The Waiting Room

Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast.

We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ.

Thanks for tuning in.

Well, good morning, Awakening Church.

It is great to be with you.

Welcome, welcome, welcome.

My name's Ryan.

If we haven't met, thrilled that you joined us today.

Um, you know, a little over a week ago, yeah, just a tiny bit more.

Jenny and I, we were at the urgent care with our son getting his foot checked out.

Now, uh, we're a basketball family, he was playing ball, he had somebody land on his foot, and the pain continued for so long, we're like a little nervous.

Um, you know, did you fracture your foot?

So we're going to get it checked out.

As we sat in the waiting room, and we could, you know, you know the like plexiglass that's in front of the receptionists these days, yeah?

And there was a paper, this Microsoft, you know, printout uh tape to it that had this line.

If you're not making mistakes, you're not trying.

Well, maybe amen.

If you're a part of an inspirational at a startup or art studio, but at an urgent care.

I don't want my doctor going, well, learning.

Oops, trying.

If you're not making mistakes, you're not trying.

Oh, sorry, it was the wrong foot.

Um in that moment, my confidence waned quite a bit.

And then there's another waiting room we sit in in life.

The one where you wish you were anywhere else.

Um, about five months ago or so, I pulled into the Stanford hospital.

Some of our dearest friends on the planet are here once again.

It's been a painfully long, discouraging road getting to this point, and our sweet friend is here for brain surgery.

The second time in five years.

I've come to be close by, I've come to pray, I've come to just sit and await with my buddy as his wife is in surgery.

If you ever been there, you know time just moves.

Like a crawl.

You watch the clock, you replay the surgeon's timeline, you refresh your phone desperately for an update.

Every text brings a bit of relief.

But beneath it all, there's this ache, this tension of hoping and feeling helpless.

Waiting is one of the hardest things we do in life, especially in the areas that matter the most.

Waiting for a relationship to be restored, waiting for healing, waiting for God to move or work in your life, waiting for your future, a promise to be filled, or an answered prayer.

What do you do when you're stuck in the waiting room of life?

You're waiting to hear if you got into that dream school, that program, accepted your application to find out if you got the job, made the team, waiting for your prodigal son or daughter to return home, waiting for the right person to date, to marry, waiting, hoping to start a family.

And then there's the pressure of Silicon Valley, isn't there?

Silicon Valley, whether you're teen or in your 50s, there's this immense pressure to have life already figured out, to know where you're going, and to be successful already.

If it feels it feels like everyone has their life together, everyone's getting ahead, moving forward, getting married, getting promoted, and sometimes it just feels like life is passing you by.

What do you do when your dreams are delayed or you feel like your life's on pause?

In these moments of waiting in the waiting room, I think there's three questions we wrestle with.

Where is God?

And the waiting.

This is hard.

And when will it ever end?

When will it be over?

When will the wait be over?

Sermon title today is pretty obvious: The Waiting Room.

Would you say that with me?

The waiting room of life.

What is God up to in these moments?

Years ago, I was uh with and listening to an old theology professor, Dr.

Bill Lawrence, and he had this line that just stuck out to me, and it began to help me frame and make sense of some of the process and the patterns of my life and what God was doing.

And it begins to help shape as we're studying the life of Joseph, like, oh, this is how God actually doesn't just work in Joseph's life, this is how God works in our life as well.

He said this line In God's economy, a zigzag line is the shortest distance between two points.

How many of you take I don't want to ask that?

You remember geometry?

Yeah?

The shortest distance between two points is what?

A straight line, very good.

And yet in God's economy, the shortest distance to living out your God-given purpose, fulfilling who He's made you to be, living out your calling isn't a direct shot.

In fact, it's a zigzag line.

Let's take the life of Joseph, for example.

I I I drew a little chart for you.

The life of Joseph begins, 17-year-old, he's got this dream.

This dream to have impact, this dream to have influence.

It's actually a good dream.

It's God given at 17.

He's unaware that his brothers hate him.

He's the 11th of 12.

His dad gave him the robe of um royalty, really, the robe of influence, the robe of honor, uh, the robe that said, even though you're 11th, I promote you to number one.

And so his brothers hated him and they betray him.

And they rip the robe from him and throw him into a pit.

Zig, number one.

They're wrestling with what are they gonna do with their brother?

Maybe kill him was the first option.

They said that we won't get anything, we have to cover it up.

Let's sell him.

