 2025

just either went away or stopped

annoying us in 2026, whatever those

things are, we just I don't Yeah,

doesn't seem to happen. I can't It

doesn't feel like the 18th of January.

It feels like about the 4th of March or

something. I like it just feels like

this year is already racing.

One of the things I do um leading up to

uh a new year. I don't know why I do it.

That's just been a habit over the last

number of years now is

I try and get some time with God to just

sort of sit and process the year that's

happened and just think back of all the

the highs and the lows and what God has

done and rejoice in that and repent and

grieve and all sorts of stuff. But I

also

um ask God for a word for the next year.

um like literally a word, not you know a

you know you ask some people for a word

from God and they give you 17 pages or

stuff. I don't mean that. I mean a word.

Um and uh it it really often surprises

me the word that comes uh because it's

not a word that you would normally think

of. And that was especially so this

year. Um we I'm turning it on. I got

told very clearly to make sure I turn

the clicker thing on. Um, so as I was

doing that this year, this is the word.

Okay, now that's not a usual word,

right? And it was very very clear and ve

almost immediate that the and I just

prayed about it and I really believe

this is um God's word for this year. And

it's it's a really fascinating word. I

um I did all sorts of things. I looked

up some dictionary definitions. It's

it's this sense of um it's not a passive

word. It's not a word with hesitation or

stuckness, but it does this is what the

this is what the dictionary says. Ready

to move or prepared and waiting for

something to happen.

Prepared and waiting for something to

happen. not just waiting for something

to happen, but has this sense of

um

waiting with intention, readiness with

intention, you know, like a like a

sprinter on the blocks or or that moment

just before the kettle boils, you know.

I thought I'll Google some photos just

to try and illustrate this word poise.

You know, it's like this.

Yeah. You know, or like this.

Like this.

Oh, sorry.

Sorry. Couldn't help myself.

Sorry.

Nothing to apologize for. And we can go

back.

>> Look at that.

>> All ready for whatever's about to come

next. Remember what came next?

Ah, one of the greatest days of my life.

Um,

the day I learned to love Richmond

Football Club.

But poise has this idea of

of

being

prepared and ready

for what's about to come.

Is that how you feel this year? Do you

feel prepared and ready for what's about

to come? Or are you like, I have no idea

what's about to come and I'd rather just

lie here in bed and pull the quilt over

and just hope that 2026 disappears very

quickly.

There's lots of examples of this idea in

scripture. In fact, the very foundation

of the creation story starts with this.

Genesis 1. In the beginning, God created

the heavens and the earth. Now, the

earth was formless and empty, and

darkness was over the surface of the

deep. And the spirit of God was hovering

over the waters.

The spirit of God was hovering.

That's not

Sorry, my computer. That's not um

just hanging around.

There's a sense to it, isn't there? The

the spirit of God is hovering. The earth

is formless and void. The the

whole creation story begins with

formlessness,

emptiness,

with nothingness

and the spirit of God

hovering.

I don't know when when you think of

hovering in that context what it feels

like. To me, it feels like there's um

there's attentiveness, like there's

God's giving attention to it. Even

though it's it's hovering, even though

there's still nothing, there's there's

attention to it, but also restraint,

holding back, not not acting straight

away. Um and purpose, like it's hovering

with a purpose. It's not just hovering,

waiting to see what's going to happen

next. There's this sense of

being balanced and ready.

ready to move forward, just holding back

a little and very attentive to what's

going on. God's not panicking about the

chaos.

God's not upset about the mess.

God doesn't even care that there's

nothing there because he's about to do

something because he's present over it.

>> He's waiting over it.

The the theological term is creation

exile or creation out of nothing. Chaos

out of sorry order out of chaos.

that from when there's formlessness and

when there's emptiness and when there's

darkness and when there's heaviness,

God hovers

with intent.

Before he speaks order,

before he does what he's going to do, he

hovers with intent.

