THEY THAT WAIT UPON THE LORD: THE REWARDS FOR WAITING
Isaiah 40:25-31: 25 “To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One. 26 Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing. 27 Why do you complain, Jacob? Why do you say, Israel, “My way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is disregarded by my God”? 28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. 29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. 30 Even youths shall grow tired and weary, and young men shall stumble and fall; 31 but they that wait on the Lord will renew their strength. They will mount up on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
INTRODUCTION: THEY THAT WAIT UPON THE LORD
Waiting Is A Problem For Most Of Us. No one likes to wait. The world has a problem with waiting but as for the Christians, that is a different thing altogether. In the very fast-paced world, things are set up for maximum speed and efficiency. Fast food restaurants, online purchases, news flashes as it happens, computers now making communication faster and direct more than ever. We can now get much more done in a day’s time than we ever could in the past due to all of the new technological gadgets and devices we now have at our disposal. And we are so used to everything moving at break-neck speed that we have a hard time adjusting to the “slower ways” that God works. I have come to find out that God never seems to be in a hurry. He has a much slower way of working things than we think He should. Where we can get into major trouble with the Lord in our personal walk is to take all of that break-neck speed in being able to get things done and accomplished, and then try to throw that in the middle of our walk with the Lord with how He will want to work things out in our lives. Again, God usually has a much slower time frame and a much slower way of working things out in our life than we do. And if we do not learn how to adjust to His slower time frame and the slower way He likes to work things out in our life, we could easily get ourselves knocked right out of our calls and our divine destinies that He has set us. Timing is an absolute crucial factor with the Lord. Try to move ahead of God’s timing with what He wants to do in a particular area of your life, and you will find very quickly that everything will fall apart and completely unravel.
WHAT WAITING OR PATIENCE IS:
Wait Means “To Stay Where One Is Or Delay Action Until A Particular Time Or Until Something Else Happens.” In the case of God, it means to stay where one is or delay action until God arrives or is ready. It means stand back, hold back, cease, discontinue, pause until God is ready. We can call it patience, perseverance, self-control, etc. But it indicates that we must be calm, persevering, tolerant, understanding, compassionate, mindful, hopeful until God says move. The opposite which can be impatience implies that we are being impulsive, complaining, judgmental, pessimistic, hasty, frantic, anxious because God is taking too long. We want it now.
EXAMPLES OF PEOPLE WAITING FOR GOD
1. Noah: Took instruction from God and built an ark and waited for the flood.
2. Joseph: Waited in Potiphar’s house and in prison.
3. Jesus: Waited for his season to be fulfilled. Hebrews 12 says he endured for us…
4. Job: He loses everything and friends accuse him of wrongdoing. He awaits God.
5. Simeon (Luke 2): Eagerly Awaited the Messiah
6. Moses: In leading Israel out of Egypt, he endured much from enemies and Jews.
7. David: His rise from zero to hero is a story of patience.
8. Mary: She is chosen for a task she did not choose but endured with patience.
9. Ruth: After death upon death in her family, she risks through patience a choice with Naomi.
10. Hannah: She cried and prayed.
EXAMPLES OF IMPATIENCE IN THE BIBLE
1. Abraham & Sarah: Should Have Waited For The Isaac And Not The Ishmael. 75 – 95 Years.
2. The Prodigal Son: Should have waited till he mature to take possessions and leave father.
3. Moses: when he struck the rock instead of speaking to it like God said.
4. Simon The Sorcerer: Greedy for gift of Holy Spirit and wanting to buy it.
5. Esau: Sold his birthright for soup. Could not wait till his mother cooked.
6. David: In his haste & impatience, had affair with Bathsheba & then sent husband into battle.
AREAS IN WHICH WE MUST WAIT FOR GOD
1. Waiting For Your Soulmate.
If it is in God’s perfect will that you get married in this life, then you will have to wait for His timing as to when He will want to bring this person into your life. Do not try and rush this. God knows best as to who you should be marrying in this life, and He also knows best as to when this person should be brought into your life. You and this other person may need some preparation for marriage before God will want the marriage to occur, so you have to let God do what He wants with each one of you in the time frame that He wants to work all of this out. Not waiting for God’s perfect timing to bring this person in your life could cause you to marry the wrong person you may be dating, all because you did not have the patience to wait for the person God has in mind for you. I have seen this happen to several boys and girls in the past, and both were divorced within a year after marrying the wrong person. And this was all due to the fact that they got too impatient while waiting for God to bring them the right person He had in mind for them. Example: Ruth and Boaz.