Only brothers could come up with this kind of logic.

They sell him to some traitors that are passing by, and he moves from this pit of despair, and he's then taken down to Egypt to the superpower of their day, and he's sold to Potiphar, who is uh in the court of Pharaoh.

He's the captain of the guard.

And it looks like okay, is this now my life, my new life?

Is this it?

I'm learning a new culture, a new language, and I'm a slave.

And there, something that uh we'll revisit again.

We see this over and over.

It says that even in Potiphar's home, it says that the Lord was with him.

The Lord gave him favor, so much so that Potiphar said, I'm gonna entrust everything to you.

He gave him responsibility after responsibility, eventually put a robe of leadership on him that he oversaw the entire household and affairs of Potiphar.

But Potiphar's wife took notice, we talked about this last week, took notice of him, pursued him.

He's a man of integrity.

He even orchestrated his work and his days so he didn't have to be around her, and she sabotaged it, set a plan, dismissed the servants, and he shows up and she seizes him, grabs him, and he resists and he runs, but she rips his robe off once again.

And now he's falsely accused.

And things go from bad to worse.

He's now thrown in prison.

He's thrown in the royal prison, though.

And so you see the zigs and the zags of Joseph Life.

He goes from the pit to Potiphar to prison, and yet again we see this line, and the Lord was with him.

And he had favor on him.

And the the chief jailer sees, like, hey, this guy's like whatever he does, he's good at, and he's blessed, gives him more responsibility, more responsibility.

Eventually, he is the prisoner overseeing all the prisoners.

And one day, the text tells us that the chief cupbearer and the baker, now, these weren't just like a vintner, which is fantastic, by the way.

We're live in the land of Napa Valley, so we love wine around here.

And this isn't just the baker, which we I love treats, I love sweets, it's amazing.

These were like high-level court officials of Pharaoh.

They they guarded and safeguarded his food.

They were confidants and gave insight and uh were speaking, you know, giving him wisdom.

He got mad at them for some reason.

We don't know why, threw them in jail.

And the text says this.

We're not told about a timeline.

You can see the dotted line here that it was 13 years from dream to the palace, but he's in the prison.

And and just the text tells us sometime later.

Like I've just been here in this place.

I've just been waiting some time later.

The cupbearer and the baker, they have a dream.

Joe shows up into the moment, he sees them, he sees their faces downcast.

He said, What's wrong?

What's troubling you?

They said, We have a dream, and but we don't have anyone to interpret.

In ancient Egypt, they had professional dream interpreters, by the way, and they had books that had like, you know, helped them discern the symbolism of the dream.

They're like, There's no professional interpreter.

And Joe says this, don't dreams belong to God?

Tell it to me.

I think we could figure it out.

Well, the cupbearer tells his dream, and uh Joe says, Hey, good news.

In three days, you're gonna be restored to your position.

You're gonna be back serving the Pharaoh.

When you do, remember me.

And then he tells his zigzag journey.

My brothers betrayed me, I was thrown into a pit, I was sold to Potiphar, I was falsely accused.

Remember me.

I can't get before Pharaoh, but you can.

Well, the baker thought, well, that's a good interpretation.

I'm gonna tell him my dream.

And he says, like about these baskets on his head with bread and the birds are eating them.

Joe says, Well, that's not a good dream.

I'm sorry, my friend.

Because in three days, you're gonna be executed.

And three days later, everything happens as Joseph said.

And yet, there's this curious little line at the end of the chapter.

And the cupbearer, after he was restored, did not remember Joseph.

He forgot.

And he was forgotten for two years.

What do you do when you're stuck in the waiting room of life?

The three questions we ask, I believe God wants to answer in our time together.

Where is God in the waiting?

What is he doing?

And when will it end?

Where is God in the waiting?

In your waiting room when you're stuck, God is with you in the waiting.

Genesis 39, 20 says it this way.

But while Joseph was there in prison, the Lord was what?

That was pretty good.

We can do it better, though.

I know we can.

The Lord was what?

Fantastic.

He was with them in the prison.

In the place just where he's confined and he's unjustly accused, and he's just waiting, feeling like he's eking out his days.

God says, I'm with you there.

And he showed him that word kindness is the Hebrew word hasid.

It says covenant, faithful love.

Granted him favor.

The most repeated line, uh command in all of Scripture is do not be anyone?

Afraid.

Yeah.