So, as we're thinking about coming into

this year,

and let's be honest,

can you think back to January last year

and put yourself back in that place and

think, could I have possibly imagined

what 2025 would hold?

I mean, there were things that happened

here like we when did we finish up? When

did we leave here? Juneish. Yeah. There

were things that were happening around

that time that weren't good. Remember Ma

passed away.

You know that rocks us, right? That

rocks us as a community there. Vicki and

I were talking about that as we were

driving over the bridge today. Well, how

different church is without Mal here.

You know, like there's things that have

happened. And there's grief and there's

pain and there's all sorts of things

that at the beginning of the year last

year none of us would have thought that

was what our year was going to be like.

What are we waiting for this year?

Some of us may have some real clarity

about that. this year is the year that

I'm really going to do this or I'm

starting something new or I'm I'm going

to I'm going here for the first time or

I'm starting a new job or I'm going to

uni or I'm doing something different and

there's clear thoughts about the path

and the trajectory that 2026 has.

Others may be starting it with

questions. I have no idea what this year

is going to be like. Do I think I'll

even get through it?

Is my health going to be okay? Is my

family going to be okay? Is my marriage

going to be okay?

What's going on for you?

Because the truth is, whatever those

things are, whatever we hold going into

this year, God is hovering over it.

And we might not see what God is going

to bring out of it yet. We may not

understand what we're going to be like

in December,

but God does.

And he's hovering.

He's holding back and leaning in all at

the same time.

There's this great story in the Gospel

of John. Actually, let me read it.

technology. It's a bit of a long read,

but um it's worth it. Now, a man named

Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany,

the village of Mary and her sister

Martha. This Mary, whose brother Lazarus

now lay sick, was the same one who

poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his

feet with her hair. So the sisters sent

word to Jesus, "Lord, the one you love

is sick."

When he heard this, Jesus said, "This

sickness will not end in death. No, it's

for God's glory so that God's son might

be glorified through it." How's this for

a verse? Now Jesus loved Martha and her

sister and Lazarus. So when he heard

that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where

he was two more days.

Just let that sink in.

Jesus loved Martha and her sister and

Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus

was sick, he stayed exactly where he

was. Is that what you would do

if your brother, your sister, your

child, your mom, your dad, someone you

love,

you find out that they're deathly ill,

and so the best option to express your

love for them

is to not go and visit.

That hit me over the head over the last

couple of weeks, that verse. Like, I

don't know how many times I've read that

story. I've never noticed how how

clearcut that is.

He stayed where he was two more days and

then he said to his disciples, "Let's go

back to Judea."

But rabbi, they said, "A short while

ago, the Jews there tried to stone you

and yet you're going back." Jesus

answered, "Are there not 12 hours of

daylight? Anyone who walks in the

daytime will not stumble, for they see

by the world's light. It's when a person

walks at night that they stumble, for

they have no light." After he said this,

he went on to tell them, "Our friend

Lazarus has fallen asleep. But I'm going

there to wake him up."

His disciples replied, "Smart disciples,

Lord, if he's asleep, that's good. He'll

get better."

Jesus had been speaking of his death,

but his disciples thought he meant

natural sleep. Great disciples.

So then he told them plainly, "Okay,

fellas, Lazarus is dead and for your

sake I'm glad I was not there so that

you may believe. But let us go to him."

This is a strange story.

Yeah. Now he is dead and it's really

good that I wasn't there.

for your sake.

Do you think the disciples are going,

"Oh, of course, yes, we understand

completely. Of course, it was." They're

scratching their heads, right? This

doesn't make sense to them. He found out

he was sick. He decided to wait. 2 days

later, he says, "Let's go cuz he's

asleep and we're going to wake him up."

And then they go, "Oh, we don't have to

go now. If he's resting, that's good."

No, no, no, no. He's dead and it's good

that we weren't there.

Then Thomas, also known as the twin,

said to the rest of the disciples, "Let

us also go with go with him that we may

die with him." Oh, what a what a

positive outlook these disciples have.

