Those who wait for the Lord

I am one of those people who likes to use the lapel of my jacket to display a badge! Sometimes someone will actually ask me what a particular badge signifies, and I am happy to explain. One of my badges is an eagle. Now the truth is that it was an award, many years ago, given by an organisation of which I was a part. However, I always refer to some words from the book of the prophet Isaiah: "...those 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).

This is one of the best-loved promises of the Bible, for it is easy to grow weary and faint in our mortal bodies, even when doing the work of the Lord. The answer, we are told, is to "wait upon the Lord."

 

But what does this mean? The Hebrew word (qavah) does not mean "serve," but rather to "wait for" or "look for." It is translated "waited for" the second time it is used in the Bible, when the dying patriarch Jacob cried out: "I wait for Thy salvation, O Lord." (Genesis 49:18).

 

The first time it is used, surprisingly, is in connection with the third day of creation, when God said: "Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place" (Genesis 1:9). That is, the all-pervasive waters of the original creation, divided on the second day of creation, now are told to wait patiently, as it were, while God formed the geosphere, the biosphere, and the astrosphere, before dealing again with the waters.

 

Perhaps the clearest insight into its meaning is its use in the picture of the Christ foreshadowed in the 40th Psalm. "I waited patiently for the Lord; He inclined unto me, and heard my cry" (Psalm 40:1).

 

"The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary," (Isaiah 40:28), and His gracious promise, in v.31, is that we can "renew [our] strength" (literally, "exchange our strength," our weakness for His strength!) by "waiting upon [Him]." (v.31). We wait patiently for Him, we gather together unto Him, we look for Him, we cry unto Him, we trust Him, and He renews our strength! 

What a blessing it is to be able to wait upon the Lord!