A Year of Patient Waiting
By Meg Bucher
“Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion.
But those who trust in the LORD will find new strength.
They will soar high on wings like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary.
They will walk and not faint.”
Isaiah 40:30-31 NLT
The turning over of a new year sometimes brings to mind a word God presses into my heart. This year, that word is wait. Waiting is a weakness of mine. Surrounded by the resolve to push through to the next level, I have been told to wait. Wait patiently, the Holy Spirit has assured me. But …waiting is a weakness of mine! Going, I’m rather good at! Pushing through pain and breaking through are things I’m good at. But waiting is a weakness of mine.
The prophet Isaiah wrote even youths would become weak and tired. Exhaustion is an accurate descriptor of the year that just turned over. On its heels, God is pressing me to trust Him, so the prophecy of new strength by Isaiah can come to fruition in my own life. This is a strength I can’t train for physically. This is a strength of the spirit, developed by waiting patiently. But waiting is a weakness of mine. Isaiah also wrote:
“So the LORD must wait for you to come to him
so he can show you his love and compassion.
For the LORD is a faithful God.
Blessed are those who wait for his help.”
Isaiah 30:18 NLT
Waiting for help is excruciating. Running to God is no problem here. Maybe you can relate to the running and the exhaustive need for new strength this year. The psalmist wrote:
“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 NLT
It takes a faithful level of trust in the Lord to be brave and courageous in the face of exhaustion. Brave are we who wait patiently on God, knowing He is always with us and for us. The prophet Micah wrote:
“As for me, I look to the LORD for help. I wait confidently for God to save me, and my God will certainly hear me.” Micah 7:7 NLT
Intersecting Faith and Life:
“And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a forecast of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us.” Romans 8:23 NLT
The Bible is filled with stories of waiting. Noah waited for the flood waters to recede. God’s people waited to enter the Promised Land. And Jesus, is the long-awaited Messiah. Still we wait, here on earth, but our home is in heaven. Paul wrote:
“The Scriptures give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God’s promises to be fulfilled.” Romans 15:4 NLT
Our waiting is not a passive sitting around. Waiting on the Lord is seeking Him with all of our hearts and our, minds and our souls, knowing we will find more and more of Him. We wait in prayer, believing the promises of God because He’s never failed to keep one yet. The Apostle James wrote:
“Dear brothers and sisters, be patient as you wait for the Lord’s return. Consider the farmers who patiently wait for the rains in the fall and in the spring. They eagerly look for the valuable harvest to ripen.” James 5:7 NLT
For years I have promised my oldest daughter a tulip garden but have never been able to master it effectively. This past fall, my husband gave it a try, planting bulbs deep in the ground, and covering them with the landscaping rock in wait for their bloom in the Spring. But in a misplaced train of thought, he covered the dirt with landscape netting meant to keep the weeds out. He’ll have to remove all of the rocks and take the mat up, or the tulip shoots won’t make it to the surface.
While we wait, let’s ask God what is blocking our own proverbial shoots from breaking through the surface and reaching for the sunshine. In seasons of wait, we are given the greatest gift of time to seek God and search His Truth for wisdom, direction, and encouragement. The Apostle Peter wrote:
“And so, dear friends, while you are waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to be found living peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in his sight.” 2 Peter 3:14 NLT
God’s Truth is full of directives that usher peace into our lives like a babbling brook coming alive in the Spring, nourishing us so we, too, can shoot up through the dirt with the tulips and reach for the sunlight. For a do-er, a talker, and a go-er, waiting patiently … being quiet before the Lord perhaps takes just as much endurance for me as it does for others to push through their physical pain threshold. Yet still, as the psalmist wrote:
“I wait quietly before God, for my victory comes from him.” Psalm 62:1 NLT
Further Reading
Photo credit: ©GettyImages/Elena Noviello
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