Beeson Podcast, Episode #663
Dr. Ken Mathews
Date

>>Announcer: 

Welcome to the Beeson podcast, coming to you from Beeson Divinity School on the campus of Samford University. Now your host, Doug Sweeney. 


>>Doug Sweeney:

Welcome to the Beeson Podcast. I’m your host, Doug Sweeney. The 2022/2023 academic year brought the retirement of two of Beeson’s most beloved Old Testament professors. Dr. Ken Mathews and Dr. Paul House. Today we’re featuring a sermon preached by Dr. Mathews entitled, “Waiting on God.” It was part of our biblical studies lectures this past spring. There’s something truly special about listening to a faithful believer who’s walked humbly with the Lord for many years open scripture and talk about the patriarchs and matriarchs of our faith. 

We think you’ll be greatly encouraged by our friend and outstanding scholar Dr. Ken Mathews as he draws us into the physical travels of the patriarchs and the matriarchs; travels which are laden with rich spiritual significance because of God’s accompany presence with them.

Dr. Mathews speaks of these physical and spiritual journeys as pilgrimages of the heart. He observes that the patriarchs and matriarchs of the faith did a lot of waiting. And he seeks to address the question: What does it mean to wait on God? With all the warmth of a fellow pilgrim soul, Dr. Mathews opens up the great narrative of scripture and says that it’s through these pilgrimages that we learn so much about what it is to wait upon our promise making God, to make good upon His word.

We hope no matter what season you currently find yourself in, you will know the Lord’s presence with you as the same God who was with the saints of old. 


>>Mathews:

What a privilege and honor to lead you this week in our biblical studies lectures 2023. It’s simply delicious to be with you. I am tempted to tell some hilarious stories about your faculty. But in the next two days I have two rascals who will be introducing me. So, I ought to be cautious about this. 

Well, after three decades here teaching and preaching, community worship, mentoring, all of the vibrant life here – what could I possibly have to say anymore? You never can get enough of God. Yet, God is enough. Let’s turn our attention to the series title “Pilgrimages of the Heart.” 

The lives of the ancestors of Israel, the patriarchs and the matriarchs, is there recalled in the Book of Genesis. Have you noticed how much is given in Genesis to the travels of the patriarchs and matriarchs? How it is the topography and the geography are so important in telling their story. You begin with Abraham and Sarah in southern Iraq, traveling northwest through the Tigris and Euphrates Valley. Moving northwest to about the border of North Syria and Turkey. At the sight of the town Heron. And we know that location. Heron is just about 100 miles from the epicenter of that horrific earthquake and the loss of so many lives. And then they headed southwest, down into modern Israel. They weren’t there long. They went into Egypt and then returned and traveled throughout Canaan. North and south, east and west. 

And then there was Isaac. He too from Canaan went to the southwest area where the Philistines were to be found. And he was in Gerar. Jacob, he fled from his brother, leaving his homeland, going to Heron. And only after 20 years did he return through modern Jordan into Israel. And then we all know the adult life of Joseph. Joseph you recall was sold into slavery at 17 years of age. And then after 22 years he was reconciled to his brothers and also to his father. 

There is I think a metaphorical underpinning when it comes to the travels of the ancestors of Israel. If you think about it with me, there are evidences within Genesis itself. The images of travel, pilgrimage. You find this for so well said when you turn to how God revealed himself the first time to Jacob at Bethel in chapter 28. And there he says, “Behold, I am with you, Jacob, and will keep you wherever you go.” 

And so we begin to see evolving how there is the literal travel but also spiritual travel. Accompanied by God. And then if you remember for Abraham in Genesis 17, there also God speaks to Abraham and calls on him to remember to devote himself to be blameless in all of his travels before the Lord. And then I remember in Genesis 48 when Jacob he blessed Joseph. And this is what he had to say in Genesis 28, “I am God Almighty. Walk before me.” And he goes on to say, “The God before whom my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, walked. The God who has been my shepherd all my lifelong to this day.” 

So, I hope you recognize that there is a pilgrimage that the ancestors were on. Now, what about the heart? Well, you’re very familiar with the significance of the heart. The heart in the bible across the testaments calls on the importance of the heart for the interior person. The inner life. So, you have the devoted heart, the circumcised heart, the good heart, the blessed heart, the courageous heart, the hardened heart. Again and again, you’re familiar with pilgrimages of the heart.

