The Reward for Waiting

Please turn in your Bibles, either your Bibles, your physical Bibles, or look at the order of worship or your phones as well.

It really would help this morning if you have a copy of God's Word in front of you.

There'll be sections that we're not going to read, and then some other passages that we'll look at.

We'll give attention to the reading of God's Word, where God speaks directly to us.

It is his very mind in print.

It's infallible, it's inerrant.

These are the words of God.

Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.

Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins.

A voice cries, In the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.

And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

A voice says, Cry, and I said, What shall I cry?

All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the fields.

The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows on it, surely the people are grass.

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.

Go on up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news.

Lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news, lift it up, fear not.

Say to the cities of Judah, Behold your God.

Behold, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him.

Behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.

He will tend his flock like a shepherd.

He will gather the lambs in his arms, he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.

And then we skip down to verse 27.

Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God?

Have you not known?

Have you not heard?

The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth.

He does not faint or grow weary.

His understanding is unsearchable.

He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might, he increases strength.

Even you shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted.

But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength.

They shall mount up with wings like eagles.

They shall run and not be weary.

They shall walk and not faint.

And thus ends our reading this morning.

Very end, not the very end, but the toward the end of the passage.

Um31.

They who wait for the Lord shall.

But it is, you know, for believers, it is waiting is made easier.

A lot of times we'll say things like, I don't know how people live without the Lord.

Well, this is an example of that.

How do people, how do people get along in this life, in this world, when they're waiting for something and there's no point of reference?

There's no, because obviously when we are waiting, one of the one of the reasons we have a trouble waiting is out of fear or because we don't have control.

We don't know what the end what the result's gonna be, the end result.

But when as believers we have trust or we have faith, here are some key words for uh this morning rest and receive.

When we are able, by God's grace, to rest in him, to rest in his sovereignty, and to receive that which he's promised for us, namely, first and foremost, our salvation, then certainly it is made easier when we wait for great things like weddings or births of children or Christmas or the arrival of a close friend, maybe uh looking forward to enjoying a trip or something that's out in the future.

They say that it's actually good for us to have something in the future that we're looking forward to.

You know, Abraham waited twenty five years after the promise had been made.

Twenty-five years for the promise, and then subsequently uh descendants.

Uh Joseph, from the time he was enslaved, first thrown into the pit until he was imprisoned, and then he became ruler, was 13 years past.

David waited 15 years.

He was anointed, he was to be the king, and there would be 15 years of being hunted down like an animal in the mountains by Saul until finally the anointed sat on the throne as the servant king.

Moses waited 40 years.

Moses waited 40 years a few times.

Uh but the first 40 years was in prep was God preparing him to become the leader, the one the one who would be delivering his people.

Uh Hannah, we know, waited uh many years for a child.

Uh Job waited.

We don't know how long Job waited, but when Job was waiting, having been uh having everything taken away from him, God was silent in those years of waiting.

Uh Simeon, we could say, uh Simeon waited his entire life because that's what he said, basically.

He'd waited his entire life to see the Messiah.

The disciples waited ten days in the upper room.

They were waiting for uh they were waiting for the coming of the Holy Spirit.

William Carey, missionary to India, uh, waited seven years before the first convert in his ministry.

Difficult as it may be, or not, depending on, again, our our faith and our trust in him.

Isaiah has some very, very comforting words.

When it comes in the form of a question, a lot of times we think that it's um, we think that, I'm sorry, I'm distracted.

But um, it comes sometimes when we think the question, we think it's a rebuke.

And it's actually words of God.

We say, have you not heard?

You know, if you've heard if you're struggling and someone comes up to you and they say, Look, brother, sister, you know, have you not heard?

Do you not know?

That's what that's what here.

The Lord.

Look at verse 28.

The Lord, all capital letters, Yahweh, Yahweh is the everlasting God.

He is the eternal God.

He's he has no beginning, he has no end, the creator of the ends of the earth.

