Waiting on the Lord- Isaiah 40:31

Today I cannot help but to think of Isaiah 40:31, “Those who WAIT on the Lord will gain new strength, they will rise up on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint.” In November, this verse took on new meaning to me.

I came home from the horrific week in Memphis where we found out all of the horrible news about our friend etc.

I searched and searched and didn’t really find many promises to those who wait on the Lord and I was a tad bit disappointed at first. I found that those who “wait” on the Lord will not be ashamed (Psalm 25:3) and that they will inherit the land (Psalm 37:9,34). Those didn’t really impress me all that much to be honest. But in the process, the Lord drew my heart back to Isaiah 40:31 and I had no idea what this verse would eventually mean to me in this long waiting period.

First, I have to tell you what “wait” or “qavah” in this verse in the original language means. It means “to hope for, to look for and to expect, to wait for collectively, and to bind together.” This tells me that in waiting for the Lord we are to expect Him to act; we are to hope in Him. To me, this perfectly describes the word “trust.” We are to trust Him in waiting. Also, we cannot forget that we are to bind together and wait collectively. I would say we need people in support of us, praying and if need be fasting along side of us as we wait for the Lord to act. I know that this particular part of “waiting” can be difficult because people have a really hard time carrying a burden for someone for a long length of time but this is where I feel like Galatians 6 applies. It says, “Carry each other’s burdens” and later in the chapter says, “Let us not grow weary in doing good for in proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” We must be people that carry our brothers and sisters burdens for the long haul and we must find people that can do this for us as well. This is what the body of Christ is for!

Next, and this is going to blow your mind, or at least it did mine, “Those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength.” Renewing one’s strength in this passage literally means that one's old strength passes away and a new strength comes up again. One's strength is altered, grown up and changed for the better. What an amazing promise and blessing from “waiting.” We will never again have the same strength after the waiting process God allows . He will have let our old strength die so brand new, much better and stronger strength could take its place, I believe, preparing us for the next time we might need to wait on the Lord.

This rich passage isn’t even close to ending at this point. It says, “Those who wait on the Lord...will rise up on wings like eagles,” One commentary I read said that “rising up like eagles” meant that the eagles were closer to the sun, the source of light. I perceived this passage to mean that eagles when taken out of ‘normal life’ get a perspective far better than the average animal or human. They get to see how things really work and act collectively. Wow.

And lastly, “Those who wait on the Lord...will run and not grow weary and walk and not faint.” I am a runner and it is virtually impossible for me to fathom running and not growing weary. Even on a super great running day when everything is going my way, there is some point in my run where I am at least a little weary, if not when I’m running, right afterward. To think that if we wait on the Lord, He alone can give us the strength to run this race of life and not get weary is really incomprehensible but that is what scripture says and I absolutely believe it. Maybe growing weary doesn’t mean exactly what we think it means, but that’s for another day.

The amazing blessings of: gaining a new strength that far outweighs the old, obtaining a new and better perspective of life, and having the stamina to endure and not grow weary, only come from God when one has the heart to wait like He asks us to, hopefully, expectantly, looking for Him to act, and collectively.

With all the blessing listed above, I’m not sure “waiting on the Lord” sounds so bad after all.

“Yet I am confident I will see the Lord’s goodness, while I am here in the land of the living. Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous.Yes, wait patiently for the Lord.” Psalm 27:13-14