There is a song that has been playing in my head for a few days, an old song, from Isaiah 40:31. It says ‘those that wait upon the Lord, shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not grow weary, they shall walk and not faint, teach me Lord, teach me Lord, how to wait.’
This has been playing over and over for me for a couple days now. You see, waiting is not something I am great at, it is something I practice to be better at. Lately, I have had a few situations where I thought I was going to have to do this or that to fix but the Lord has had me ‘wait’ on him. And as I waited, within two or three days, he would bring an answer that would fix it without toil and without spending a lot of money. I am learning the value of waiting.
To wait means to wait expectedly for God. It also means to twist, stretch, the tension of enduring and to look eagerly for. Sometimes waiting causes us to stretch and endure for a few days, for a season or even for years….teach us Lord, teach us Lord, how to wait.
Isaiah is not the only place that we find scriptures on waiting on the Lord. Isaiah 30:18 says; Blessed are they that wait for him. Blessed means empowered to prosper – we are empowered to prosper as we wait on the Lord. I have seen the fruit of waiting in the past few weeks.
Psalm 37:9 says; but those that wait upon the Lord shall inherit the earth. This means those who wait upon the Lord shall possess what belongs to them on this earth.
Those of us who will wait, expectedly for God to move on our behalf, whether it is a big thing or a small thing, shall lay hold of what belongs to us. Those of us who are willing to be stretched, those of us who are willing to feel the tension of enduring in faith for a season and continue eagerly looking for God…those…will lay hold of all God has promised. We are those, friend, we are those. We are waiting, expecting, some days feel the tension of it, but waiting none the less, and we will, therefore, lay hold of and possess all God has promised.
I love Isaiah 40:28-31; Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But 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.
We serve a God who is never weary, who never faints. We serve a God who empowers us mount up with wings as eagles, to run and not be weary, to walk and not faint – our God does that. But we have a part in it as well. Our part is to ‘wait upon the Lord.’
Today, I want to encourage you, in whatever you are facing or going through…wait on God. Expect him to move on your behalf but wait on him. Endure with Him. Look expectedly for Him. Stretch your faith just a little bit longer and wait on him. You will not be disappointed. You will be empowered and you will lay hold and possess all that belongs to you but you will not be disappointed. Teach us Lord, teach us Lord, how to wait.
