It's Time for You to Wait

Are you weary today, my friend? 

Are you tired of waiting for your prayers to be answered?  For your dreams to come true?  Are you emotionally and physically spent and perhaps you are tempted to give in to hopeless living and to futile plodding?

Before you do either of those things, let me share one of my favorite Bible verses with you and let’s just see if it encourages you today -

Do you not know?  Have you not heard?  The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired.  His understanding is inscrutable.  He gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might He increases power.  Though youths grow weary and tired and vigorous young men stumble badly, yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.  (Isaiah 40:28-31)

What?!!  Are you kidding me?!  We serve a God Who never grows weary or becomes tired!  If that one fact weren’t revolutionary enough, the truth gets even better!  He is willing to share His strength with you!  He has enough to spread around lavishly and then some more to give and give and give again!

How do I tap into the strength of this perpetually strong Father?  Where do I stand in line to fill my empty bucket up with His enormous power?

“Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength …”

The power is found in the wait.  The new strength is bequeathed in the wait. The weary disappears in the wait.

You are completely mistaken if you believe that strength, vigor, and power are attributes of only the young.  If you believe the Bible, then you must also believe that when a person chooses to wait upon the Lord, that miraculous strength is on its way! And God is not checking birth certificates, counting wrinkles or looking for age spots in this waiting line!

When you pause to access the strength of God and Heaven, you are going to have the capacity to run beyond your human endurance and will not even be out of emotional breath.  Your legs will not be weakened nor will your heart be racing with the challenge of it all.  You are going to have the vigor to go the distance and then to go some more. 

However, this incredible surge of Heaven’s power and strength into your human frailty will only be possible when you choose to wait upon the Lord.

But what does it mean exactly to “wait” upon the Lord?

You must eagerly expect and joyously anticipate the promise that God will indeed reward you with His vitality as you read your Bible, as you enter into worship every day, and as you participate in a vibrant and daily prayer life. 

Those are the disciplines of fortitude that will enable you to not only receive strength from the Lord, but also to apply to your daily walk the strength that you receive. 

In addition to those helpful and hopeful daily disciplines of power, there might also be times and seasons when you beg directly for God’s power.

“God, I need you!  This is too difficult for me to do in my own strength.  Would you give me your power?  Would you give me a word from the Bible I can apply to this situation?  I am waiting, Lord, for all that you have for me.  In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.”

The word waiting means: “ ... to expect, look eagerly for, to hope for, lie in wait for ...”

When you wait well in the presence of God and are devoted to prayer, you can assuredly anticipate some opportunities that will require the strength of God. 

The word wait actually means more than the definition that has been cited; in addition, it also means: “ ... to bind together, to hold fast to something ...”

If it is strength that you desire, you must bind your life so intimately with God that His strength literally and thoroughly becomes your strength. 

This term “wait” was actually used in the ancient Hebrew culture as a gathering of waters.  The “wait” of a river was literally where two rivers came together – it was the exact point where two became one!

When water is gathered from two separate streams, it is impossible to ascertain which stream the water has come from.  When water is poured from two different pitchers into a third pitcher, it is impossible to discern which molecule of water came from a certain pitcher.  So it is with the strength of the Lord; when you gather yourself to the Lord and intimately bind yourself to Him, His strength will become your own strength.  You won’t be able to discern when your strength ends and when His begins!

It is in the “wait” where His amazing and supernatural strength becomes your strength!

One of the most miraculous and amazing aspects concerning the strength of God is that He does not give human strength to His children.  He gives of His own divine source of strength. 

During the difficult days of life, if all you needed were mere human strength, then a self-help guru, a psychology course, or a trip to Hawaii would deliver what you required.  However, what you need is a strength beyond human strength; you need more of Him!  You desperately need God’s strength to be gathered inside of you, and you will receive it while you wait and pray. 

Waiting is the string that is attached to strength.

“  . . . strengthened with all power according to His glorious might . . .” (Colossians 1:11).

All the strength you will ever need to deal with the pain of living this side of Heaven is given according to His glorious might.  God has a power source in Heaven that supplies a lavish source of strength and vigor to those who wait for it. 

When God connects His power outlet with one of His children who has chosen to wait well, He then doles out His strength in profuse and glorious amounts. 

There is no end to the power God gives to those who expectantly hope for all that He is.  God would not know how to give in tiny amounts if we asked Him to ... He only knows of one way to give and that way is according to His glorious might!  When one who waits is desperate for strength, God gives all He has and all He is. 

He gives strength to love an unlovable spouse.
              He gives strength to walk through sickness with joy.

He gives strength to face the holidays with not enough money.
              He gives strength to single parents to respond as both mom and dad.

He gives strength to young parents who are weary and stressed out.
              He gives strength to singles who are yearning to be loved.

He gives strength to widows and widowers to look ahead and not behind.
              He gives strength to couples who are dealing with infertility.

            He gives strength!