They That Wait Upon The Lord
Isa. 40:28-31 “Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, [that] the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? [there is] no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to [them that have] no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew [their] strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; [and] they shall walk, and not faint.”
It is always good to examine the background of any passage of scripture. The text is always more clearly illuminated by the context. In this case, simple rules of Bible Analysis may help us get to the crux of the matter. Isaiah is speaking to the Jews who have gone into Babylonian captivity. They are far from home and, as might be expected, they are discouraged, downhearted and depressed. The Psalmist spoke of their dire circumstances and deep sorrow when he said, “By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us [required of us] mirth, [saying], Sing us [one] of the songs of Zion...” (Psalm 137:1-4) They had lost all they cherished and held dear. They yearned for the bygone days of relative freedom and prosperity in the promised land of their fathers. Their hearts cried out for their God-given heritage. They longed for a lifestyle they had come to despise and neglect before their captivity. They longed to go up to Jerusalem to worship Jehovah once more in His holy temple. They were frightened and fainthearted in a faraway land filled with strangers. Life seemed hard and hopeless and they were horribly homesick in that heathen land.
They sat down and cried and hung their harps on the willows by the riverside. They had become useless and voiceless held in hands that hung down in helplessness. How could they sing the glad and joyous songs of Zion in such a weary land? Of course, it was all their own fault. God’s divine law of sowing and reaping had finally caught up with them. The principles of their own law were being surely and severely applied, “ But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the LORD: and be sure your sin will find you out.” (Nu. 32:23) God had another prophet to point out that if Israel sowed to the wind they would reap the whirlwind. It was now harvest time. As the old saying goes, they were reaping the wild oats they had recklessly sown in God’s field.
But the fact that their faithful God was lovingly chastening and correcting them, brought cold comfort to their hearts. Their songs in the night had been silenced and they could only sigh and sob sadly the whole day through. Just when it seems their hearts will literally break within them, their merciful God moves His special prophet to utter these tremendous words of comfort and encouragement to His downcast people. It is clear he is inspired to step outside the usual role of a prophet of his day. He does not mete out rebuke and reproof and cautionary condemnation for sin. They have confessed their sins and have received forgiveness. He is moved to express compassion and comfort to help and heal the hurt of their heavy hearts. (Verse 1)
He makes it clear that the road back from Babylon to Jerusalem leads through a dry and thirsty wilderness land, but he assures them that God is making a way for them there. Their Lord does know the way in that wilderness and all they have to do is to follow Him. (Verses 3-5) How this same truth can comfort those today who have wandered away from God and find themselves by the river of their Babylon of chastening! In the midst of His comfort, God has the prophet to remind them of the mortality of mere man and the brevity of his days and the short span of life upon the earth.
Because of this we cannot look within ourselves for any solution to the puzzles and paradoxes of life We must always look above to the immortal and eternal One who is always faithful. We need but lift our eyes to the everlasting hills from whence cometh our help. We must forever look to the One who is the author and finisher of our faith. He whose firm hand never fails. We must reach up to the One whose loving light never dims nor dies. We must learn to wait upon the Lord. (Verses 6-10) The prophet then turns to reassure the people of God that not only is their God a powerful warrior God, but He is oh so gentle in His strength. Just think how important that image is to His people slaving all day long in the hot sun; making bricks on the river banks of Babylon. Their God is not only strong enough to defeat the false pagan deities of the Babylonians, but He can snatch them from bondage and carry them away home gently and tenderly in His everlasting Shepherd arms. How we need this assurance in the weary world of woe in which we wage spiritual warfare today. How we need a strong and gentle shepherd to love and lead us in our lonely journey between here and the hereafter. (Verse 10-11)
It is clear in the prophet’s speaking that he feels the people think that God has abandoned them. Their hearts seem to have become hard and flinty and filled with bitterness. After reminding them of the greatness of their God, the prophet tells them that their powerful God has been there all the time. Quietly and resolutely, standing in the shadows, keeping watch over His very own. When His time comes, He will move and He will move powerfully and decisively. Ultimately the battle does belong to the Lord. Someone has said that God is never in a hurry but He is never late. Their simple, yet profound task, was to wait upon the Lord. That is all that is required of us in the frantic frenzy of the hustle and bustle, hurry up and wait world we live in today. His promise reaches down even to our day and time. “But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew [their] strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; [and] they shall walk, and not faint.” (Verse 31) It is said that the Hebrew used for wait here implies an eager anticipation. I think the words of this old chorus express the idea quite well: “In His time, In His time, He makes all things beautiful, in His time. Lord please show me every day, As You’re teaching me Your way, That you do just what you say in your time.”