He does not faint or grow weary, he's never distracted.

He never, he never nods off, his eyelids are never heavy.

In Psalm 121, it says, um, he who keeps you will not slumber.

His understanding is unsearchable.

In other words, when we think about this when we're waiting too, his understanding is way beyond ours, way beyond our ability to even begin to understand.

He gives, verse 29, he gives power to the faint.

The New King James translates that, he gives power to the weak, the NIV, the New American Standard, he gives strength to the weary, and to him who has no might, he increases strength.

That word uh that word means life.

To the one who has no life, to the one, the actual word is vigor.

That's the strongest word for it.

Hosea probably uses it in the strongest way, because when Hosea uses it, he's saying that if someone has lost their manly, their manly vigor, their manly strength.

To the one who's lost it, the man who uh who cognitively believes, well, I'm not what I used to be, physically I'm not what I used to be.

I don't have the same strength, I don't have the same power, and not necessarily in aging, it could be in a sickness, it could be in brokenheartedness, um, it could be grief, it could be depression.

God causes strength to grow.

You say, Well, what in the world are you talking about?

Because I don't see it, I don't see it in my own life, I feel extremely weak.

I feel uh so frail.

I don't have the power.

Or what about, you know, I think about my loved one.

I just I don't I don't see it.

And then we begin to have eyes to see, and I begin to think, wait a minute, there's another thing Isaiah said in this chapter.

All men are like grass, okay?

He says, I'm like grass, okay?

Well, that means that I that I'm like grass, I'm fading, but my glory is fading like the flower of the field.

And then further sanctification, it dawns on me what Paul is saying to the Corinthians, 2 Corinthians 4, 16, don't lose heart.

Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed.

He says, day by day it's being renewed.

And if you listen closely enough, you start putting these scriptures together that I'm I'm reading to you, and you really, like uh Hebrews 12 talks about, where you set, then you fix your eyes on the one who is uh the the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despised the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

If I can somehow get myself there and be thinking in terms of who he is and what he has done for me, maybe.

You know, we hear the echo of heaven, maybe we hear uh one of the anthems.

We don't know what all the anthems are, we know holy, holy, holy is one of the anthems.

Uh, but we hear maybe the words of Jesus Himself being sung in heaven.

Come to me, all who labor, come to me, all who are weary, all who are weary and heavy laden.

I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you, learn from me.

I'm I'm I'm gentle, I'm lowly, I am humble in heart, and you will find rest for your soul.

Salvation is, and we're gonna say it mention it one more time and then dive deeper into it in a moment, but it's a matter of resting and receiving.

Someone said that uh heaven is rest.

We know that.

We think, well, we rest from our labors.

True, biblical, scriptural, but it's it's rest, it's it's soul rest that we can have some understanding of that in this world.

When Jesus even says those words in Matthew 11, uh he's talking to the Pharisees.

He's talking about how they're they're working so hard to achieve heaven, to achieve God's blessing on them in this life.

And he's saying, Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden by the law, by your performance.

I'll give you rest.

Heaven is rest.

Spurgeon said, the closer I am to Jesus, the closer I am to life.

Actually, Spurgeon uses the word vigor.

The closer I am to Jesus, the closer I am to real vigor, strength.

The closer I am to heaven, Spurgeon said, the closer I am to Jesus, the closer I am to heaven.

C.S.

Lewis said this would be worth writing down, I think.

Heaven is that remote music, I'm born remembering.

It's quite profound.

First time hearing it, it's a little bit difficult.

That's why I say write it down, but take it and think about it.

That heaven is that remote music we're born remembering.

When uh Eugene Peterson writes in the message, his it's his translation, it's translation, but it's his interpretation of the translation.

So it's not a real translation.

Um, it's more of a um paraphrase, but it's but I say it's paraphrase, but it's actually a little bit deeper than a paraphrase.

I mean, nobody would say that Eugene Peterson wasn't a great translator because he was, but the way he writes the message is more his interpretation of the translation.