2. Waiting For God To Release You Into Your True Calling.
If God is telling you exactly what your call is going to be in your life before you actually reach that call, then you will have to wait for God’s timing as to when that call will be brought into your life. Many of these calls will take a certain amount of time before they are actually released into your life. The reason being is that God has to properly prepare you for the call He will have on your life, and that preparation usually takes years, not months. So be patient while God slowly and methodically raises you up in the calling that He has set up for your life. If you do, then you will be fully ready to move into that call once the door opens up for you. Example: Apostle Paul.
3. Waiting For God To Promote You Into Your Next New Job.
As you are waiting for that big call to come into your life, God will have you take different jobs along the way before you actually reach that call. Once you step into those different jobs, you will have to wait for God’s timing as to when you will move into the next new job. And not only will God guide you as to what different jobs He will want you to take, but He will also be guiding you as to when to take those specific new jobs. These different jobs will be very important for your growth in Him, as they will all be used by God to train you and build you up into what your true calling is going to be in Him down the road. This is why you have to make sure that you stay in each job long enough so God can work into you what He wants too, as each one of these different jobs will be actual stepping stones and building blocks that will help lead you into your true calling with Him.
God knows exactly how long you will have to stay in each job so He can work into you what He needs to. If you stay in each one of these jobs long enough so God can properly complete your preparation, then you will be fully ready to go when your true calling is given to you by the Lord. Example: Joseph, Moses, David
4. In The Area Of Spiritual Warfare.
If God wants to raise you up in the area of spiritual warfare, you will need to choose your battles very wisely and very carefully, and be guided by God as to which deliverance cases to take on and exactly when to move into combat to deliver someone from demons. God is our Commander-in-Chief and we now have to follow His orders and directions as to how to handle each one of these types of cases, along with staying with His perfect timing on when to move into action. Not waiting for God’s perfect timing could get you into serious trouble with Him. God may want you to wait for a certain period of time before sending you in to deliver someone from demons. There may be something He will have to prepare the person for before He is ready to deliver them. If you move ahead of God’s timing, that person may not be properly prepared to receive their deliverance from Him. Example: Pastor Stanley And Group Doing Deliverance. Example: Sons of Sceva / Simon the Sorcerer.
5. In The Area Of Sanctification
Spiritual growth takes time. God wants to transform us into the express image of His Son Jesus. He wants to set us apart and consecrate us to Himself so He can make us into more holy instruments of righteousness for His use. However, what you have to realize is that this sanctification and transformation in the Lord will not occur overnight. God will sanctify you slowly and progressively over the course of your entire life. It is not something that will be done overnight. As such, we have to have patience with the way God will want to work out this part of our walk with Him. You have to let God build you up in the way and in the time frame He will want to use. Example: If a teenager grows to fast during puberty, they will get stretch marks on their skin. In the same way, true spiritual growth in the Lord is a slow and progressive process. As such, we have to learn how to have patience with the Lord in this area and not get too frustrated when we are not changing and transforming as fast as we would like in Him. Example: Prodigal Son
6. In The Area Of Divine Healing.
Some times when God desires to heal someone, He will to do it progressively over a certain period of time. People call this a progressive type healing. There are times when God will move to heal immediately and instantaneous, and these types of miracles are always very dramatic when they occur. But sometimes God will choose to heal someone more slowly over a certain period of time. And if He chooses this kind of route with any of us, we have to have patience to stay the course, along with keeping our faith and trust fully intact with Him so we do not lose the healing with Him. Just realize that God will heal in many different ways, and in each one of these different ways, there again will be a timing factor as to when He will want to actually do it. The Holy Spirit will help guide you through this so you do not get too impatient while waiting for the actual healing to manifest for either you or the other person you may be praying for. Many people have walked out on their healings with the Lord before they would have actually occurred, all due to impatience and frustration at not getting the healing fast enough. Example: Naaman & Elisha
7. In The Area Of Specific Prayers.
As we all know in the arena of prayer with the Lord, sometimes we will get our prayers answered very quickly with the Lord, other times we will not. And when God does not answer some of our prayers as fast as we think He should, we once more tend to get very impatient. Again, this is another major area where you have to completely rely on God’s perfect timing as to when He will want to answer some of your prayers. God can see perfectly into the future, we cannot. As such, God will always know best as to when to answer your prayers. Some of our prayers may be very specific chess moves God will want to make with our lives, so we have to wait on God’s perfect timing as to when He will want to actually answer some of our specific prayers. Example: Israel – little by little.