Those who wait patiently upon the Lord can have POWER OVER TEMPTATION’S DEADLY DEFEATS. We live in a dirty dog eat dog world. The ever increasing power of evil surrounds us on every hand. The hopeless and helplessness of our flesh to prevail in the battle for right is demonstrated again and again in our contemporary spiritual struggle. The battle against sin within and without seems to have no end. It is tempting to become downhearted and fall captive to discouragement and to display a defeated spirit as these exiles did. After all, this world is not our home. We have not continuing abode here. We yearn for that land faraway; that city that has foundations and whose builder and maker is God. God promises to give us strength for our day. He will more than match the power of the all encompassing temptations that beset us. Here He is using physical imagery to convey the idea of spiritual strength. He will give us the much needed moral and inner strength to keep on keeping on. He will renew it day by day. He will renew our spiritual strength. It can be for us as Paul prayed for the Ephesians, “That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;” (Eph. 3:16)
When we wait patiently upon the Lord, we find the full fruition of the prophet’s words to Zerubbabel “.... saying, Not by might, not by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.” (Zech. 4:6) These discouraged and downcast captives were challenged daily by their captors to sing the songs of Zion. The temptation to surrender to bitterness and defeat was always there. We are in the same situation as we wearily walk through this world of woe. We will be tempted with daily discouragement. But we have the precious promise that if we wait patiently upon the Lord He will provide the power we need to soar above the tall pinnacles of disaster and defeat that threaten us. With every temptation He who bears us upon on His everlasting wings provides a way of escape. “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God [is] faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear [it].” (I Cor. 10:13)
But the lesson Isaiah is urging upon us is unique and difficult for the natural man to accept. We must have faith that He is always there. We must always patiently let go of self and let God operate in our lives. That seems to be the import of what the writer of the Hebrew letter was saying when he said. “But without faith [it is] impossible to please [him]: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and [that] he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” (Heb. 11:6) The meaning and context of this simple statement indicate that those who are facing great challenges must believe that He not only is alive and well on planet earth, but that He is operating in the affairs of His people to bring about their utmost good. We cannot win the battle alone.
The road of Christian life is littered with the debris of failure left behind by those who were not willing to patiently wait for the resources only God can make available through His marvellous and matchless grace. Deadly defeat and disaster are unnecessary when we wait upon the Lord and are borne up by the wings of His powerful Spirit; above the valleys of doubt and despair. We need but always remember, “Greater is he that is in you, than He that is in the world. (I John 4:4) When Peter looked away from His powerful Lord and impatiently reached out for a fleshly solution, our Savior told him that Satan was seeking to sift him through his shaking sieve. But Christ assured him that He was praying that his strength would not fail. We can also be assured that the One “. . .touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as [we are, yet] without sin.” is also praying for us in our time of testing. That should be sufficient for our every need. We surely will be, “..... more than conquerors through him that loved us.” (Ro. 8:37)
God had Ezekiel tell us that the priests had to wear linen when they entered into the holy place. (Eze. 44:17-18) They could not wear wool because God evidently did not want to have a sweaty priest. He does not want His servants today to be huffing and puffing, struggling, grunting and sweating, when we should be waiting patiently upon Him and relying upon the power of His Spirit. The world awaits our display of a calm and relaxed Christ-like attitude that only Christ can give us as we face the strife and struggles that are part and parcel of the normal Christian life.
Those that wait upon the Lord can have power over DISCOURAGEMENT, DESPAIR AND DEPRESSION. God has never guaranteed Christians immunity from trouble. Although Jesus said we could come to Him to have life more abundantly, He wasn’t inferring that life would be a rose garden or that we would be borne to heaven on flowery beds of ease. The Christian life wasn’t necessarily designed to be easy. Jesus says that in this world we shall have trouble, after all, didn’t He? The tug of the world and the pull of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God in opposite directions guarantees inevitable trouble for a Christian.
Experientially we can all confirm the veracity of Job’s statement that man is born for trouble as sparks fly upward. He’s often caught up in the geography of circumstance and finds himself surrounded by the meteorology of trouble. He frequently feels the heat of the crucible of crisis. He’s dropped into the test tube of trial. He’s called upon to navigate the shoals of loss and sorrow. He tries desperately to avoid the rocks of spiritual shipwreck and disaster. So often he finds there is no easy way to build a detour around sorrow or tragedy, but we must go through and come out safely on the other side.
The three Hebrew children were not saved out of the fiery furnace, but in it. But isn’t it a sin for a Christian to be depressed? Do we have any examples of deep discouragement afflicting God’s people in the Word of God? The first example that usually comes to mind is Elijah; that hoary haired, eagle eyed, grand old prophet of God. God gave him a stunning and startling victory over the prophets of Baal on top of Mt. Carmel. But when he made his way down from that mountain top he descended into a terrible valley of discouragement, despair and depression. He fled for his life from Jezebel. He sat down and brooded under a Juniper tree. He seems to have become somewhat suicidal, but without the capacity to end his own life. He begged God to allow him to just die. But as he sat there waiting upon the Lord, a compassionate and caring God intervened and ministered to his physical, emotional and spiritual needs. God did not condemn him for falling into the pit of despair and depression, but rather helped him out of it. He wants to do the same for us.