This is what he feels like Jesus wants you to feel because of what he says.

And the way he translates verse 28 of Matthew 11 is, are you tired and worn out?

Come to me, get away with me, you'll recover your life.

I'll show you how to take a real rest.

Walk with me and work with me.

Watch how I do it.

And then there's this phrase, and if you've been here uh with me here two years or so, I did use this a lot when we first moved here.

But the reason I did is because uh it had meant so much to me personally, it just kept coming out in my in my sermons.

But Peterson's interpretation of verse 29 is learn the unforced rhythms of grace.

That's another one Mike jot down because upon first hearing, it's a little bit difficult.

We learn the unforced rhythms of grace as opposed to the forced rhythms of grace.

Forced, forced as if grace could be forced.

Forced grace is anxiety-driven, it's performance-based, legalistic pressure.

He's pointing out that there's this unforced rhythm of grace where I uh where grace is received.

Okay, just mentioned grace is not forced.

Grace is received.

And I'm learning these rhythms of grace week by week, month by month, year by year, decade by decade of walking with Jesus Christ.

They become second nature.

These patterns of rest, patterns of trust, patterns of obedience, patterns of discipleship.

It's like this steady pace.

What we're talking about, what Jesus is talking about, is John 15, about abiding in Him.

When Paul mentions walking in the Spirit in Galatians 5, when the writer of Hebrews in chapter 4 talks about resting in Christ, it's not about me, it's not about you, it's all about Jesus.

That's an unforced rhythm of grace.

When one can come to that place, what can I do for you?

Rather than the forced grace is I do and I do and I do for you.

And this is the thanks I get.

Unforced rhythms of grace is I do and I do and I do for you.

What else can I do for you?

What more can I do for you?

How much is too much?

To be still and wait, to learn at the earliest age, whether a child here or a young adult, to learn to be still and to wait, so you can then pass that on to your children when they think the world is coming to an end, and you're able, with experience and with wisdom, say to them, just be still, just wait.

It's gonna work out.

That's an unforced rhythm of grace.

To wait well.

We're talking about waiting this morning.

To wait well is an unforced rhythm of grace.

Anonymous giving is another example.

Uh always pointing others to Jesus, but the things you say, uh the things you do.

There's a grander rhythm that I'd love to bring to your attention.

And it begins with salvation.

It begins with my understanding that I am a sinner.

As the first vow to join the church.

The first vow to join the church is the first understanding that I have of being a Christian, that I am a sinner in the sight of God, justly deserving his displeasure, and without hope, save or accept for his mercy and his grace.

That's the first step.

I am a sinner.

And then to understand who Jesus Christ is, that he is the Son of God, He's the Savior, He is the only mediator between God and man.

And so therefore, I trust Him.

I receive what He's done for me.

I understand that what He did on this earth at His death and resurrection and ascension, He did for me personally.

But here comes the unforced rhythm of grace.

Now I see things in ways I never saw them before.

Now my eyes are open and I say, Oh, that's what you're doing.

That's what you're doing in my life.

I can endure the waiting, I can endure the suffering.

Because of these unforced rhythms that I understand now, my eyes are open and I can see the spring.

I can see the sunshine.

I can see these mountains in ways that I couldn't before.

Those are unforced rhythms.

And that's that's, I believe, that's what's happening in Isaiah chapter 40.

Isaiah 40 · chapter mention

That even look at verse 30.

Even youth shall faint and be weary.

Young men shall fall exhausted, but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

One of the things, you know, actually Isaiah takes a transition at chapter 40, and it's for a number of maybe 12 or so chapters, where the common theme is your God reigns.

It's the umbrella, it's the overarching.

So think in terms of that in chapter 40.

Overarching is my understanding that my God reigns.

In chapter 52 of verse 7, how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, your God reigns.

Again, it's the context.

Let's go back to verse 1 of chapter 40.

It's printed for you there.

Maybe your Bibles open.

Comfort, he says, Comfort my people, says your God.