So, I want us to remember that in both testaments there’s this drawing on the travels, the pilgrimages and then the spiritual significance is they are accompanied by God. Isaiah spoke of it this way when he says look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah who bore you. And then known so well to us as Christian readers in Romans 4 the apostle Paul says the Father of all who believe inclusive of Jew and Gentile, by faith in the descendant of Abraham. 

Now when it comes to our attention today, waiting on God, we can profit in our own pilgrimage of the heart. Because from Genesis these accounts will give us a perspective that I think will help us. We will find that waiting on God includes wrestling with God. That’s our focus tomorrow. And then having waited, having wrestled – then we can see God’s presence in his absence. And that will be on Thursday. 

But first, what do we say about waiting on God? Our focal passage in Genesis 22 will help us see what it means for our ancestors to wait on God. This is a critical moment. But it’s fascinating to me that in this critical moment it is a culmination of the pilgrimage of the heart in the case of Abraham. There’s an echo here of chapter 12 as his first calling. And God says, “Go to the place I will show you.” Same language in chapter 22, “Go to Mount Moriah.” And during this pilgrimage we will find that God is bringing him to a place of culmination. I was thinking about this and I hope that you will join me in this. There is a lot of waiting going on with these patriarchs and matriarchs. The waiting having to do with the promise and then we have the realizing of that promise. 

For Abraham and Sarah, 25 years before Isaac is born. Isaac and Rebekah praying for 20 years before the birth of their twins. And Jacob in fleeing to Heron, returns to the land of promise after 20 years. And then Joseph. Joseph went into Egypt at 17 years of age and then he reveals himself when he’s 39 years of age. 22 years. There’s a lot of waiting on God, to see that the promises are being realized by God. 

So, what does it mean to be waiting on God? That’s the first question that our story illicits. And the second is why is it that God would have us waiting on him? I’d like to bring to your attention two details that are often overlooked. The first is found in verse one. We are told that this is a testing. Now that’s an advantage for us as readers. 

You see, Abraham had not read verse one. If he had read verse one in our chapter 22 he could relax. He could joyfully look at the peak of Mount Moriah. This reminds me also of Job. So tortured in body, in spirit, and if he had only read the opening two chapters of the Book of Job he could have overheard the debate between the adversary Satan and God. He could have relaxed and known that God had not truly abandoned him. 

Now, from our perspective as readers, we have a tendency, don’t we, to relax and know that this is after all just a test. And when you read through the chapter all seems well. But that’s not the reality for these ancestors. Nor is it our reality. God tests, not to see you fail, God tests to see you succeed. And that’s what this passage concerns. 

Now I want to couple this with another expression of what it means to wait on God. And that’s in verse four. Three days it took for Abraham, Isaac, and his servants to come to Mount Moriah. Three long troubling days. It really doesn’t matter does it? Whether the crisis that we find ourselves in would be three hours, three days, three months, three years, and in some cases three decades. So, when you bring these two together, what can we learn then about Abraham waiting on the Lord? 

First of all, waiting on God means crossing over to the slow lane – oh, what a frenetic life that we live in this digital and technological age. Now, it’s always been difficult for every generation to wait. But now it seems like the word “wait” is just a distasteful thought. We find out in social media, did you know that there is an Instagram? And if you want your groceries delivered at your door within an hour then go to Instacart. I think the best one that summarizes the frenetic life in which we life is called DoorDash. We find ourselves pressured in that fast lane. But waiting on God requires of us to move into the slow lane. 

One of the writings recently has been entitled, “Time Well Spent” by Jen Pollock Michael. There’s a question that she raises, and that is “Do you have time for hope?” This is what she says about waiting on God in prayer, in supplication; waiting on God means to entangle the tangled mess we live in. So, we wait on the Lord to act. And this is what I call the three R’s: to RELIEVE, to RESCUE, to RECONCILE ... to set things right now. 

So, we wait on him to do what only he can do. What we ourselves cannot do in the midst of a crisis. It is not that our prayers and waiting changes him. But rather he changes us. And then the slow lane, the slow path should be part and parcel of the Christian pilgrimage of heart. 

