Hope in the Waiting (episode 53)

0:00 If you love a prodigal, you can discover help and hope for your wilderness journey right here at When You Love a Prodigal podcast. And also help and hope for your own life journey. Today we are beginning a five-part series on hope. When you love a prodigal, you need hope. I know, we do. We cling to hope. We weep when hope is dashed. And oh, how we grow weary in the waiting. And we're going to talk about hope in the waiting.

0:40 Be listening for truths that God may be revealing to you. Jot them down so you don't forget them. Our son Josh loved surfing. He didn't always hang out with the best surfers. But he loved to go to the ocean with his surfboard. When a friend of ours, my husband and me, offered to send Josh for a week at a California beach in the home of a surf pastor, he was thrilled. And my hope and my prayers soared. The hope that this might be the turning point for him.

1:23 It was a wonderful week. He learned to surf even better. He loved when he got to help teach some kids how to surf. And they had daily Bible study. He got to help set up for church. And he came home and he said, I think that's the best week of my life. And he came home wanting to walk with God, to change his life. And he did. And I held my breath. Will this last? Well, it did. For at least a month, maybe two. But old friends and old choices and the lure of addictions won again.

2:08 My hope crumbled. When you love a prodigal, you know about hope. It beckons. It's fragile. It's elusive. It's cautious. But rarely does it give up. We so desire for our prodigals to be free from their bondage. From addictions, from rebellion, from sin, from mental and emotional torment. From wrong friends and wrong choices. We pray. We know that God loves us and our loved ones and also desires that freedom for them.

2:49 Waiting with hope based on God's love is what we have. But if we can't trust that hope, what do we have? Well, you know the answer. We have the Lord. We have a faithful Father, a compassionate Savior, and a powerful Holy Spirit. And the assurance that all the promises of God are yes in Jesus. But when something happens again, can we keep hoping? Yes, we can. We most likely will.

3:29 Will all our dreams and desires come to pass? Probably no. Will our prodigals break our hearts again? Pretty likely they will. Will we make mistakes as we seek to restore and reconcile? Without a doubt, we will make some mistakes. The only certainty we have is God. He knows. He knows your plans, your prayers for the days and years ahead. He knows your loved one and his or her choices. He also knows his grand plan and how all of this works together.

4:16 So he knows. We know that. He also cares. He looks at them and at us with tender tears. He feels the rejection, the loss, the torment, the disappointment. He stays with us through it all. So he knows, he cares, and he is able. He is not a God who wishes he could help. He can help. He is El Shaddai, the Almighty. He rules heaven and earth. He said that nothing, nothing is impossible for him.

4:56 So my challenge to myself and to you is to make God himself the object of our hopes and our dreams, to seek him above all else, to entrust our prodigals and our own lives into his loving and able care, to surrender our plans, to believe his very good intentions, to trust his spirit to give us everything we need with our loved ones. Be encouraged by this promise in Romans 15. May the God of hope, did you know that's one of his names?

5:38 He's the God of hope. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. And yet, there will be waiting. No one really likes to wait. In today's instant gratification culture, waiting is especially challenging. But waiting with hope can seem impossible to us. So we're going to take a look at something King David said in a little depth to see how David could wait with hope.

6:26 He had many opportunities to wait. He was being chased by Saul. He was anointed as king years before that happened. His life was at risk many times. But he waited with hope. So in this situation, we're going to be looking at Psalm 27. And this is what it says, what David wrote in Psalm 27. I remain confident of this. I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord.

7:06 Be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. So what's happening in David's life there? He's in big trouble. He's threatened by wicked assailants, enemies, and war. What does he say he'll do? I will seek the face of the Lord. Then he makes a conclusion. He says, I can wait with hope. So what I want to do is read some definitions that I have read that might help us understand how David could say, I can wait with hope. This verse again, I remain confident, David said.

7:49 I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord. Be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. So I'm going to demonstrate my great knowledge of Hebrew. I had to look up how to pronounce these few words. The concept of remain confident comes from the word amen, which means to believe, hold up, build or support, render firm. And so he says, because I know that I can be trusting in God, that he is a firm, trusting, supporting, building me up, I can be confident.

8:32 Then the word wait is kava, and it means to bind together, to expect, to look patiently, to wait for or on or upon. Then be strong, he says, that's tshazak, and it means to fasten on, to seize, to bind, to confirm, to conquer, to be courageous. And then love is take heart. And love has the concept of emotions plus will plus intellect. It is our total inner being.

9:13 So here's my paraphrase of what David said based on the meanings here of the words he used. He said, there is trouble all around me. Enemies desire to destroy me, but I seek the Lord, and he meets me and rescues me. He's done it before, and I know he'll do it again. Therefore, I am confident, sure, certain that my belief and trust in God is firm. I'm connected to him. I can believe that I will see God's goodness in the land of the living as well as in heaven.

9:57 So we can say, well, yes, I can have hope for the eternity, the afterlife when I get to be with him. He says, oh, no, he's saying in the land of the living, right here where we are in the struggles with our wonderful, loved prodigals, we can have confidence that we will see God's goodness in the land of the living as well as in heaven. And then he goes on and he says, so I can wait with hope. I can in my heart, bind together this difficult present with a hopeful future.

10:40 What it's going on right now and what I'm believing because of God is going to be true. This hopeful future of God's involvement and goodness. I can live in the light of God because of who he is and what he is like. And then David goes on, he says, I will therefore be strong. I will seize and fasten unto God and who he is. I will take heart and bring my emotions and my mind totally under his loving sovereignty. I will eagerly anticipate what God will do.

11:24 So I will wait with hope. I read that last sentence because I would pray this is true for you. Whatever the hard things going on, I will eagerly anticipate what God will do. So I will wait with hope. So I'm going to do one more little paraphrase. So if this were your story or my story, let me say what David's prayer could sound like if I prayed it or you prayed it. Lord, you know the pain I am experiencing because of the choices I have made and my prodigal has made and the pain that life has brought about.

12:07 You know I want to trust and have hope, but I am often filled with hurt and fear and anger and even despair and hopelessness. But I will seek you and you will meet me and rescue me as you did David over and over. I am confident in you. I will stay connected to you. I will choose to believe that I will see your goodness in my life and the life of my loved one. So I can or will choose to be waiting with hope.

12:51 I hope I will in my heart bind together this difficult present with that hopeful future of your involvement and goodness. I choose Lord to live in light of who you are. I will therefore be strong and take courage. I know what you are like. You are God and you are good. I choose to seize that truth and believe you will bring my feelings and my worry and my despair and turn that into confident trust and rest in you.

13:33 I will eagerly anticipate what you will do. I will wait with hope. Amen. I have a couple of questions for you. Did any truth that I shared, especially from David's life, spark an understanding for you? When is it most difficult for you to wait with hope? How does David's Psalm help you keep hoping? Take a second, write down a new hope or a new level of hope that you have.

14:16 And as always, I encourage you to take a look at the show notes because there you'll find listed more helpful information, resources, books. Be sure to check out JudyDouglass.com. That's Douglass with two S's. Thank you for joining me today on the When You Love a Prodigal podcast. If you enjoyed today's episode, please subscribe, rate, review the show. Tell your friends. I bet when you love a prodigal, you know some other people who are walking through a prodigal wilderness. Tell them maybe they'd like to listen to our podcast.

14:59 Until next week when we do hope number two. God bless you.