Comfort my chosen, comfort my family, comfort my children, comfort my adopted, comfort those for whom Jesus, I sent my son Jesus to die.

Console them.

That's your job.

That's my, you say, well, that's your job.

You know, you're the preacher.

That's true.

It's my calling.

It's your calling as a Christian to comfort and to console, to be an encourager.

Okay, look at verse two.

Speak tenderly.

Speak tenderly to be a Barnabas, you know, to come alongside the people, the very people that John referred to in the confession and talking about bringing us to confession.

Come alongside and then cry, cry, and tell them.

Here's the good news her warfare is ended, her iniquity is pardoned, she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins.

So that's a little hard to understand.

Uh the word double there means exact match.

It's like an actor's double.

When they have an actor and he's acting, she's acting, and then uh they they cut, you know, and then they put in the double.

It's this exact representation of that person.

Well, in here it's talking about the punishment.

There's an exact reckoning for the sins, the crimes that have been committed.

In other words, the the punishment fits the crime, and you have received that.

You have received double.

You've received someone who has already taken the punishment for you to fit your crime and my crime.

That's what that's what Isaiah is saying.

Can you imagine the again?

We talk about heaven's heaven's anthems.

Your warfare is ended.

One breath here, in a struggle.

In a veil of tears, and your next breath there.

You're translated, in a sense, from one place to another place.

Instantly, the body remains, the soul goes to heaven, and immediately the celebration in heaven, the warfare's over.

I mean, we can't wait for that.

The warfare's over, your sins have been pardoned.

Come and enjoy all the benefits where there's no more struggle, no more pain, no more relational problems, no more struggles between parent and child, and child and parents all gone.

There's no cancer.

There's no autism.

Because there's no autism, there's no degrees of no level, a scale of autism.

There's no cerebral palsy.

There's no backache.

There's no pain.

There's no suffering.

You never pick up the phone and receive bad news.

We don't have to discipline our bodies anymore to lose weight.

I guess everybody's going to be the perfect weight in heaven.

It'll be nice.

Everybody be just like me.

I always say, well, if I could just tuck myself in up here a little bit more.

It's getting much more difficult, too.

Look at verse 4.

Under the umbrella of our God reigns.

And I'm going to insert three words in your life.

Okay?

Look at verse 4.

Every valley in your life shall be lifted up.

Every mountain and hill in your life will be made low.

The uneven ground in your life shall become level.

And the rough places in your life a plain.

So when he gets to verse 5 and he starts telling us to cry, the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

I love this.

In verse 5, the voice has cry, and I say, What shall I cry?

And then the grass withers, flower fades, all that.

Then on verse 9, go up, go on up on a mountain, a high mountain, herald of good news, lift up your voice, lift it up, fear not.

Say to the cities of Judah, Behold your God.

Isaiah 40 just lifts us.

It lifts us up, lifts us out of ourselves, out of our pain and our misery, even, our self-pity as well, lifts us up and says, Look, look at God.

Look, look at Jesus.

Behold your God.

Same God who says, Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden.

I'll give you rest.

And oh that Isaiah would have us comprehend it.

That's the third point, but we're just going to go quickly over this, just to say the desire, might I say the desire of the Holy Spirit that we comprehend this.

Not just intellectually, but we really get it.

Real comprehension when it goes from here to here, when it goes from head to heart.

Really believe, really understand that this is good news.

This is the gospel.

This helps me get up in the morning.

This is real comfort.

When I have my personal problems, I'm dealing with maybe chronic pain, uh involved in a very difficult marriage, perhaps even.

I think about my prodigal, I think about depression.

Think about just within our city and the state and the country and then uh the Middle East and areas of the world.

Here's what we want to comprehend.

Our God reigns.

Behold, God.

Paul picks up on the same language in Ephesians chapter 3.

Ephesians 3 · chapter mention

This idea of comprehending.

You're going to see another word that we saw in Isaiah 40.