8. Waiting For God To Bring Children In Your Marriage.
Another area where I have seen God make people wait for a certain period of time before He actually makes it happens is in the area of when a married couple will get pregnant and bring children into the world. You saw how long God made Abraham wait for his son Isaac to be born – a good 25 years. If you have fully surrendered your entire life into God’s hands, along with your entire marriage, then God will make the pregnancy or pregnancies occur on His set timetable just like He did with Abraham and Isaac. This again is another area where you will have to fully trust the Lord, especially if you have been trying to get pregnant and nothing has happened yet. Let God bring the number of children He will want you to have in this life in the time frame that He will want to do all of this in. Again, there are always reasons for the things God will want to do, and we always have to be guided by His wisdom on when these types of heavier prayer requests will be answered by Him. Example: Isaac & Rebekah / Zechariah and Elizabeth
9. Waiting For God To Deliver You From A Trial
There will be times that God will allow a certain amount of trials to occur in your life. We give you in this article some of those reasons, and the major verses from Scripture as to why we all have to go through a certain amount of trials and tribulations in this life. But one of the things that will occur on some of the trials that God will allow into our lives is that they will have a certain amount of length to them. In other words, God is not going to quickly deliver you from some of these trials. They will have a date and time stamped on them as to when God will finally deliver you from the trial. And if God wants a particular trial to last for a little season in our lives so He can work in us what He needs to for our own spiritual growth in Him, then we will need to have the patience to wait on His timing as to when He will deliver us from the trial. Try to pull out of these trials before God is ready to release you, and you could end up stunting your spiritual growth in Him in the sanctification realm, along with possibly disrupting His well laid out plans for your life and the call that He has set up for your life. Some of these trials will be used by God to train you and toughen you up for what your call is going to be in Him. Pull out of these trials before God is ready to release you, and you could end up causing a major delay to occur as to when His call will be finally given to you, as you did not allow Him to properly complete what He was wanting to get done with you in the trial. Example: Israel in the Wilderness.
10. Many Different Miscellaneous Matters In Your Life.
As you can see from some of the above examples, there are a number of major areas in your walk with the Lord where you will have no other alternative but to wait on His perfect timing as to when He will want to make certain things happen in your life. In addition to some of the above examples, there will also be many other smaller to medium type matters that will occur in your life where you again will have to wait on God’s perfect timing to get something done, or wait for Him to bring you something that you will need to solve the problem you may be dealing with. You will need to rely on God’s timing on many things that will occur in your marriage with your spouse and children, along with all of the interaction that will occur with the good friends you have in this life. Just learn how to be led by the Holy Spirit as to not only what to do in certain situations, but when to move with what He is guiding you to do.
A LOOK AT THE PASSAGE
The book of Isaiah is divided into two parts. The first 39 chapters deal with impending judgment, and the second part deals with forgiveness and deliverance. The first 39 chapters deal with sin, but the last 27 chapters deal with a Savior — 66 chapters in all. Many people see Isaiah as a small Bible, for there are 39 chapters in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament — 66 books in all. The Old Testament often deals with the sin of the people of Israel, and the New Testament deals with the Savior which came from Israel. There is a distinctly different tone and message beginning here in Isaiah 40. In A String Of Rhetorical Questions, The Prophet Reminds His Hearers That:
1. The word of our God will not fail (Isaiah 40:8)
2. The Lord will come with a strong hand, and feed His flock like a shepherd (Isaiah 40:10-11)
3. Our God alone is the Creator of the Universe (Isaiah 40:12-14)
4. The nations are no threat to Him (Isaiah 40:15-17)
5. Idolatry is futile (Isaiah 40:19-20)
THREE OBSERVATIONS FROM THIS PASSAGE OF SCRIPTURE
1. Everyone Gets Weary At Some.
Isaiah 40:30 “Even the youths shall faint and be weary”. Sometimes we do that in life. We take off well, but we get exhausted. Life sucks the life out of us. What we need is to “Be Renewed”. So the first observation from Isaiah 40 is “Everyone Gets Weary at Some point”. No matter how agile and strong you may be today, you will get weary.
