Four Guarantees RE: Waiting

If you’ve ever cried out to God for help or direction, you’ve likely experienced the challenge of waiting. Often, we’ve already wrestled with the problem for a long time before asking for God’s help. From our viewpoint, anything but an immediate answer is counterproductive, isn’t it? Apparently God didn’t see things that way, inspiring the Prophet Isaiah to record the Lord’s four guarantees re: waiting.

The vivid imagery of the passage in Isaiah 40:31 is not just beautifully written poetry, but God’s promises. If we let God teach us, we’ll see these four guarantees re: waiting bring perfect peace to our lives.

“But they that wait upon the Lord shall:

• Renew their strength
• Mount up with wings as eagles
• Run, and not be weary
• Walk, and not faint.” (Is. 40:31 KJV)

Renew their strength

Until I passed that half-century mark, I never needed a nap—including during infancy. Several years after reaching age fifty, I discovered the fifteen-minute power nap I’d used during graduate school provided just the boost I needed each afternoon.

In a similar way, I’m learning to let waiting on the Lord renew my strength, not wear me down. As a baby, I fought naps for fear of missing out on something, according to the experts. As a young Christian, I struggled with waiting on God for the same reason. What might I miss out on if I waited for God to answer?

The more I press into God’s truth from His Word, the easier it is to believe God has my worries all under His able hands. If I let go, just believe God and accept His guarantee, my strength will be renewed.

Mount up with wings as eagles

Whenever I’m on a plane that encounters unexpected turbulence, I’m thankful that the pilot can lift the aircraft above the storm. I reckon aeronautical engineers learned this from the eagle.

The eagle rarely flaps his wings once in flight. Even the darkened sky holds no threat to the majestic bird. He just spreads out his wings and lets the air stream take him above the storm.

God guarantees that if I wait on Him, I can spread my wings and be lifted above life’s storm.

Run and not be weary

In the seventh grade, we ate lunch in the elementary school’s cafeteria–three or four blocks from our building. Having spent all the morning hours seated, I loved running the distance full-out when the weather permitted. Most of the time, my short legs pumped hard to keep up with the pack of junior high kids. Sometimes I reached the cafeteria panting.

However, on several occasions, my feet took flight. Not only did my spirits soar to lead the gang, but my energy level had jumped to another sphere altogether. I felt like I could run forever. Not winded in the least, I wanted to keep running.

Whenever I read this part of the four guarantees re: waiting, I remember that wonderful feeling. I ran and wasn’t a bit weary.

Walk and not faint

Do you remember President Kennedy’s challenge to America’s youth back in the early sixties? One Saturday an eighth-grade classmate joined me for the fifty-mile hike.

Years earlier, we’d learned from our Brownie Scout leader that long walks could be made a bit easier if we did 50-50 pacing. We ran for fifty steps and then walked for fifty steps. Alternating walking-running helped us focus, and provided a needed distraction from the redundant rural scenery. (No teensy iPods to clamp to one’s pocket in those days.)

MJ hadn’t been able to do the two training hikes I’d done but wanted to try. Half-way through, she began to feel faint and had to drop out.

I sorely missed her company on the lonely back roads, but I drudged on. When my father picked me up at mile forty-nine, my feet ached, and I felt drained, but I didn’t feel one bit faint.

Good thing, too, because Dad had driven out to get me so that I wouldn’t be late for my seven o’clock babysitting job. I just had time to change clothes and limp, barefooted, across the street to be with four energetic younger kids.*

I realize that there’s no promise in the passage of Isaiah concerning swollen feet; only that I won’t faint along the way. If I wait for the Lord, I’m not just sitting around; I’m going the distance without fainting or needing to drop out.

Looking back over the four guarantees re: waiting, I notice only the first of the four is passive. Three-fourths of the Lord’s promises involve action on the part of the one waiting.

The first step is to take a break and drop all the worrying; relax and catch your breath. Let God renew your strength.

After your fifteen-minute spiritual power nap has renewed your strength, get going. Most of the time, our worries have caused us to lag behind in other duties, right? Focus your efforts on these things while you wait.

If you just stop flapping your wings like a chicken, you’ll drop like a rock out of the sky. Instead, stretch out those eagle wings and catch the stream of the Holy Spirit to get the lift above the troubles.

Once back on solid ground, run the race set before you without worry. If you actively wait on the Lord, you’ll not be too weary to go the distance. Don’t just sit around waiting, focus on the responsibilities you have and put your energies in motion.

The last guarantee makes it clear that you’re in it for the long-haul. If you wait on the Lord, He’ll see that you can make it. You won’t need to drop out because you’re going to faint.

We can rejoice in the knowledge that our Creator cares about us. God knows what we need and just when it’s best for Him to respond. Many times I’ve looked back and realized what a mess I’d have been in had God given me what I wanted at the time I’d asked.

God understands that we don’t much like waiting for His answer. Perhaps that’s one reason the Lord asked Isaiah to record these four guarantees re: waiting.

If we do what the Lord asks of us, He’ll do His part. He’s given us his written guarantee.

The fortieth chapter of the Book of Isaiah speaks of the Lord’s comfort to his people. Take a moment in the next twenty-four hours to read it in its entirety. It’s such an encouraging portion of God’s Word.

If you don’t have a Bible, you can click on one of the two following links that connect you to Bible Gateway:

Isaiah 40 (NIV)            Isaiah 40 (KJV)

*In the interest of full disclosure, and for those wanting to know the end of the story, within the first hour my precious mother crossed the street to relieve me of the babysitting duty, so I could go straight to bed.