In Ephesians chapter 3, the end of verse 17, talking about the love of Christ, that you being rooted and grounded in love may have strength.

Ephesians 3 · chapter mention

There again, to what?

To comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and the length and the height and the depth of the love of Jesus, to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, and that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Now he can say, I got that.

I understand, I comprehend it.

Now Paul can say, Now to him who's able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think.

According to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.

Just skimming in verse 13, he was measured the Spirit of the Lord.

What man shows him counsel?

Whom did he consult?

The nations are a drop in the bucket in verse 15.

All nations are as nothing in verse 17.

They are counted to him as less than nothing, emptiness.

To whom then will you liken God?

You know, what likeness do you compare him?

Get some more questions in verse 21.

Do you not know?

Do you not hear?

Has it not been told you from the beginning?

Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?

And here's the sovereignty.

It's he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them like a tent to dwell in.

Every night we go, when you go out, every night I take my dog out for his business.

And um and I try to look up.

This is not something about me.

I I just I look I look forward to it.

I'm gonna look for something new in the heavens each night.

And even if it looks similar to the night before, it's not similar.

It's not it is similar, but it's not the same.

It's like God's mercies are new every morning.

He doesn't have new mercies.

It's the fact that they're new every morning.

It's something new for me.

And we see that in this in the expanse, and you see these stars, and sometimes they're so bright, and you can see them in the distance, and then sometimes you can't see it quite as well.

He spread all that out like a tent over my house.

He's put this tent, and I'm like a grasshopper.

I mean, you know, he you understand that.

I mean, just how great he is, who brings princes to nothing, makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.

Look at verse 27 again.

Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, my way is hidden from the Lord and my right is disregarded by my God?

If you say that as your pastor, I'd say, Well, that breaks my heart.

And it should break your heart.

And it breaks our hearts when we think about our children feeling that way, or our loved ones.

We want to say, you know, have you not known?

Do you really think my way is hidden from the Lord?

You think, do you think your way is how sad that would be such a difficult place to be, to think that my way, good or bad, is hidden from the Lord.

And as if he has no regard for me.

Have you not known?

Have you not heard how much he loves you?

How big he loves you?

And maybe you need to preach that to yourself every morning, maybe all day.

Some of us may hear it every day.

Put yourself in first person as if God's speaking to you, and you say, I love you, I love you, I love you.

He's not gonna break a bruised reed.

He's not gonna snuff out, he's not gonna quench a smoldering wick.

Never.

He actually confides in you.

Do you know that?

God tells you secrets because he loves you that much.

Psalm 27, sorry, Psalm 25, verse 14.

Psalms 25:14

He longs to be gracious to you.

He rises to show you compassion.

Isaiah 30, verse 18.

Isaiah 30:18

This God of Isaiah 40, who set the stars in the heavens, he rises to show you compassion.

Do you not know, have you not heard that this one who did create the stars, he numbered them, he named them, not one is missing?

Do you not think, do you not believe that he can't take care of that problem in your life right now?

I'm not minimizing it.

Maybe I'm maximizing it.

I'm saying whatever it is, don't you know and don't you think he can take care of that?

Do you not know that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord?

I mentioned when it moves from here to here, you know, this I don't know, 12 inches or so from from head to heart.

When that happens, you begin to decrease and he begins to increase.

And the more you decrease and the more he increases, the more joy you have, the more contentment, the more peace.

When you realize that the kingdom of God is in here, it's in my heart, and the king of the kingdom resides in me.

That affects every single thing you do.

Everything in this world, in your family, in your marriage, in your parenting children, and your your school, being out of school this week.

This idea affects everything about your spring break.

It affects how we give, it affects our priorities.

Because what happens is all of a sudden I realize that my hope is not in that thing about which I'm worried.

My hope and my identity is not found in a president or a Supreme Court or some kind of psychological, finding myself in a psychologically good place.

That's not my hope.

It's here today, gone tomorrow.

My hope is not in personal strength.