I am remembering my own pastor for nine years, W.A. Chriswell. He was probably the most popular, well recognized pastor in the 20th century. He was the first one to lead a church already of size to be a mega church. From 7,000 to 26,000. His church took in five buildings in downtown Dallas. The man, he preached over 4,000 sermons. He also wrote over 50 books. What is striking about Dr. Chriswell, and I heard him say this many times, that when he interviewed for the position with the search committee in 1944 he made an appeal. His appeal was this – “Give me my mornings with God. I’ll do anything your church would have me do – afternoons and evenings. But give me my time with God.” I don’t think I could ever be as busy as he was. And most of us would agree. That’s busier than I could possibly be. But it wasn’t busy for him. Setting aside that critical time of his mornings with God. 

See, I think that test when it came to Abraham was past completed in those three days. That is where the war is fought. That’s where the wrestling takes place. Wrestling with God. But I’d have you know that although he was waiting on God that it was important for us to recognize that doesn’t mean that Abraham was sitting on his hands. And that doesn’t mean that God was sitting on his hands. But rather he had prepared and he left with his servants and his son and then there was God. He was at work, too. The angel of the Lord, he was serving the interests of Isaac; protecting him, securing him, as the promised heir. 

I think that we can conclude that Abraham wasn’t just waiting on the Lord. He must have been waiting with the Lord. Now, going into that slow lane, setting aside that time of prayer and supplication, waiting on the Lord – Charles Spurgeon, another Baptist, I guess this is a Baptist fest today ... that famous English pastor and author of the 19th century ... in his devotional book Mornings & Evenings, this is what he has to say about waiting. “There are times when solitude is better than society. Silence is wiser than speech. We should be better Christians if we were more alone; waiting upon God and gathering through meditation on His word, spiritual strength for labor in His service.” 

Every Christian is waiting on the Lord. There are two horizons on what it means to be waiting on the Lord. There’s the near horizon. That’s the nasty now and now. And then there’s the far horizon. That’s the sweet by and by. And together they are brought, setting our immediate need in the broad framework of how at the fore horizon. This will have its full culmination. So, when it comes to the far horizon, did you notice in our reading it speaks of how the Lord renewed his promise to Abraham and he swore by himself that all of the promises made would someday be fully realized. Waiting on the Lord, then has these two horizons.

But why is it that the Lord would have us wait? I mean, after all he could answer my prayers right now. He could after all accomplish that pilgrimage of the heart right now. And why is it then that he would have us waiting on him? 

Well, the first thing that is obvious from the passage is that it was a way of confirming Abraham’s faith. Did you notice in verses 16 and 18 it speaks of the obedience of Abraham? A confirmation of his faith. That’s what our text is about. It exposes your faith. It exposes your commitment – trusting in the Way and the Word of the Lord. And the Apostle James makes that quite clear to us that this is the way that God has chosen to convince and convict and bring us to a maturing in our waiting for God. 

And then I would like to say that there’s another reason why it is that we are waiting on God. And this is because God has designed our maturing to enjoy Him. The apostle Paul speaks of it as joy and suffering. There is a joy when it comes to waiting on the Lord. Going into that slow lane, musing about God. Embracing Him. Taking Him to yourself. Hearing His voice. Following His footsteps. That is what God would have us do. In doing so, it is such a rich wedding, such a rich friendship between the near and the far. 

Now, a way of conclusion ... let me read to you what I found that was most helpful to me by a Puritan Pastor and Writer, Thomas Brooks. He preached this funeral service, a famous one, in 1561. A believer’s last day is his best day. This is what he has to say. Referring to the Christian’s last day in this earthly bondage. He says, “In that day they shall find that God will make good all those golden and glorious promises he has made to them.” And he goes on to say that in his conclusion, “Then your dying day shall be to you as the day of harvest to the farmer. The day of deliverance to the prisoner. The day of coronation to the King. And the day of marriage to the bride. Your dying day shall be a day of triumph and exultation. A day of freedom and consolation. A day of rest and satisfaction.” May it be so. 


>>Rob Willis:

You’ve been listening to the Beeson podcast; coming to you from the campus of Samford University. Our theme music is by Advent Birmingham. Our announcer is Mike Pasquarello. Our engineer is Rob Willis. And our show host is Doug Sweeney. For more episodes and to subscribe, visit www.BeesonDivinity.com/podcast. You can also find the Beeson Podcast on iTunes and Spotify.