We find another example in the Gospels. The great John the Baptist became depressed one day. He had been languishing in jail awaiting execution. Friends had clearly neglected him in his moment of greatest need. It seems John may have felt Jesus should have been calling down judgment rather than performing miracles of mercy. He must have been in quite a dismal mood when he sent his emissaries to ask the King of the Universe if He really was the true Messiah or should he look for another. It is well to notice how tenderly our Saviour dealt with this discouraged and depressed disciple. He tells the crowd that John is the in same class as the patriarchs of old and the great heroes of the faith. (Matt. 11:11) He reassures the doubting and faltering John with a recitation of the marvellous power He was displaying through His miracles, signs and wonders.
This surely implies that the same healing power was available to meet the needs of John and to meet our needs today when we too are discouraged and dismayed. But we too must wait upon the Lord. He is the answer to our depression. Someone has said that although God’s people are not theoretical atheists, they sometimes appear as practical atheists. In the times of our deepest despair, we often act as if God is dead or powerless. The story is told of the time Martin Luther was going through great trials and troubles and was afflicted by depression. The symptoms were acute and chronic. It is said that one day his wife came downstairs dressed in black mourning clothes. Luther was taken aback and asked her who had died. She replied, “I would assume from your condition God has!”
The topography of normal Christianity is well known. The landscape is often steep and rough. The road of life often follows an undulating path. There are many ups and downs and we, as Elijah, commonly proceed immediately from one exhilarating mountain top experience down into a deep valley of discouragement and despair. Depression is common in life and it can happen to the very best of us. Life sometimes seems like a pressure cooker; inevitably a destructive explosion will occur unless some steam is released to reduce the pressure.
There are so many factors that can drag us down and make us basement dwellers. Family, friends, work mates, situations and circumstances beyond our personal control or remedy, all sometimes work independently or collectively to bring us low and bind and incapacitate us. But God tells us in all circumstance we can “ . . . mount up with wings as eagles;” Those that wait upon the Lord can break the shackles of despair that bind them and soar free from the miserable moods that plague them. God has made marvellous provision for our escape. The eagle has always been a noble symbol of strength and a greatness. God uses this beautiful and majestic bird to show us the way of triumph over discouragement and despair.
Those that truly wait upon the Lord need never become dependent upon chemical solutions for their problems. My experience indicates that many addicts begin their down hill journey by attempting to deal with or drown the effects of ordinary daily irritations and afflictions with alcohol or drugs. Just this week I was assisting my grandson in some homework in biology. He was studying birds and their different types of wings. I found it fascinating that God made different types of birds with radically different sorts of wings designed to fit their particular needs and environment. The eagle is a soaring bird. His wings are aerodynamically designed for soaring. The eagle loves storms and winds that would be considered adverse and destructive by the ordinary bird. He simply effortlessly spreads his wings and catches the updrafts and peacefully soars far above the buffeting winds without even having to flap his wings.
What a beautiful analogy God gives us in this simple simile! We have the unlimited power of the Holy Wind (hagios pneuma) of God to lift us above the terrible twin peaks of discouragement and despair. All we have to do is to spread our wings amidst the raging winds and storms of life and we will be borne freely into the heights of the wonderful calm of His presence and peace.
In 1976 I was privileged to spend a number of weeks in the Solomon Islands with Missionary Neil Morely. We were ministering to and teaching groups of indigenous pastors. It was necessary to fly from one island to another. We were blessed to have Missionary Aviation Fellowship flights available. I will never forget a flight back from a remote village on the Island of Malaita to the main town of Honiara. I storm arose just as we were preparing to take off in the sea plane. The pilot was obviously quite concerned. He would have to fly over a mountain range. He told us he had no choice because there was a medical emergency. As we headed out, directly into the storm, the clouds became very dark and ascended high into the heavens. It was clear the pilot was praying as hard as we were. Just before we met the storm he said, “Pray with me. I’m going to run into the storm. If we are blessed, the leading edge updraft will lift us above the storm and over the mountain!” Our prayers were answered. At just the critical moment the wind caught us and tossed us upward like an autumn leaf. You can hardly imagine the prayer of gratitude that flowed for from the heart of His dear little child that day! When I think of our God’s promise that we can mount up with wings as eagles I always think of that awesome and powerful experience.
