Christ in the Waiting | Jonathan "JP" Pokluda

Devotional

Day 1: When the Ride Closes Unexpectedly

Waiting without a clear timeline tests our resolve. Like park guests told a ride is closed "due to technical difficulties," we often find ourselves in seasons where God’s timing feels suspended. The heat of Abraham’s desert tent mirrors our discomfort in prolonged waiting. Yet Christ meets us precisely here – not with explanations, but with His presence. Three visitors arrive unannounced, turning Abraham’s ordinary day into divine encounter. [11:46]

The Lord appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing in front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth. (Genesis 18:1-2, ESV)

Reflection: What "closed ride" in your life feels most frustrating today? How might God be inviting you to watch for His unexpected visitation in this waiting?

Day 2: Laughter at the Impossible Promise

Sarah’s muffled laugh behind the tent flap echoes our secret doubts. When decades of unmet longing collide with God’s promise, cynical calculations replace childlike faith. The desert heat parches hope. Yet Christ names the laugh – not to condemn, but to reframe impossibility. The question hangs like desert stars: "Is anything too wonderful for the Lord?" [22:27]

So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?” The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh? Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.” (Genesis 18:12-14, ESV)

Reflection: Where have you stopped praying for something because it feels biologically/relationally/financially "too old"? How might God be asking you to reimagine His capabilities?

Day 3: Naming the Laughter

God transforms Sarah’s cynical chuckle into Isaac’s birth cry – “he laughs.” The joke becomes joy. Where we expect rebuke for doubt, Christ gives a child. Where we brace for punishment, He delivers a punchline. Twenty-five years of waiting culminate in laughter that redeems every anxious calculation. The desert couple learns: God writes better endings. [37:34]

Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me.” And she said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.” (Genesis 21:6-7, ESV)

Reflection: What past disappointment might God be redeeming into future joy? How can you honor your real pain while holding space for His surprising resolutions?

Day 4: Counterintuitive Conquests

Christ specializes in backward victories. Trumpets trump battering rams. A shepherd’s sling fells giants. Menopausal wombs bear nations. The pattern repeats: God stacks odds against Himself to showcase divine power. Our Amazon Prime expectations collide with His eternal craftsmanship. The desert teaches: delayed ≠ denied. [25:15]

When the trumpets sounded, the people shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the people gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed. So every man charged straight in, and they took the city. (Joshua 6:20, ESV)

Reflection: What current challenge seems to demand conventional solutions? How might God be inviting you to trust His unconventional methods?

Day 5: Renewal on the Wing

Eagles don’t flap – they lock wings and ride thermals. Isaiah’s metaphor reveals waiting’s secret: active surrender. Like Abraham scanning desert skies, we’re called to discern spiritual currents. The desert’s heat becomes the updraft that lifts us. Weariness gives way to soaring as we trade striving for mounted trust. [18:19]

But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40:31, ESV)

Reflection: What practical step can you take this week to shift from anxious waiting to expectant soaring? How might locking your “wings” in trust look different than frantic flapping?

Sermon Summary

Waiting without a when tilts the heart from hope to doubt and then to cynicism, and the Lord moves toward people in that drift. Genesis 18 shows Yahweh appearing at Mamre in the form of a man with two companions, drawing near to Abraham and Sarah after twenty five years of delay. The text places Abraham under the tree with open tent flaps and desert heat while the Lord receives ordinary Near Eastern hospitality that Hebrews later commends as normal for God’s people. The Lord comes close in the waiting, not as an abstraction but as a guest at the table, and his nearness matches a larger biblical pattern where Jesus moves toward those who have waited long and run out of options, from the bleeding woman to the man at Bethesda, Bartimaeus by the road, Mary and Martha at a tomb, and Simeon holding a promise in old hands.

The Lord adds clarity to the clock. A child will arrive about this time next year. Sarah laughs inside the tent and starts doing the math of what is no longer physically possible. The Lord is not simply willing to work through the impossible; he often waits until it is impossible. Christ is counterintuitive. He stacks the cards against himself just to flex, parting seas at the last minute, toppling giants with a teenager and a sling, crumbling walls with trumpets, routing armies with three hundred men who barely lift a sword, washing leprosy in a muddy river. His means, methods, and timing do not submit to human logic.

Then the Lord asks the question that reorders the room: Is anything too wonderful for the Lord? The Hebrew pele carries wonder, not just difficulty. He names the cynicism for what it is. Sarah lies. He answers, Yes, you did laugh. Yet the confrontation is not a shutdown; it is a mercy that delivers a son named Isaac, Laughter. God gets the last laugh and invites his people to laugh with him. Later, Scripture remembers Abraham and Sarah by faith, not by their moment of scorn. The people of God live in the tension where births sit beside miscarriages, healings beside funerals, prodigals returning beside prodigals running, and every lesser waiting really leans forward to the return of the Son. Another impossible pregnancy brought forth the Christ who died and rose, so hope is not thin. In the meantime, the wait is a gift to press into Jesus, to seek the Lord whose promises to the waiting stand, and to expect him to surprise his people with what only he can do.