Well, over 300 times throughout the scriptures it says, do not be afraid, do not be afraid, do not be afraid.

And then almost always coupled with that line, do not be afraid, is the promise, for I am with you.

Joshua 1 9 says it this way.

Have I not commanded you, be strong and courageous, do not be afraid, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.

Isaiah 43, 1 and 2 says, Do not fear, for I have redeemed you, I have summoned you by name.

You are mine.

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you.

Jesus, as he was giving his the great commission before he left the disciples, he said, Surely I am with you always, even to the very end of the age.

Notice what God doesn't say.

Don't be afraid because I'm gonna fix it all.

Don't be afraid because I'm gonna change your circumstances.

Don't be afraid, don't worry because the waiting's over.

I'm gonna make it so it's not so scary.

He says, I am with you, and my presence is enough for you no matter what you're going through.

It reminds me, and I've told this story before, but it's one of the best pictures for this.

When my daughter, who's now 21, was very little, uh, I love surfing, we're paddleboarding uh at the beach, and she wanted to go out with me.

I was like, Oh, this is awesome! I'd love to share this with you, take you out, and put the life vest on her, and you know, we get out just past the break, and she's sitting in the middle of the um the paddleboard like this, and she's holding onto her knees, you know, and you just see her just start to shake and tremble.

And she goes, Dad, dad, the waves are so big.

Dad, I'm so scared.

Dad, dad, we're so far from the shore, and and and the water's so deep.

And take me back, take me back.

And I just leaned over to her and whispered in her ear, suck it up.

Of course I didn't say that.

But some of us think that's what God's saying to us, don't we?

Some of us think God's like, we're in that moment, we're shaking, we're struggling, and we think God's leaning over, like, oh, suck it up.

You know what I told her?

It's okay.

Your dad's with you.

You know, if you're all by yourself, you're a little girl, and you're in the middle of the ocean, it's a frightful thing.

But if you're with your dad, you're gonna be okay.

And you can experience the waves and the wind and the depth in a different way, not because anything's changed, it's just because the presence of your dad is with you, and God looks to you in the middle of whatever you're going through in the waiting, he says, I'm with you.

And it's enough.

It's enough for you.

My presence is enough.

Where is God in the waiting?

He's with you.

Well, what is he doing?

God, what are you doing in this time?

What are you doing in this pause?

What are you doing when I'm just at this dead-end job, when it feels like others are passing me by?

When I have this heart and hope for healing or my marriage or this relationship or family, what are you doing?

God is still working in the waiting.

His silence does not mean his absence.

What feels like a pause, God is actively at work in and through it all.

Let me give you three areas that God is working in the waiting.

The first area he's working in the waiting is he is working in you.

Why don't you notice something about Joe?

This is fantastic.

Do you remember Joe at the beginning, 17 years old?

He's kind of a cocky dreamer kid.

His brothers hate him, by the way.

He doesn't even notice their hatred.

He's still wearing the multicolored jacket his dad gave him.

He's showing up telling them his dream.

He doesn't notice anything.

And then it says this, Genesis 40, verse 6.

Genesis 40:6

When Joseph came to them, the chief cupbearer and baker, he saw, he noticed that they were dejected.

In fact, he the another way he says, he noticed their downcast face.

Like he just saw something in their look.

So he asked them, uh, why do you look so sad today?

Well, we both had dreams, but there is no one to interpret them.

And then he said, Do not interpretations belong to God?

Tell me your dream.

I want you to notice that God was working in Joseph in such profound ways that this self-absorbed, cocky, arrogant kid that was all about himself, that yes, indeed, had a God-given dream, but was not in any way, his character was not in a place to be able to live or hold out that God-given dream through the zigzag life.

He is now in a place where he's stuck in prison.

He is not acting like he is a helpless, can't do anything.

He sees their downcast face and says, What's going on?

Instead of self-focused, he's other focused.

He's concerned, he's looking at their needs.

Instead of throwing himself a pity party, he's practicing, you know, how do I serve those that God has placed in front of me?

He's working in you in these seasons.

I want you to notice something too about his God confidence, because by the way, intimacy with God is almost always forged through the fires of life.

Through the strategic pauses, through those waiting room moments, through the places where you don't realize God is all you need until God is all you have.

And he says, Do not interpretations belong to God?

I know we don't have a professional interpreter here, but guess what?

I've forged such an intimate relationship with God.

I think he'll show me if you tell me.

