12/07/25 Waiting Well: Trust His Timing

2:07 Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ. Might you have a seat. So last week we started this new series, the series through Advent called Waiting Well. And the reality is we call it Waiting Well because we don't know how to wait well. Here is a season of Advent, season of preparation, obviously. But it's also a season of waiting. I mean, just think of how much we dislike the season of waiting. Because right now, probably, you know, December 7th, we are probably already in a place of having gone to maybe already one or two Christmas parties that we, full disclosure, we had a Christmas party last night for our alumni. On Friday, we had a Christmas party for all of our students. And yeah, why? Well, we wanted to get in before the end of the semester, all of those things. We have excuses, but do you? No, we all have excuses. And the excuse is we don't like waiting. We want it to be here.

2:59 In fact, there is actually a whole science on waiting, on the study of waiting. In fact, David Meister is a man who, He wrote a whole dissertation on the psychology of waiting lines. We talked last week about how much of our lives are spent waiting lines. And he said this. He said, he found out this. He found out that there are four kinds of waiting we really, really dislike. And he says when we have to wait in lines, particularly, that we have unoccupied time, we have uncertain wait times, we have unexplained waits, and when we have unfair waits, right? So he talks about this. He says that occupied time feels shorter than unoccupied time. So people hate waiting in lines without doing anything, right? So that's number one. Number two, he said, uncertain waits feel longer than known waits, that we don't like the unpredictability. Like when is the next thing coming? We don't know. Unexplained waits feel longer than explained waits. We just, I wanna know why.

3:53 I wanna know the reason why I have to wait here. And lastly, he said, unfair waits feel longer than fair waits, that perceived injustice makes it worse. And it comes down to this. It comes down to a lot of us when we have to wait. The hardest part of waiting is I want to know why or I want to know when. I want to know why this is happening. I want to know when it's going to end. And so there actually are some clever ways that people have kind of worked around this. So Disney, in fact, you know, imagine a place that everyone goes to have fun and then you show up and you wait. Disney, when it comes to those theme parks, they have introduced in the course of waiting interactive like Easter eggs that if you're waiting in line you can find little spots you play little games as you're walking in line or as you're standing there in line to be able to engage the guests. Another thing that you can do is you can start services before the actual wait ends. So I don't know if you've ever gone to a restaurant and you're in the waiting area waiting to be seated sometimes the host or hostess will give you a menu and say hey just take a look at our menu or maybe hey go up to the bar and order some drinks.

4:57 Now all you're doing is waiting right there but they've given you something to do. And so it feels like you're actually accomplishing something or actually happened to have gone to the hospital relatively recently. And one of the things they do is you go in, your appointment isn't ready yet or the doctor is not ready yet, the PA is not ready yet. So what they do is they give you some information to fill out so you feel like you're already making progress. So we give you something. It's not idle waiting. It's not an unoccupied time. One thing I think is really helpful is that people will use transparency and updates so that waiting feels like it's happening faster. What I say is that if you have accurate wait times displayed, I mean, you've seen this on the highway, whereas it takes 15 minutes to get to 494 from here. Like, okay, that's good. Now I know. That's how long it's gonna take. If you've ever ordered Domino's pizza, they are genius in the sense of they have their Domino's pizza tracker, where it's like, okay, hey, you put your order in, you made their phone call, and you can find, it's in the oven right now.

5:51 It's out, oh my gosh, it's out of the oven already. It's on its way. Joe is bringing it to your house. That pizza tracker makes waiting seem more tolerable. Why? Because what makes waiting feel intolerable is when I don't know why it's happening and I don't know when it's gonna end. what we do when we don't know why and when we don't know when it's going to end, here's how a lot of us end up waiting. We just worry.

6:23 Again, this whole Advent, we're going to be talking about what it is to wait well, but one of the ways that you and I wait is we don't know how to wait well because we worry. We simply anxiously wait. even though we're called to wait well. And so we ask the question, okay, well, what's the big deal? Why is it so important to be able to wait well? Why is it so important to not worry while we wait? Well, first of all, worry chokes the life out of life. Worry chokes the joy out of life. I mean, when was the last time we realized this? We know this is true, that worry steals joy. Why? Worry steals joy because it shifts our mind and heart out of the present and into an imagined future. usually not only shifts our mind and heart out of the present imagined future, but usually that imagined future is filled with our worst fears, right? It's very, very rare that when someone says, what if, it's like, what if something amazing happens?