My hope is secure in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

My hope is in the fact that He not only was raised from the dead, he's gonna raise me from the dead.

And I will be raised from the dead, and I will live forever, and I will actually reign with him in heaven on a new heaven and on a new earth.

I will reign.

You will reign.

We'll reign with him.

That's what makes us climb, that last point.

That's what makes us soar, really.

We just soar.

Have you not known?

Have you not heard?

He gives power to the faint, to him who has no might, he increases strength, even youth shall faint and be weary, young men shall fall exhausted.

Again, put yourself in heaven.

Can you not wait for Jesus?

I'm just saying hypothetically maybe, but just for him to say, did I not tell you?

Didn't I tell you that if you would just wait for me, I would renew your strength, that you would mount up with wings like eagles, that you would run and not be weary, that you'll walk and not think.

I told you, didn't I?

I told you, enter into glory, into paradise.

So shall it be, you know.

We realize this one.

He this one, this one in Isaiah 40, has this these, I guess plural, this, I'll say this singular, this caring and loving and understanding shoulder upon which you can lie, upon which you can cry.

And what's beautiful is he's not negating any of the power.

He doesn't have to set that aside to be compassionate and merciful.

In verses 10 or so, he's talking about the power of God, power of God, power of God.

And then in verse 11, he leads you like a shepherd leads sheep.

He picks you up like a lamb.

He holds you near his breast.

He gently leads those who have young.

That's the one.

The one who did say, Come to me, hall who are weary and heavy weary and heavy laden.

That's the one who calls you this morning.

He bids you to come nearer.

He's saying, Draw near to me.

If you're waiting for something, maybe waiting for healing.

You could be waiting for anything.

And he says, in your waiting, draw near to me.

Maybe you're a believer and you and you maybe you feel near to him, and he's saying, get nearer.

Or maybe he's holding you and saying, Don't don't move, don't go, don't go away.

I like this.

I like holding you.

If you are an unbeliever, just hear the call.

Hear the call.

It's it's not me, it's the Holy Spirit laying on your heart to come, to come near.

But to believers, and believers may say, well, how close?

How close?

And I just point to the table.

This close, you know.

That's how close he came to you and me.

And now we get to eat the bread and drink the cup.

That's there's this, I don't think there's anything nearer to God than that.

We don't want to rush this.

We don't, uh we don't, you know, we look at each other, it's great.

We're actually taking the meal together.

We have communion of the saints right here, but it's also uh a sense that I don't want to lose this moment.

I don't want to think about when we sing the doxology and get out of here.

I want to be looking at the screens now and singing and looking, and and I want to be as engaged as I can at the table.

I just reiterate that uh the table is for believers.

We call that the fencing of the table.

I'm I'm not fencing it.

I guess I do fence it, but I fence it with Jesus' own fencing.

That it's only for believers.

And if you're an unbeliever, you can still come by and you can see, you can ask the minister or the elder for prayer.

I'll probably forget that if I don't say it now.

Now we have two individuals, a man and a woman, who'll be to my right out these doors.

I think it says prayer team on their um their pen.

And um, they're there to pray with you for anything.

They're there if you have a question about Christ, if you think I don't understand this salvation, I don't understand what the gospel is, they'll talk to you about that or find somebody to talk to you about it.

So I encourage you uh to do that.

Uh let's bow our heads and hearts and pray for this.

Lord, we bow down before you as a people who trust you.

You've never let us down.

You've never forsaken us, you've never left us alone.

Even in our waiting, and there are some in this room, no doubt, who have been waiting a long time.

I'm reminded of the martyrs who are before your throne and they come by you and they say, How long, O Lord, how long?

Even Jesus is waiting to come again in glory, a new heaven and a new earth, and the waiting will be over.

Until that day, Father, we take this meal.

While we wait, we enjoy the meal with our Savior and with one another physically here, and even those that are in heaven who have gone before us.

We hasten it.

We can't wait to get there.

Thank you for it.

We pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.