What is God doing in the waiting?

Well, he's working in you.

Secondly, he will work through you.

What do you mean?

This is a dead-end job.

What do you mean?

I'm waiting for my marriage to finally, you know, get fixed or healed.

I'm I'm waiting for, you know, that next season.

I'm a high school student, and you know, when I step into like that the college, then you know, I'll finally kind of step into life.

What do you mean?

No, God right now, He longs to work through you where you are.

He longs to use your life in powerful ways if we'll just pay attention to who God's placed in front of us.

Hey, a cupbearer, Baker showed up.

I don't like the place that I'm at, Joe would say that.

In fact, he tried to get out of that.

He's like, he he pled his case.

But this is where I'm placed, and so God, whoever you place in front of me, I'm gonna serve.

We so often lean in and get into circumstances, psychologists call it learned helplessness.

Nothing I can do can change anything.

So why try?

You know what they tell us that breaks learned helplessness?

Helping others.

Every time.

I can't change my circumstances, but I certainly can serve you.

See, God is working in you.

God longs to work through you.

And in the zigzag of life, God is working for you.

Can we bring up that zigzag again?

Remember, in God's economy, the most direct route to living out your God-given purpose in life is a zigzag line.

Joseph at 17, he had no idea that 20 years later there would be a famine that would sweep over the known world at the time.

That not only would his family and their livelihood be in jeopardy, everyone else's livelihood would be in jeopardy.

Not even the super world if uh superpower that day, Egypt, if they weren't properly prepared, the devastation would be horrific.

He's a 17-year-old with a God-given dream, but he has no idea that every step of the way was actually God positioning him to place him in a way where he could have impact and influence and develop his character to a place where when he put on the robe of royalty to be second in command, he was able to hold it in a way of service.

Like God was working for him.

We'll find out at the very end of this series.

The very last sermon is called, But God.

It's one of my favorite lines in all of Scripture.

You intended it for harm.

There's people who've done things to you, against you, who have harmed you.

You intended it for harm and for evil.

But God, He is sovereign and provident over the course of your life, and nothing that you've done or has come into your life and has been done against you can thwart God's purposes in your life, and you surrender them into the hands of God and say, but God intended it for good for the saving of many lives.

God is working for you.

Oh.

So what is God doing?

God is working in you.

He is working through you.

We have this big tree outside our house, and it's dropping all sorts of leaves.

Anybody got that going on right now?

Yeah.

It's fall time.

By the end of November, after we get a few storms, there's gonna not be a leaf on it.

It's gonna be barren.

You ever wonder what God is doing during the barren, dry, empty spaces of your life?

A tree, by the way, botanists will tell us, has its greatest root growth when there's no leaves on the tree.

When you can see nothing on the surface, the greatest growth is happening underground.

This is what God is doing in you and through you and for you in the waiting room.

And then there's the question, when in the world will it end?

When will it be over?

And the honest, true answer is, I don't know.

You don't know.

Joseph had no idea that he would be on a thirteen-year zigzag.

Joseph had no idea if the prison was just the end.

He shared and pled his case with the cupbearer, and then the cupbearer forgot him for two years.

Joseph had no idea if he would ever be remembered again.

When will it end?

The honest answer is we don't know.

But here's what I do know.

God has not forgotten you in the waiting.

God has not forgotten you in the waiting.

Genesis 40, 23 says, the chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph.

He forgot him.

Two years.

Dag nabbit.

God has not forgotten you in the waiting.

In the Hebrew, that word remember, it doesn't mean to like mentally recall something.

Oh, I remember that.

It means to act decisively on uh behal on behalf of someone.

Throughout scripture, there's this theologically rich line.

God remembers.

God remembers.

God remembers is a covenantal phrase describing God's faithful movement to act redemptively on behalf of his people.

When God remembers, he's not calling to mind something forgotten, but calling into being his promises.

Every time this phrase appears, it signals a decisive moment where God breaks the silence and steps in to deliver, rescue, or restore.

Genesis 8, and God, it says, remember Noah.

It wasn't like he forgot him.

It's now he acted decisively on Noah's behalf.

The waters recede, new creation begins.

Genesis 19, then God remembered Abraham, and Lot was rescued from destruction.

Genesis 30, God remembered Rachel, and her barrenness was reversed, and Joseph was born.

God remembered his covenant, Exodus 2, 24.

And you see this Exodus and redemption begin.