7:22 It's usually what if something devastating happens? Because we know this, right? The worry and joy cannot coexist in the Christian's heart for very long. Worry and, you can't be worried and joyful. No one, not just Christians, but no one can be simultaneously worried and joyful at the same time. Again, because why? Because worry dominates our thoughts with these ideas of what if. And again, it's most often not what if something amazing happens but what if something awful happens? We catastrophize and we end up filling that gap between where we are and where we want to be with fear. I came across this statistic the other day that said that out of all the things we worry about, 91.4% of the things that we worry about never actually end up happening. Now, pause on that for a second. While we're waiting, we worry.

8:15 But what's going to happen? When 91.4% of the things we worry about never actually even end up happening. And so what we do is we pre-live the pain. If 91.4% of the things that we worry about are probably negative things, They'll never happen, but I've experienced, my heart has experienced, my mind, my neurochemistry has experienced this as if it's happened because I pre-lived pain. And that's why there's a saying that the one who worries makes themselves suffer twice. Maybe it happens. Maybe that, you know, 8 point whatever percent actually does happen, but I've made myself suffer twice. We know that one of the reasons we can't be, as Christians, we can't worry is that worry chokes the joy out of life. Another reason we shouldn't worry is because worry doesn't work. It's just like, let's just be honest. Worry doesn't work.

9:06 Now, here's the interesting thing. Worry feels like work. Like worry makes us feel like we're doing something. Why? Because fretting is occupying time, but it's not effective. Like it takes our time, but accomplishes nothing. Like it takes all of our mental energy, takes our emotional energy. Worry takes all this stuff, but does nothing. In fact, there's a man named Baz Luhrmann. Baz Luhrmann had this quote. He said, hey, don't worry or do, but realize that worrying is about as effective as solving a math equation by chewing bubblegum. Like it does nothing. We realize this. Worry chokes joy, chokes the life out of life. Worry does nothing and yet we still do it. Ultimately, though, of course, the reason why we worry while we wait is summed up by Presbyterian pastor Tim Keller. Tim Keller said it like this.

10:05 This is kind of a paraphrase or rearranging of how he said it. He said, he said, bitterness, bitterness is believing that God got it wrong. And worry is not believing that God will get it right. We look back at our past, we feel a bitterness. That's because I believe in some way, in some level, I believe God got it wrong. And worry is to believe that God will not get it right. So the source of worry is that I don't trust. I mean, that's it. That's what it comes down to. The source of worry is that I don't trust in God's goodness or I don't trust in God's timing. This is all of us. Here in Advent, this is what we need to come face to face with because we're called to wait well. And when we worry while we wait, what that reveals is the depth of my heart. The depth of my heart is that I don't either trust God's goodness or I don't trust God's timing. I mean, this not trusting God's goodness, I would say this, I would say that not trusting God's goodness is the issue of our age.

10:58 That, you know, in the past, not even too long ago when I first got on campus, a big question, big issue was the new atheists, right? People were asking that question, does God really exist? You don't find that question asked as often anymore because I think that people realize, no, it's clear looking at the world and looking at the reality, it's clear that God exists. It's clear that something can't come from nothing. So someone must have made this. So the question of does God exist is less on the forefront of young adults' minds. But I'll tell you what question is on the forefront of young adults' minds. It's not is God real, but is God good?

11:39 Most young adults we work with on campus, they know this. Yeah, I know God's real. Their question is, is God good? Because they look around at this world, They look around at this world of pain and suffering and injustice and things are unfair. And they say, wait a second, I know God exists, but can I trust him? And this is nothing new. It's not new for 2025 or 2026. It's not new for us right now. This is, in fact, the first temptation ever known to humanity is what happens. Here's Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. And the serpent comes in and the serpent doesn't say, hey, does God really exist? That's not the question. The challenge is, hey, did God really say you couldn't eat of this fruit? No, no, no, God, he says, no, God, we can eat of any of the fruit. He's so good. He doesn't eat any of this. We just can't eat that fruit or else we'll die. And the serpent says, no, no, no, you'll certainly not die. God knows full well. The moment you eat of it, you'll be like him. And here's the secret that he doesn't want you to know.