Key Takeaways

1. Christ comes close in the waiting [15:07] Jesus does not shout from a distance; he sits under the tree and eats at the table. His nearness dignifies slow, painful seasons and reframes them as places of encounter rather than absence. The history of redemption shows him walking up to those who have waited past their limits and touching what they can no longer fix. Waiting can become communion if the church treats it as time with him, not time without him. [15:07]
2. God works in counterintuitive ways [23:31] Divine power often arrives in forms that look like weakness, delay, or odd instructions. That pattern is not carelessness; it is pedagogy, clearing room for God’s glory rather than human cleverness. When seas block the way or walls will not move, the Lord is setting the stage to be unmistakably seen. Faith learns to watch for surprise, not just solutions that make sense on paper. [23:31]
3. Nothing is too wonderful for the Lord [31:02] The question is not merely about difficulty but delight. God is able to do work so good it outstrips imagination, and he is not threatened by the scale of the need or the beauty of the outcome. Hope grows when the heart meditates on his capacity for wonder, not on the inventory of obstacles. Prayer changes tone when the church asks for what is wonderful because he delights to give it. [31:02]
4. Loving confrontation disarms cynicism [32:08] The Lord names Sarah’s laugh without discarding her, then gives a child whose name turns mockery into joy. Grace does not ignore unbelief; it exposes it to heal it and then writes a better ending. God’s memory of his people is mercy-shaped, so a season of jadedness does not have to become the story’s title. Repentance can flip the script from bitter to blessed. [32:08]
5. Use the wait to press in to Jesus [20:48] Waiting clears space that answered prayer will quickly fill. Rather than circling the clock, the disciple can build a deeper life with Christ that will carry both fulfillment and loss. Scripture ties renewal of strength to those who wait on the Lord, not to those who outrun him. Invest the empty hours in knowing him, and the soul will not be empty when the gift finally comes. [20:48]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[00:16] - Waiting without a when
[03:42] - What is a Christophany
[09:31] - Abrahamic covenant recap
[11:46] - Three visitors at Mamre
[15:07] - Christ comes close in the waiting
[18:19] - Promises for those who wait
[20:48] - Press into Jesus in the wait
[21:25] - A timeline for Sarah
[23:31] - Christ is counterintuitive
[24:54] - From Red Sea to Jericho
[31:02] - Is anything too wonderful
[32:08] - Confronting cynicism with grace
[35:20] - Joy and grief side by side
[44:37] - Prayer for healing and restoration

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading
Genesis 18:1-15 (ESV)
And the Lord appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing in front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth and said, “O Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree, while I bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant.” So they said, “Do as you have said.” [...] Then they said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “She is in the tent.” The Lord said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?” The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.”

Observation Questions

What specific actions did Abraham take when the three visitors arrived, and what does this reveal about his posture toward them?
How did Sarah respond internally to the Lord’s promise of a son, and what reason did she give for her reaction?
The Lord asks Abraham, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” (v. 14). What Hebrew word is used here, and how does its meaning deepen the question? [31:02]
What examples from Scripture were given in the sermon where God worked in “counterintuitive” ways? [23:31]

Interpretation Questions

Why might God intentionally wait until circumstances seem impossible before acting (e.g., Sarah’s age)? How does this pattern reflect His character? [23:10]
The sermon describes Sarah’s laughter as rooted in cynicism. How does God’s response to her doubt both confront and restore her?
The Hebrew word pele (“wonderful”) shifts the tone of God’s question in verse 14. How does framing God’s power as “wonderful” instead of merely “hard” change our understanding of His promises? [31:02]
In what ways does Abraham and Sarah’s story show that God’s faithfulness outweighs human failure?

Application Questions

When have you felt your waiting drift into doubt or cynicism, like Sarah? What practical step could you take this week to “press into Jesus” in that tension? [20:48]
The sermon says God often works in ways that defy human logic (e.g., parting the Red Sea, using Gideon’s small army). Where are you currently tempted to doubt God’s methods or timing? How might you surrender your expectations to Him?
Sarah tried to “do the math” on God’s promise (v. 12). What “math” are you calculating in your own life (e.g., timelines, resources) that might limit your trust in God’s wonder?
The Lord confronted Sarah’s lie gently but directly. Is there an area of unbelief or hidden cynicism in your heart that needs His loving confrontation? How could you invite Him into that space?
How could you practice “hospitality” to God’s presence in your waiting—like Abraham hosting the visitors—by creating intentional time to listen, pray, or serve others? [15:07]
The sermon mentions celebrating God’s surprises even amid grief. What “impossible” situation in your life could you begin praying about with renewed hope for His wonder?
Isaac’s name means “laughter.” How might God want to rewrite a season of doubt or pain in your life into a story of joy?

Sermon Clips

Sometimes, who is God, waits until the circumstances become impossible for him to act because he doesn't work like we do. And so you don't need to make excuses. You don't need to help him. You don't need to come up with natural explanations for a supernatural god. Christ is counterintuitive. That's my second point. Christ is counterintuitive. He doesn't work within our natural barriers. He he doesn't work with within human logic, and we're often expecting God to work in a certain way in a certain time frame, but his means, his methods, his economy, and certainly his time frame are different than ours. [00:23:07] (48 seconds)

Listen. Just real talk. The body of Christ, it's such a beautiful place of tension. And and I want to share my perspective with you because it may it may be different than yours, just where I'm looking every week, every month, every season, every season, there is great celebration sitting beside great waiting, sitting beside unfathomable grief. Every season, every season a child is born, every season a couple waits and every season someone buries a child. It's the beautiful, horrible tension of the body of Christ that someone here is sick and dying while someone here is healed and celebrating while someone here just got back from a funeral. [00:34:39] (87 seconds)

You're not even going to remember. Well, you won't sit there before God with your fist and say, how dare you? You will not. You you know what you will say in that moment? It was all worth it. It was all worth it. in your presence There's nothing too wonderful for you. There's nothing too wonderful for you. So we live with hope. [00:34:02] (37 seconds)

He said people all around us were getting pregnant and pregnant out of wedlock, unwanted pregnancies, and we wait. Why us, Lord? Why did this happen? And then they adopt their first child eventually, and he said, oh, it had to happen. And then they adopt their third child, and they said, oh. He said, we're just now at a place where we can say we never would have thought we can say, we're glad it happened. [00:41:01] (28 seconds)

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Christ in the Waiting | Jonathan "JP" Pokluda | Harris Creek Sermons