1 Samuel 1, God remembered Hannah and Samuel was born and a prophet raised.

Luke 1, 54, God remembered his mercy, and Jesus the Christ was sent to save.

And then we see this line of the thief next to Jesus.

He says, Remember me.

He wasn't asking Jesus to think about him when he stepped into heaven.

Remember me.

Act decisively on my behalf.

And Jesus looked at him on hanging there on the cross with him.

He says, Today, today you will be with me in paradise.

I don't know the waiting room.

I don't know the pause or how long it will be.

But what I do know is God has not forgotten you in the waiting room.

And what He promised you and what he showed you in the light, He will bring it to completion.

I love this line.

I've hung on to it through so many seasons.

Don't question in the darkness what God has clearly shown you in the light.

There's a scripture, we need these promises that we just cling to through these seasons, and one that I've cling to for so long is that he who began a good work in you is faithful and will bring it to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Like God, you started this.

Jesus, you started this.

And I'm a mess if we're honest.

I don't know how you're gonna bring it to completion, but what I'm confident is not on my ability, but God's ability.

I'm not confident on my promises, I'm confident on your promises, and because you said it, I'm gonna bank on it, and what you begin, you'll finish.

And so I'm in the in-between, baby.

I'm hanging out here and I'm feeling like I'm just waiting, but you're here, you're with me, you've not forgotten me, and you are moving and working in my life.

I remember it's about three years ago.

We were on this mission to Mexico with our high schoolers.

The very first one we did with them is awesome.

Taking them down to uh the mission, and I was wrestling with God because I felt like God had put some dreams on my heart, some promises, and about a decade later, I'm looking at it and going, God, where are you?

Did I hear you wrong?

Should I give up on them?

You know, just dream smaller, and if you dream small enough, you'll never be disappointed.

And so I'm pouring my heart out to God around these dreams that He's put on my heart, and looking at where I'm at, I'm like, I don't see any earthly way how you're gonna do that.

God, I feel like you've forgotten me.

That have just been put on the shelf.

That you pass by.

We go, uh, they did worship every morning.

It was beautiful, it was powerful.

You'd have these, you know, kids who are in the orphanage, and they and their house parents and leaders, and then other people, and they had an incredible worship team.

And and we're in this moment, we're worshiping together, and this this young guy just grabs my shoulder and I go, hi, and she's do you speak Spanish?

And I'm like, No.

Um God put it on my heart to share something with you, and then she just sits down, she just starts typing, and it's like a long time.

And I'm going, what's going on?

And then she gets Google Translate, and she just shows it to me.

And as I just began to read what she wrote, I began to weep.

Because some of the very lines that Google translated of what she said were the very lines I wrote in my journal.

And God's whispering, I've not forgotten you.

I've placed those dreams in your heart, I've placed those things, and and I've I you're in the zig and you're in the zag, and I'm working and I'm forming, I've not forgotten you.

And friends, for some of you, right now, this moment is God saying to you, I've not forgotten you.

I am with you, I am for you, I am working even though you don't see it, even though you don't feel it, and I've not forgotten you, I remember, and when I remember, I act decisively.

You know what's interesting.

There's only one thing God doesn't remember.

Did you know that?

He chooses not to.

He says, I remember your sins no more.

As far as the east is from the west, so far have I moved your sins from you.

And it's not like he's a forgetful God.

He says, No, no, no, I remember your sins no more because I remember my son.

And you want to know that you've not been forgotten, you just take a look at the cross.

I came for you, I died for you, I have risen to new life that you might have new life in me.

I came for you.

For some, your dreams, the things that you're wrestling with, you feel like the things you've done have disqualified you.

That you're broken or you're damaged.

In this moment, you cry out to the God who loves you, who restores, who brings healing, who redeems, who forgives, who loves you with an everlasting, unrelenting love.

Who remembers you, who sees you, who calls you by name, call out what you're waiting for.

He's with you right now.

Jesus, we just invite you in this moment.

Because I know there's so many of us that just feel stuck.

We're crying out, where are you?

And you've been whispering, I'm here all along.

May my friends encounter you afresh, and may this be one of those moments where they hear your clarity, your voice, your love, your kindness, your withness.

Would you strengthen them?

Would you encourage them?

Would you refresh the dreams you've put on their heart?

Would you put a new dream, a bigger dream, a God-sized dream?

For your name's sake.

In Jesus' name.

We hope you are blessed by this message.

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