12:31 He doesn't want you to be like him. You actually can't trust him. The first temptation that's attacked the human heart is this question. Can I trust in God's goodness? You know, it's just fascinating. Because everything, virtually everything after that story is God trying to win our trust. God trying to prove to us that he can be trusted. In fact, skip to the end. Skip to why we're here on the second Sunday of Advent. Why we're excited about Christmas is why. Because Christmas and Easter, the whole story declares this. That there's not one aspect of our human life, not one aspect of our pain, not one aspect of our suffering, not one aspect of our poverty that God hasn't entered into. Right? I mean, think about this. We're going to hear this in three weeks, that when Jesus became one of us, he didn't come as a conquering hero, come as a warrior, come as a king.

13:23 He didn't come as Achilles who could not be defeated. He came not just as a baby, but as a baby born into more poverty than you and I probably ever experienced in our lives. His life was spent in more desperation and more uncertainty than any of us could ever experience in our lives. His life ended with more unfairness and injustice than any of us will probably ever experience in our lives. Why? So that you and I can see this God and say, oh. He's good. I can trust him. There's no part of my heart, no part of my life that he keeps himself away from. so I worry, why? because I don't know if I can trust God or if I can trust his goodness and the answer is the manger the answer is the cross you can trust him the answer is himself so maybe I know that maybe I know I can trust God's goodness but maybe I don't know if I can trust his timing because I tell you this I know so many followers of Jesus so many disciples of Jesus so many Catholics who's like, no, no, I know God is good I know God is good I just doesn't, I'm just not convinced he's going to show up on time.

14:43 Like, I know God wants the best for me. I just am not sure that it'll arrive. It's not the 30-minute guarantee that Domino's gives me. I need to know when this will end. And I think about this. One of my heroes in the Old Testament is King David. For many reasons, not because he's perfect, but one of the reasons is because, you know, David was anointed. It's 1 Samuel chapter 16. David's anointed king by Samuel when he's a teenager. That's 1 Samuel chapter 16. He's anointed to be the king. And then what? Well, then he waits. Later on in the same chapter, David is in King Saul's court as like a musician. Like that's not, no, no. I don't know if you know this, but you can smell the oil on my head. Like I'm actually the next king. But no, no, you're not. You're the musician. That's chapter 16. The next chapter, David defeats Goliath. Great, okay, let's be the king now.

15:35 Nope, not even close. He has to wait. next chapter chapter 18 uh david has all this military success like he just wins battle after all he does is win win win no matter what and all of a sudden here comes king saul who is this increasing jealousy then the next two chapters saul tries to kill david twice with a spear and tries to plot to have him killed in battle doesn't work next multiple chapters david spends years on the run as a fugitive from the king and a fugitive from the kingdom in fact he spares Saul's life twice. He lives among the enemies of Israel, the Philistines. Saul dies and David is crowned king of Judah, but that's it. There's a long, long civil war between David and King Saul's family. And it isn't until 2 Samuel chapter 5, which is 15 years after David was anointed, that he actually is finally made king.

16:29 I don't know if any of us have anything to complain about when it comes to God's timing. David had received this promise and then in the meantime, what was he called to do? Again, not endure 15 years. Like last week, we talked about this. He was called to engage every step of the way during those 15 years. And in that engaging, he was saying, Okay, God, I trust in your goodness and I trust in your timing. Then when it happened, it happened. Because he could trust him. In fact, this is my own story. I remember just kind of briefly, when I was a missionary in Central America, I'd been praying, asking God, if he wanted me to be a priest, just let me know. I'll just do it, whatever, just tell me. And it was in God's timing. I thought I was ready. I was like, God, just tell me right now. He didn't. He waited for a long, long time. And finally, when I was ready, and I always say this, that when God revealed to me that your next step is to go to the seminary, if he would have done it a week earlier, I would not have been ready.