All right, if he's going, we might as

well tell you. We're all going to die

together.

On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus

had already been in the tomb for 4 days.

So by the time the message got to Jesus,

by the time Jesus had decided not to

come, probably at the time Jesus decided

not to come, he was already dead.

Bethany was less than 2 milesi from

Jerusalem and many Jews had come to

Martha and Mary to comfort them in the

loss of their brother. When Martha heard

that Jesus was coming, she went out to

meet him, but Mary stayed at home. Lord

Martha said to Jesus, "If you'd been

here, my brother would not have died.

But I know that even now God will give

you whatever you ask. This is Martha. Do

you remember the one who was busy in the

kitchen not paying any attention to

Jesus? Maybe she was.

Jesus said to her, "Your brother will

rise again." Martha answered, "I know he

will rise again in the resurrection at

the last day." Jesus said to her, "I am

the resurrection and the life. The one

who believes in me will live even though

they die. And whoever lives by believing

in me will never die." "Do you believe

this?" "Yes, Lord," she replied. But I

believe that you're the Messiah, the son

of God who is to come into the world.

After she had said this, she went back

and called her sister Mary aside. The

teacher is here, she said, and is asking

for you. When Mary heard this, she got

up quickly and went to him. Jesus had

not yet entered the village, but was

still at the place where Mary, where

Martha had met him. When the Jews, who

had been in with Mary in the house,

comforting her, noticed how quickly she

got up and went out, they followed her,

supposing she was going to the tomb to

mourn there. When Mary reached the place

where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at

his feet and said, "Lord, if you'd been

here, my brother would not have died."

Ever said that to God? If you'd have

done what I needed you to do, this thing

wouldn't have got to where it got to. If

you'd have answered my prayer in the

first place, if when I sent someone to

come and get you, you came then.

When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews

who had come along with her also

weeping, he was deeply moved in his

spirit and troubled. "Where have you

laid him?" he asked. "Come and see,

Lord," they replied.

Jesus wept.

Then the Jews said, "See how he loved

him." But some of them said, "Could not

he who opened the eyes of the blind man

have kept this man from dying?"

Jesus once more deeply moved, came to

the tomb. It was a cave with a stone

laid across the entrance. It's familiar.

Take away the stone, he said. But Lord,

Martha the sister, Martha the practical

one says, by this time there's a bad

odor who's been there for days. Jesus

said, did I not tell you that if you

believe, you will see the glory of God.

So they took away the stone. Then Jesus

looked up and said, "Father, I thank you

that you have heard me. I know that you

always hear me, but I said this for the

benefit of the people standing here that

they may believe you sent me."

When he had said this, Jesus called in a

loud voice, "Lazarus, come out." The

dead man came out, his hands and feet

wrapped in strips of linen, and his

faith and a cloth around his face. Jesus

said to them, "Take off the grave

clothes and let him go."

Jesus receives urgent news and then

waits because he loves his disciples and

because he loves Lazarus.

That waiting feels costly,

doesn't it?

It's not delay through indifference.

It's not Jesus saying, "Well, I don't

really care. I can go whenever.

We'll get there eventually. For now,

we'll just wait for a bit." It's not

there's not indifference about it. It's

delay with intention.

There's waiting with intention.

Just like at the very beginning of

creation, Jesus is hovering over the

situation,

preparing to reveal something deeper

about life and about resurrection.

Waiting

does not mean nothing is happening.

Say it again. Waiting does not mean

nothing is happening. It may mean that

something greater is being prepared.

What if the waiting

is absolutely crucial to what God wants

to do next? The trouble with that sort

of waiting is it means

our trust in God is stretched,

>> isn't it?

>> God, if you'd have come then,

if you'd have answered this prayer six

months ago, God,

then we wouldn't be in this situation

we're in now.

I don't know if I can trust you anymore,

God.

