Waiting.
I am sure, like me, when you hear this word all these negative emotions swell up within.
Waiting as simple as in line, at a traffic light, to more deeper longings in life. Waiting for a boyfriend, to get into a college, a spouse, a job, healing…..all facets of life encompass some sort of waiting.
Waiting.
Who truly likes waiting?
I don’t.
I have written about waiting here and here before because waiting is a consistent theme.
In each season of waiting I am continually uncovering new layers to what God says about waiting.
He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength.
Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
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 (ESV)
But those who wait upon God get fresh strength (msg)
Waiting, to hope, to expect, to look eagerly.
WEAK in Isaiah 40:29, ” increases the power of the WEAK”
and
FAINT in Isaiah 40:30, “even the youths shall FAINT and be weary”
are the same Hebrew word, which means
“failure through loss of inherent strength.”
WEARY in Isaiah 40:30, “even the youths shall faint and be WEARY”
is a different word, which means
“exhaustion because of the hardness of life” (Motyer)
In Isaiah 40:30 every form of weakness is covered, as to assure us, we all feel that way in life at one point. Whether we are worn out for loss of strength or because simply the hardness of life has beat us down, God is so gracious to remind us that when we feel that way,
He is there breathing fresh new strength upon our weary shoulders to help us soar on eagles wings.
When we feel tired, we have no energy to think about soaring, we are more thinking about surviving, not thriving.
But God speaks so gently, to encourage our weariness with hope.
To those of us who feel faint, weary and worn, our strength is renewed in the wait.
Not depleted.
God renews our strength to keep us fighting the good fight, to keep walking day by day.
As Paul says in Corinthians, “For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
Our strength is found in the wait.
Waiting has a way of making us feel completely out of control and ultimately feeling weak.
There in that moment, where we feel we are weak, that is where strength is born.
Strength to soar.
Not strength to stumble and barley survive,
but strength that soars on wings of Eagles, strength that thrives.
Often I feel like waiting is where I sit passively until I “get” what I am waiting for and THEN I will live again.
He is speaking to my heart, “Katie, you can soar in the wait.”
Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength
but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength
Because waiting often makes us feel weak, helpless and restless I have to make a mind switch, going back to the scripture and praying over these truths, allowing the Spirit to breath his life into our weariness.
Waiting makes us FEEL weak. Waiting makes us FEEL confused and discouraged.
I often viewed waiting as the enemy, the source of discouragement.
But how I feel is not how I am to live.
I am learning (slowly) waiting is a gift.
Though it has been a gift I never wanted, because who really ever wants the gift of waiting?
But, waiting is a gift
because waiting gives strength, new deeper strength we would never have without it.
Waiting teaches us how to have real strength, not self-sufficient , shallow strength in ourselves.
Waiting brings us to a dependency on Christ, where He ultimately, in our weakness and waiting, makes us strong.
When I am weak, then I am strong.
Our strength is birthed through the process of the wait.
Our strength is in the wait.
Waiting, a gift.