17:26 But his timing was so good. So then, you know, all the steps happened. I went to seminary first year. I was like, well, it doesn't seem like I should leave, so I'll keep going back second year. Okay, third year, fourth year, whatever. I remember the year I was going to get ordained a deacon. It was the big year to make a promise, a couple of important promises. It was a couple of months before ordination. I remember being in adoration and sitting in front of Jesus in the tabernacle and just praying and saying, God, am I supposed to be here? Like, I had that moment of crisis of, are you going to tell me to leave? Or should I stay? And it was this one of the top five moments of grace in my life up to that point where I just had this declaration of trust. I'm just so grateful to the Lord for this. Basically, I was like, okay, God, I trust that you brought me here. I remember that moment where it was very clear. You want to be here? Okay, God, I trust that you brought me here. Secondly, okay, God, I trust that if you want me to leave, you'll let me know.

18:21 And there was another way, but what if I miss it? And I'm like, okay, God, I trust that you brought me here. I trust that you want me to leave, you'll let me know. and I trust you'll let me know in a way I can't miss. Like he got me there in a way I couldn't miss. God, I trust you're gonna let me know in a way I can't miss. And lastly, I remember I had this image of like, what about I get ordained and then the next day I meet the love of my life kind of situation. And it's like, oh no, it'd be too late. And God's like, oh shoot, you know, I just got the wrong day in my calendar. And I had this moment of trust of a God, I trust that you want me here. God, I trust that if you want me to leave, you'll let me know. God, I trust you want me to let me know. You want me to leave, you'll let me know in a way I can't miss. and I trust that if you want me to leave, you'll let me know in a way I can't miss and you'll let me know in time.

19:01 And just when I was able to pray that prayer, all of a sudden there's this profound peace like, oh, I don't have to worry anymore. Why? Because I don't just trust God's goodness, I trust God's timing. Waiting well always involves trust. And think about this. if you're anxious about something right now, if you're waiting for something right now, if you're worried about something right now, what if you knew that whatever it is you're worried about, what if you knew that it would be resolved tomorrow?

19:36 Would you still allow it to ruin today? Like whatever it is you're concerned about, whatever it is you're worried about, whatever you're anxious over, whatever you're waiting for, if you knew it was all going to be resolved tomorrow, would you still let it spoil today? If you knew that it was going to be resolved next week, would you still let it spoil today? If you knew that this thing that you're just anxiously, worried, hurriedly waiting for, if you knew that was going to be resolved next month or next year, would you let it spoil today?

20:06 And if not, then why? Why let it spoil right now? We know this. We know that resentment, bitterness, is believing God got it wrong and worry is believing God won't get it right. But to realize this, God is going to take care of it all. Like truly, it's all going to be resolved. It might not be resolved in the way I prefer,

20:32 but it's all going to, God's going to figure it out. It's all going to get done. It is all going to be resolved. It will all be completed. You can just trust in this. Because when we trust, it leads to hope. you know the second reading today from St. Paul's letter to the Romans he said by endurance you grow in hope by the fact that you and I here are waiting well waiting without worry waiting in trust day after day that helps us grow in hope why? because there's something we're waiting for there's something we're hoping for and it's not an outcome It's not a result. It's the character of God. It's the character of God who ensures that we can wait and hope because we trust in his goodness and we trust in his timing.

21:27 And so my invitation, this right now, is this. One of the best ways we can trust in God, one of the best ways we can hope in God, one of the best ways we can actually lean in and not worry is when we trust God not only with our strength, we trust God with our weakness. Not just when we trust God with our wins, but we trust God with our sins. You know, tonight on campus, we're going to have reconciliation service and we're going to invite our students to trust God, trust His goodness, not because they're amazing, not because they're awesome, although they're great, but to trust Him with their sins. And in trusting with their sins, to entrust Him with their whole lives. And when you do that, when we do that, we trust in His goodness and trust in His timing. There is no room for worry. This is the very last thing.

22:23 I had this imaginary dialogue in my head recently and it's about really wanting the thing now. I don't want to wait anymore. I want it now. And I heard a voice say, why? Like, no, I want this now. Why? The voice, I said this. I said, I want it now so that I can stop worrying. And maybe that's you. I want this now. Why? So I can stop worrying. and I heard this voice in my head. It said, well, you could just stop worrying now.

22:54 That actually is an option. You know, I want this to be done so I can stop worrying and that voice, whatever that still small voice in my own heart said is you could actually stop worrying right now. That's a legitimate option. Why? Because God is good and his timing is perfect. We don't have to worry. We simply have to trust. And that's what it is to wait well.