Stop Trying to Manufacture God's Promises
What it means to wait on the Lord and let him cook.
Welcome to Part 5 of the weekly release of my book, Unless God Builds It: A Proposal to Radically Rethink the Church.
In the last post, we compared the modern church to a cruise ship, exploring how we frantically run man-made “engines” rather than waiting on the Holy Spirit like a sailboat. We looked at Psalm 127 to examine the futility of our self-reliance and the beauty of resting while God builds.
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In this post, we’ll dig deeper into what it means to wait on the Lord and rely on his strength. Let’s get to it!
This message, I believe, is especially pertinent to church leaders, who are the ones that set the tone and demonstrate the lives that others are supposed to live.
Ishmael and Isaac
There is one Old Testament story that I believe highlights the Church’s need to wait on the Lord better than any other. It’s the story of Abraham’s two sons, Ishmael and Isaac.
Abram (later renamed Abraham) was seventy-five years old with no children when God promised to give him a son (see Genesis 12:1-3; 15:2-6). But ten years later, his wife, Sarai (later renamed Sarah), had still given him no children, and she herself was now seventy-five years old. Concluding that God had prevented her from bearing children, she instructed her husband to “go into” their servant, Hagar. From this action, he received his first son, Ishmael (see Genesis 16:1-16).
Ishmael, however, was not the son that God promised. And thirteen years after he was born, God visited Abraham again to tell him that the son of the promise was still scheduled to come through his wife, Sarah, who was now ninety years old (Genesis 17:16-21) and past menopause (Genesis 18:11).
For obvious reasons, both Abraham and Sarah disbelieved at first (Genesis 17:17-18; 18:12-15). In natural terms, this wasn’t possible. But then, that’s exactly the point. God would leave no room for doubt that their son was God’s doing, not man’s doing. And so, by the power of God, Isaac was born (Genesis 21:1-7).
As Paul explains, “this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants” (Galatians 4:24). Hagar represents the old way of life—under the law, according to the flesh, where the fruit and promises of God are dependent on the strength and will of man. This way of life is defined by vain labor, anxious toil, and (as God designed it) is doomed to fail (John 6:63). Whatever it produces is not the real promise, but must be sent away like Ishmael was sent away (Genesis 21:10-14).
Sarah, on the other hand, represents the new way of life under grace, according to the Spirit, where the fruit and promises of God are dependent on the strength and will of God. This way of life is defined by fruitful labor, born out of faith and rest, and (as God designed it) is destined to succeed. Whatever it produces is the real promise and remains forever (Genesis 17:19).
Do you see how this applies to the Church?
Let us view Abraham as the Christ figure, the one who carries the seed that will bless the whole world. As such, let us view Sarah as the Church (i.e., us), for she is his bride. From our union, God promises miraculous fruit, multiplication, and blessing to the whole world. However, as time has gone by, as we have waited on the Lord to fulfill his promise, we have grown weary. We have stopped believing that the Lord will do it. But instead of admitting that we stopped believing, we changed the definition of what it means for God to “do it.”
We have acted like Sarah, who said: “Go in to my servant… that I shall obtain children [in Hebrew: be built up] by her” (Genesis 16:2). Notice what she desires—that is, to “be built up.” These words are prophetic, pointing toward the building up of the Church. Therefore, just as she demands that Abraham build her up by going into her servant, Hagar, so we tell Christ to build up the Church by going into our man-made ideas and self-driven efforts.
When it results in something merely resembling what God promised, we conclude that we’ve received the promise. Just as Sarah could look at Ishmael and say, “See, God gave us a son, just as he promised to do,” so we look at our churches and say, “See, God built this, just as he promised to do.” But can’t we see? Just as Ishmael never was the promise, though God still blessed him (Genesis 21:13), so too, much of what the Church is producing today is not the promise, though God still graciously blesses it.
Just Let Him Cook
The process of waiting on the Lord may be compared to waiting tables at a restaurant. I did this in college, and, while it can definitely be hard work, it isn’t rocket science. You wait for people to sit down at your tables. Then you wait for their order. Then you place the order and wait for the kitchen to cook it, always reassuring the customers that their food is on the way. Once it’s ready, you serve it! Job well done.
In this analogy, the customers are our God-given assignments, or “appointments” (which we’ll talk more about in Chapter 7: Loving One Another), which are the people whom we’re called to serve for God’s purposes, whether they are believers, unbelievers, family, strangers, or whomever. The first thing we ought to notice here is that a waiter is not to panic when some or all of her tables are empty. She is not to run out into the streets and beg people to come in and eat. No, that is not her job. Her job is to wait for people to sit down at her tables and to be faithful with the tables in her section that are full. And as long as her tables are empty, she is to be still, happy, and vigilant, trusting that the owners hired her for a reason and there will surely be enough work to do in time.
It is no different with ministry (which everyone is called to, not just the “ministers”). We are not to conjure up ministry out of fear or unrest. Rather, we are to trust that God will provide us with opportunities to serve people as we wait on him and keep our eyes open. Our job is to be vigilant—i.e., asking God to help us discern which tables he’s assigned us to—and faithful with the people that God has put in front of us. It is not our job to find more tables to serve, increasing our workload before we’ve even done a good job at serving the tables we already have.
Some people are very good at getting their tables filled up and busying themselves with ministry that the Lord didn’t assign to them. But do you know what they’re not very good at? Experiencing joy. Knowing the Lord. Loving their families (i.e., the first table they’re called to serve). So again, filling up your tables doesn’t make you a good waiter/servant. Quite the opposite, it means you haven’t learned to wait, which is the way of the Spirit.
So then, what does it look like to faithfully serve, or wait on, the people in front of us? First, you identify their needs. (The only difference between the restaurant analogy and ministry is that, in ministry, people don’t necessarily order whatever they want; rather, God shows you what they need.) Say they need help with their marriage, faith to endure a trial, or healing from an ailment; say they need a better understanding of Scripture or to learn how to pray. Whatever it is, you must remember that it is not your job to cook it! Your job is to put in the order and wait. And if it takes longer than expected, you continue waiting, advocating for your table’s needs until you get what you’ve asked for. You don’t settle for a lesser version of it. You don’t settle for something other than what God put on the menu (i.e., his many promises). You wait for it, full of faith.
This is intercessory prayer in a nutshell. It’s going to God with a specific request, with a vision, with an order, for the sake of someone else, and standing in the gap until the order is ready to be served. It’s going into the kitchen (i.e., approaching the throne of grace), speaking with the Chef, knowing the Chef, trusting the Chef, and refusing to give up or to take over. “Just let him cook,” as the kids say nowadays.
This is the part where most people miss the mark. They get the order and think, “I can do that” (like the engines we talked about earlier). Then they go and try to cook up their own version of whatever the table asked for, and it fails. No wonder—they’re not the Chef. All their attempts will be frustrated until they learn that only God can provide what they need.
So, I’ve got good news for you: You’re hired! God has enlisted you in his staff to become a highly trained waiter, serving up the delicious meal that is Christ, which brings healing and wholeness to everyone who eats it.
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Questions for the Comments:
Have you ever seen a church program or ministry that was “successful” in human terms (like an Ishmael), but ultimately lacked the life-transforming power of the Holy Spirit (an Isaac)?
In your personal prayer life, what does it practically look like to move from “cooking the meal” ourselves to “letting the Chef cook”?
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In Christ,
Jake