Those that wait upon the Lord can have POWER OVER DAILY DISASTERS. He tells us we, “ . . . can run and not be weary.” This expression always conjures up in my mind the effortlessness of our mobility in our youth. Children often appear as perpetual motion machines. Even into our teens we who come from rural, active and athletic backgrounds can recall the ability to run for miles with ease when it became necessary to do so. We are often called as Christians to run today. The Hebrew writer gives us the definitive statement on our calling to the Christian race: “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset [us], and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of [our] faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Heb. 12:1-2)
We are commanded to flee youthful lusts. We are told if we resist the devil he will run from us. Paul tells us that we are to run the race right down to the end and finish well. But there are times the Christian race takes on a really urgent pace. The desperate hour comes sooner or later to all who run. The hour or dread and heartache descends upon us all from time to time. Such times call for the power of God to energize us. No amount of personal endurance training will fit us for such a challenge. In and of ourselves we will become weary and faint, fail and fall by the wayside. We need infinite help from outside our finite selves. The Jews were confronted with such a disastrous emergency. Nothing in their previous experience had prepared them for the trauma and tragedy of transportation to such a terrible heathen culture. A culture that contradicted every Godly principle and holy desire they had known in Jerusalem.
Someone has said it is not the pressures and disasters of life that matter, but our response to them. In essence, they had failed in their response. The prophet was urging them to rise above the mediocrity of their failure and to ascend to the heights of the victory God can give to those who wait upon Him. A preacher of long ago had this to say on the subject: “God can take every Calvary and turn it into an Easter Sunday. Difficult hours are the raw material out of which we can weave a garment of praise to glorify God. You will never have a greater opportunity to glorify the Lord than when darkness invades your experience and storm clouds form across the clouds of your life. God will reveal Himself to you in unforgettable ways during the sadness and grief that accompany emergencies. You will learn more about God’s power, patience and proximity when your heart has been broken than when you study books or try to learn lessons from the afflictions of others.”
The great apostle Paul is our primary New Testament example of this. Just turn to II Corinthians Chapter Eleven and begin reading in Verse Twenty-four. The litany of his terrible personal sufferings through a life filled with disastrous emergencies is painful to peruse. But in his letters to individuals and churches he constantly reminds us that as he waited upon the Lord he was given strength for every hour. He said in his darkest days God’s grace proved sufficient. He testified that in whatsoever state he found himself, he had learned to be content. He affirmed he could do all things through the strength of Christ. In the end, he reminds us that even the most disastrous shipwrecks in the here and now amount to nothing when compared with the glory that shall be ours in the there and then; the sweet by and by.
It is often difficult for our finite minds to fathom the reason why for severe and extreme adversity and suffering. But often those who look into the heaven and cry in despair to God are not looking for a reasonable answer, but are looking for an argument. But the sovereign God of this universe is not going to enter into a debate with His creature. The potter is not going to have an argumentive discourse with the clay. Besides, we are really not sharp enough to argue with Him. If you doubt that, read verses 18-28 of this chapter along with Psalm 139.
They that wait upon the Lord can have power to IN THE DULLNESS OF DOING OUR DAILY DUTIES. He will give us power in the ordinary days of our life. He said, “ . . they shall walk, and not faint.” Much of our life consists of a daily dull and dutiful walk before the Lord. Our tests, troubles, trials and tribulations tend to always give way to the trite, trivial and tedious. The mundane and humdrum nature of human existence goes on, and on and on. Many times we seem to think that God is the Lord of large problems alone, but is not really concerned with the small things of life.
Our infinite God is also the God of the infinitesimal. He numbers even the smallest hairs on our head. Someone has said He attends the funeral of every sparrow. The poet said, “They also serve who stand and wait.” So we should not think our dull daily duties are not important in God’s grand scheme of things. We are not all called to be big fish in a small pond. Many of us are just little fish in a big pond, but our calling is important to God. God surely rewards the patient service of those who just simply do their best in an obscure and quiet place. Do you remember our Savior’s commendation of the tiny offering of the widow and made no mention of those who were casting in their large gifts? It would be well to recall the reward promised to those who give a cup of water in His name. Sometimes it takes the greatest grit and determination to keep on dutiful doing our daily tasks in the face of the dull and monotonous pace of the ordinary life.
Coming from a lake and fishing background, I can recall the tedium of sitting on a bank with a cane pole in my hand and a hook in the water. It often gets very boring and tedious. But if you are going to catch a fish you must sit there and keep your hook in the water. I have known people to pass by and ask such a fisherman if they were having any success. They would reply, “Not much. I am just drowning worms!” But I must say catching even one rare big one makes it all worthwhile!
I would like to think the Lord looks down upon us as we go about the daily routine of living our life for Him and casting our hook here and there as we try to follow His command to be fishers of men. I would like to think He rejoices in our steadfastness and stick-to-it-nive-ness. His joy should make the dullness of our doing our daily duty worthwhile.
When all is said and done, all should be said and done to please and glorify God. There are two definitive statements that come to mind that should sum up the whole of it. “He hath shewed thee, O man, what [is] good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” (Micah 6:8) “Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.” (I Cor. 4:2)
