Today we had the good fortune of worshiping with and sitting under the preaching of our good friend Dr. David Field. He and his wife Sue are visiting our community from London. He used Isaiah 40 as his text, and I simply must give you a couple of tidbits from his sermon. Don’t expect this to even give the context of all of his remarks. (It’s rather like giving you a spoon full of the mashed potatoes without the rest of the meal, and without the British accent.) But here are a couple of things I thought were particularly practical and convicting.
We as a people are not good at waiting. We get tired of waiting, and we begin to think the Lord has forgotten us. This is true whether we are waiting to be married, waiting to have a child, waiting to find a job, waiting to be healed, or any other number of things. We want change and deliverance, and we want it now. We grow weary and faint-hearted in the waiting. Dr. Field called this kind of waiting an impatient self-regard. But God teaches us a new way of waiting that is a happy reliance on the Lord.
The second spoonful for you has to do with our view of sin. He was speaking about persecution or affliction as causes of our impatience. He told us that we should hate our own self-justification more than we hate the lies others are telling about us. We should hate our envy of other happily married couples more than we hate our unmarried status. We should hate our self-pity more than we hate our illness.
And finally, just one more. When we are weary and tired and weak, we need to tell ourselves the Lord’s Prayer or the creed. Just the opening few words should help us regain the right perspective: “Our Father Who art in heaven….” reminds us in Whom we have put our trust. “I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth…” This should quiet our hearts and energize us. “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint” (vs. 31).
In a few days I may be able to give you a link so you can watch and listen to the sermon yourself. And here it is for you. (Thanks, Daniel Foucachon!)
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Lovely and loving chastisement, thanks Nancy and Dr. Field.
“Impatient self-regard” – eek, very convicting, and a perfect summation of how I, too often, tend to be. Thanks for posting this!
I am looking forward to hearing the whole summon 🙂
I meant the whole *sermon*
Fabulous. Thank you so much for sharing this. A few weeks ago I was attacked (gossip/slander) and it took a few days to come full circle in that ‘second spoon’. “Our Father, who art in heaven”, indeed!
“We should hate our own self-justification more than we hate the lies others are telling about us.”
Amen.
Thank you for your Godly encouragement. Your blog is a blessing to me…this post is so true, and really helps my perspective on this Monday!
Thanks Nancy for sharing those few spoonfuls, they were a blessing to me today. David preached to himself all throughout the Psalms, and there is a reason for that…sin is hard to fight. Looking forward to the link!
As ex-Oakhill-ers this is great & encouraging to read Fieldy on your blog!! Thank you! Please please give them our love & best wishes…
Anna & Neil Jeffers (Lowestoft, Suffolk, UK) xx
He is a great man. We had a lovely time visiting with him when he came for our conference at Cornerstone Reformed Church. Loved those spoonfuls of mash potatoes, too! That second one burns but was needed.
I can’t wait to hear the sermon. God is so good to His people by giving us men to speak His truth without apology or hesitancy. Amen!
It’s amazing to read such nice things said about my dad! Thank you for encouraging him this way.
Thanks for passing on the deep, garlic wisdom. The reminder to walk over the belly of our lust daily is both hard and good to hear.
The sermon is up:
http://www.vimeo.com/8061923