2024
I Waited and Waited and Waited
Passage: Psalm 40
SERMON OUTLINE:
- Why do we wait?
- How can we wait?
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
What has most shaped your attitude toward waiting?
Read Psalm 40. What challenges, encourages, or sparks questions for you in this psalm? What phrases stand out to you that help shape your understanding of God’s true character and your identity as a child of God?
Pastor Tim Keller wrote, “God doesn’t guarantee a life free of suffering, but he gives us a suffering Lord who understands and undoes our aloneness in the midst of suffering.” When you are in the “pit” of internal sin or external circumstances, how does knowing God is with you shape your perspective and equip you to wait on him?
There are unhealthy ways to wait and a good ways to wait. Patrick shared an acronym “FAST” (from Waiting Isn’t a Waste) as a good way to wait:
Focus on what God has done
Adore him for it
Seek him now
Trust in his “happily ever after”
How does Psalm 40 encourage these aspects/practices in waiting?
What is something in your life right now that you are waiting in and how can you use these practices? What are the challenges involved and how are you remember God is with you and loves you?
PRAYER
Share with your group how they can be praying for you: what is weighing on you from this past week? What are you praising God for from this past week?
Zephaniah 3:17 / “The LORD your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.”