I don't know if I can do this

because you promised that you're with

me. You promised that that you will be

here in the midst of the pain and the

grief and the suffering and the

difficulty and the uncertainty. And I

prayed about it and I prayed about it

and I prayed about it. And not only did

I pray about it, I did the appropriate

thing. I got as many other people as I

could to pray about it. So just like you

know advocating with a politician, you

got lots of prayers coming into your

inbox, God. So, you pay more attention

and more notice of it.

We'll leave that one. Um,

and you still didn't do anything.

And I'm still waiting. I don't know

if I can trust you, God. Ever been in

that place?

I want to trust you. I think I should

trust you,

but you ain't doing what I thought you

said you were going to do.

It sort of waiting

stretches trust.

There's another moment in the Bible

where this waiting is just

silent and empty.

And that's on the day between Good

Friday and Easter Sunday.

We don't read about it, right? There's

there's not deep theological stuff in

the Bible about that day. It talks about

Jesus being buried. Then it talks about

the Sabbath and then it talks about the

women at the tomb. And we don't talk

about that day where obviously the

disciples are grieving. Obviously

there's stuff going on.

But in between

Good Friday and Easter Sunday sits a

quiet and uncomfortable day.

There's no teaching.

There's no miracles.

There's no explanations.

The disciples sit with loss,

confusion,

lots of unanswered questions.

But again, even though it's silent,

heaven is not idle.

God is not doing nothing.

In fact, resurrection

is already on the way.

We sang it this morning. There was a

line in the song, "On the morning that

you rose, all of heaven held its

breath."

That's poised, right? That's what we're

talking about. This moment where all of

heaven goes

and God says, "It's coming."

It's like um

Carmon the Champion. You remember that

ridiculous 1980s?

Do anyone remember Carmon and the

Champion? Something, you know, like stop

your counting wrong. You know, all that

rubbish,

man. Anyway, like that. But there's this

thing of like God knows what's going on

and no one else does.

Maybe we'll bring it like in Narnia,

right? When Alan is killed on the stone

table,

and there's this deeper magic going on.

There's something else happening that no

one else understands, but God does. You

can almost sense God saying,

"Watch this. Just wait.

Silence is not absence.

In fact, silence is often the space

where God is doing his deepest work.

Maybe in the silence, we have to be

confronted with some stuff in us.

Maybe it's where we get to just

reflect a bit.

I remember the first time I ever went on

a silent retreat. I was at Bible college

and um

if I if I knew then and understood then

that I have ADHD like I understand now,

it makes a whole lot more sense. But I

just did not cope with silence.

We, you know, gathered, we sat together,

we got introduced to the thing, and then

off we went in silence.

And I reckon within an hour, I'm like,

uh, because what happened was when I

stopped talking

and just paused for a second, all this

other stuff that was going on in here

started bubbling to the surface.

And I realized just how much stuff was

going on that I was just either pushing

down, ignoring, burying, not wanting to

think about, keeping busy, and moving on

so I didn't have to deal with this

stuff. And within a couple of hours, I

was an absolute broken mess because of

all the stuff that was going on that I

just didn't want to face.

It's why I deliberately now try and have

a silent retreat every year,

cuz I know I need it. I need some space

from things. I need silence

because it's actually where the deep

work is done.

Where the stuff that is going on in me

can bubble up. Where the stuff that's

going on in our community can bubble up.

Think of Israel 400 years without

hearing from God before John the Baptist

came.

You're worried about a week.

Could you imagine 400 years

without a single word from God? Most of

the theology that we talk about and base

our stuff on, most of the big picture

stuff that we shape our lives around

intentionally or even inadvertently has

happened in the last 400 years since the

reformation for us,

right? And we go,

I don't like it when I don't hear from

God for two minutes.

Silence is not absence.

It's often the space where God is doing

his deepest work. So what does it mean

for us to be poised?

Let's try and bring this together.

How do we how do we live

poised? It's what I've been thinking

about over the last four weeks or so.

Here's some things I've come up with.

First of all, poised doesn't mean

rushing into answers.

