Wait for Strength?

Do you live in an upside down kingdom? The one where things seem outside in instead of inside out? The one seemingly full of paradox?

In our attempt for understanding, instead of believing with the "eyes of faith," we often attempt to tangle the uncomplicated. We make simple truths pretentious.

Starting from our first words, we ask big questions. We seem borne with a "?" mark - like a cartoon caption hovering over our heads. Simple curiosity? Eager to learn?

From "Why, Daddy?" to "Who made the..., Mommy?" fill the ears of our parents and grandparents.

In our humanity, we seem unable to grasp statements that seem to be true. We challenge. Are unaccepting. The answers are... well, just too simple. This point is never more adequately demonstrated than we who question the authenticity, veracity... the authority, and sureness of words from the Truth Giver.

"Well," we say, who were these scribes "inspired by God," who penned the holy writ? "Or," we submit, "The Bible has been messed up - translators have failed to correctly grasp the original intent, or they improperly translated the Hebrew or the Greek."

On and on it goes. Is this willful stubbornness, curiosity, or, something else?

When we sit down for a lovely meal - whether the table setting is gorgeous, the atmosphere idyllic, our dining partner charming, it is our taste buds that grade the better part of our culinary experience. Perhaps this is why in Psalm 34:8 we are encouraged to "taste and see that the LORD is good; and discover that those who trust in and take refuge in him are blessed."

We must chew on these morsels of truth. Masticate them well. Get our digestive juices involved. Absorb the good nutrients.

If we take sustenance from Isaiah 40:31, a passage that instructs us to "wait upon the Lord, where in waiting, we will renew our strength... mount up with wings like Eagles... run and not be weary... walk and not faint," we may be perplexed by the "waiting" part.

In waiting, a change is promised. A substitute for weakness and weariness is to take place. A change for the better. Renewal. Moreover, it is to come quickly.

Wait is an interesting word. In this passage, "waiting" is active not passive. "Waiting upon" is - attending, with expectation. Just as you might be in at your table in a fine dining establishment. You wait... you are attended by... you have expectation of the meal that is to be set before you. In respect to this passage, it is we who "attend" the LORD - wait with expectation.

While waiting does involve a pause, or moments of lingering - it is for reflection that something else is about to occur.

The Hebrew word is "qavah" and also means to collect, bind together in order to be strong, robust - a binding applied to strength because your hope is fixed on the only one who can deliver this promise.

Next time you find yourself in what you think is a waiting period, don't look further than the simplicity this passage speaks to your heart. Don't weep and mourn or think God has put you in the dog house and that you must don your sack cloth and ashes and tell the whole world of your awful predicament as if God has you in a vice grip. No; the opposite is true.

Perhaps you remember when King David gave his soul a little pep talk saying, "Why are you cast down, my inner self? And why should you moan over me and be disquieted within me? Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall yet praise Him, Who is the help of my [sad] countenance, and my God. ~ Psalm 43: 5

Ephesians 6 instructs us to get our armor on - get in the fray, not wallow on our beds.

Sit up and take notice of what the Spirit of God says to your heart... to your mind... to your spirit. Wait, expectantly, courageously, hopefully.

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Psalm 23:5, Psalm 31: 24, Psalm 39:7, Lamentations 3: 24, Romans 8:25

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