Waiting Takes Some Serious Doing

“Even youths shall faint and be weary, and selected young men shall feebly stumble and fall exhausted; but those who wait for the Lord (who expect, look for, and hope in Him) shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up (close to God) as eagles mount up to the sun; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint or become tired.” (Isaiah 40:30-31 Amp.) This kind of waiting is not sitting down and folding our hands and being inactive but waiting on God to answer our prayers involves some “serious doing” on our part. Sounds like an oxymoron? The Hebrew word for “wait” in our text is “qavah,” a prime root which means, “To bind together by twisting; (fig.) to expect – gather together, look, patiently wait (for, on, upon).” This definition of “wait” spells out the “serious doings” of waiting upon the Lord. So, what are they? First to wait and expect Him to act on our prayers, we must to come into His presence with clean hands and a pure heart (Ps.24:4). He will not hear our prayers if we come to Him soiled with sin (Ps.66:18). We must confess our sins, and know that He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (IJn.1:9). Coming into His presence with clean hands and a pure hear is our first “serious doing” to be ready to wait on Him. After becoming clean we should praise God. Having a grateful heart moves the heart of God. Thank Him “in” everything (I Thess.5:18). Right in the middle of your problem give Him thanks for being your problem solver; thanks for being with you in your problem, thanks that He knows the answer, He is in control and in His time He will make everything beautiful (Eccl.3:11). Also thank Him “for” the problem (Eph.5:20). Thank Him for how He is teaching you with your problem - that you are learning to trust Him for a successful solution, and how your faith could not grow without problems. Andrae’ Crouch’s song, “Through It All,” says it all: I've had many tears and sorrows, I've had questions for tomorrow, There've been times I didn't know right from wrong; But in every situation God gave blessed consolation that my trials Come to only make me strong. I thank God for the mountains, And I thank Him for the valleys, I thank Him for the storms He brought me through; For if I'd never had a problem I wouldn't know that He could solve them, I'd never know what fait in God could do. Chorus: Through it all, Through it all, I've learned to trust in Jesus, I've learned to trust in God. Through it all, Through it all, I've learned to depend upon His Word! Next, we must “gather together” all of our desires, dreams, aspirations, and all we are, and commit our all to the One Who thoroughly knows us, Who knows what is best for us, Who knows every circumstance that must take place before we are ready to “mount up with wings; to run and not be weary and to walk and not faint.” Committing our all to Him is hard, because it means committing our will and our self-centeredness to God in exchange for His wisdom, His will and His Righteousness. (This is part of the Great Exchange I wrote about in another blog, December 26, 2008). More “serious doing” while waiting on the Lord is faith-filled praying. Not just presenting our petitions and going our way and hoping God heard us and will answer just the way we want it answered. But this is the part of “binding together” by twisting our will and our way of doing it to the One Who knows what is best and has the power to answer our prayers. When we have faith in, and trust our prayers to Him and His promises, we shall become bonded together with Him “Who is able to do abundantly, above all we could ask, hope or imagine” (Eph.3:20). His will becomes our will, and we can patiently wait for His answers. To come near to Him We trust our all to Him, and “We must know that God exists, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Without faith it is impossible to please God” (Heb.11:6). Having rewarding faith is being able to “Cast all of our care, your anxieties, all your worries and all your concerns on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully” (I Pet.5:7 Amp.). Until we come to this position of faith, we are not truly waiting on Him to answer our prayers. God is not as man that He should, or would lie, but what He says, He will do. All his promises are true – “Yes and Amen in Jesus” (II Cor.1:20). So when we come with clean hands and a pure heart, submitting our all to Him and fitting into His plan, and pray in faith believing He is God and will reward our faith with a “yes and amen” to His promises (Heb.12:1-3), then our waiting is rewarded by our prayers being answered, our strength being renewed, and we will be “lifted on wings as eagles; we will run and not be weary; and we shall walk and not faint or become tired.”