There is some restraint with poised.

There is some holding our breath until

we know for sure.

We don't always have to do the first

thing.

So poise doesn't mean rushing to

answers. Secondly, poise doesn't mean

forcing outcomes. If I just do this,

then God will have to do this.

Perhaps that's what Mary and Martha were

doing, right? Let's send a message to

Jesus.

We can get him to come and he can fix

this. Wonder what they were like when

they heard that Jesus wasn't coming.

Or maybe they didn't hear. Maybe the

message got to Jesus and they didn't get

any reply back and Jesus just didn't

turn up.

Maybe we'll just send another messenger.

Maybe we'll we'll find two more people

that we can send. Maybe we'll send Maybe

we'll go and see if we can drag him

back.

Poise doesn't mean forcing outcomes.

It does mean staying present,

staying prayerful,

and staying open,

and allowing God to do what God does

best, which is bring the order out of

the chaos.

That's God's work

to bring the order out of the chaos.

It's not ours.

And in fact, we can't make it happen. If

we try and make it happen, we usually

mess it up.

I've got lots of stories I can tell you

about that.

I mean, it wouldn't happen here. I

understand. But, you know,

it's just me.

So, here's what I'm going to try and do

in 2026 to stay in this place of poised.

Now, poised also means like like if

there's something that God does, then we

have to do it, right?

It's not just about waiting all the time

in silence and trust. It's actually

about being ready to go so that when God

says go, we go. So, I'm not saying let's

have a whole year of just going, let's

try that. Hold your breath for the whole

year.

We can't, right? There has to be some

action at some point. But here's what

I'm trying to do. First of all, is to

hold plans lightly.

I like to at the start of the year think

this is where I'm going to go. this is

what I'm going to do. This is the plan

for the year. I do that in my calendar.

I do that for work stuff. I do that uh

for family stuff. All those sorts of

things.

This year, I'm going to try and hold

that lightly.

Secondly, I'm going to try and pay

attention to where I sense God is

hovering.

Where is God right now?

Is he hovering over stuff that I'm

involved in, or is he hovering over here

somewhere?

Am I in the right place?

Am I seeing what God is up to? Am I

putting myself in a place where I can

notice what God is doing?

Thirdly, I'm going to try and choose

trust over urgency.

I've always got a million and one plans.

I've always got a zillion things that I

think are urgent to do

for God to make his life better.

Going to try and hold trust over

urgency.

And fourthly,

I'm going to keep making space for

silence and prayer

because that's actually

where we find out what God is actually

up to.

When we stop, when we slow down, when we

step away from the busyiness and the

craziness that we all have in life, when

we intentionally carve out time to

listen, to pray, to just be still, to

allow God to do what he does

in the silence.

So, I just

the last couple of minutes, would you

just close your eyes and think about

what God might be asking from you?

Where are you

being asked to wait,

to trust,

or to stay present?

And what would that thing, that

situation, that

uh that relationship that whatever that

whatever that is, what would that thing

look like for you if you would see that

whatever's going on there.

God is hovering over it.

That he's hovering,

not just idly wasting time, but hovering

with intent.

That all of heaven is holding its

breath.

And what would it look like

to remind ourselves that we're not

stalled,

we're not lost,

We're poised

with God,

ready for whatever he

wants to do

in us and through us and for us

this year.

Holy Spirit, would you just

be really, really present to us right

now?

in those things that are in our minds,

in the situations that we're waiting for

you.

We're longing for you,

Lord. Renew our trust in you.

Your word promises us you'll never leave

us or forsake us.

You understand the situations better

than we ever will.

And whether we have really sharp clarity

about what's going on or whether we're

totally confused,

Lord, let us learn more and more

to trust you.

Great are you, Lord,

our King,

our Savior, our Redeemer,

the one who brings order out of chaos.

We put our trust in you again.

We choose to serve you,

to love you, to love each other,

and to be poised and ready

for whatever you're going to do for us

this year.

Amen.