2. God Never Gets Weary.
Isaiah 40:28 The everlasting God, the Lord, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. That is hard for us to understand because we ALL have a capacity. Some people have a small capacity to deal with problems or stresses and others have an enormous capacity to deal with stresses and problems, but the point is we ALL have a capacity and once we reach that capacity, we can’t go on! But God doesn’t have a capacity. He NEVER faints. He is NEVER weary. In Isaiah 55:9 God says: For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.
3. The One Who Never Gets Weary Promises To Renew Those Who Do Get Weary.
To fully understand Isaiah 40:31, I have to take you back to verse 30. Verse 30 is an “Independent clause” that stands on its own; independent in thought and connectivity. It reads: “Even the youths shall faint and be weary and young men shall utterly fall”. However, notice with me the absence “But those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength;” of a period. There is in fact a comma, followed by the word “But”. The word “But” is known as a “conjunction”. It ties together two independent clauses and suggests a contrast in light of the first clause. In other words, it would seem that if “even youth grow tired and weary” that everyone, everywhere would eventually grow tired and weary. But Not God! He has infinite power, infinite strength and infinite stamina. And He invites us to come to Him and Be Renewed!
Notice The Order, Because It Seems Strange. First, we mount up with wings like eagles. Then we run. Finally we walk. Does it seem out of order? Not at all. First, we recognize that we soar up into heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:6). Then we set ourselves on the course to run the race (Hebrews 12:1). Then we are in the good place to walk the walk (Colossians 2:6).
5 REASONS GOD MAKES US WAIT
1. Waiting Reveals Our True Motives
Waiting has a way of bringing out the best and worst in people. People who don’t have good motives won’t wait long because they’re not interested in the commitment it takes to see something through. They’re too interested in short-term gains or success. Most of us have good intentions, but a lot of what we want to accomplish is an attempt to make a name for ourselves or for our own egos. It hurts to say this, but it’s often true.
2. Waiting Builds Patience In Our Lives
Patience in waiting for small things leads to having patience in the bigger things. If we can’t wait for God to do a small thing, we certainly can’t wait for something bigger. Our problem is our perspective is usually wrong. We tend to think the bigger things in life are finances and possessions, while God thinks influencing and changing people is more important.
3. Waiting Builds Anticipation
Why do children get so excited around Christmas? Because the wait has produced anticipation. We tend to appreciate things the longer we have to wait for them. Because of having to wait so long, we tend to cherish and take care of it more than others might. People tend to treasure the things they have to wait for.
4. Waiting Transforms Our Character
Waiting has a way of rubbing off the rough edges of our lives. Most of us know the story of Moses delivering the Israelites from the Egyptians. It’s a grand story of God doing great miracles. Moses waited in the desert 40 years before God came to him. God used this time of waiting to transform his character. We know this because when he was a young man he was brash and impatient. In his impetuousness he killed a man and hid the body. When his sin was made public, he ran for his life and was exiled to the desert. When he was given a second chance he opted to do it God’s way and in God’s time. In the end, the Israelites were delivered from slavery and Moses became a great leader. Waiting transformed the life of Moses and it does the same for you and I.
5. Waiting Builds Intimacy And Dependency Upon God
The reason we are able to read about the great men and women of the Bible is because they all had one thing in common. They were all people who learned their success in life was directly proportionate to their intimacy and dependency upon God. For them, a relationship with God wasn’t a get rich quick scheme. For many of them it was a matter of life and death. Waiting during the difficult times developed their relationship with God. ??Some of the most intimate relationships we have in our lives are because a friend stood in the trenches with us during the heat of the battle. Maybe this is what the scripture means when it says we have a friend that sticks closer than a brother (Proverbs 18:24). The reason we get to read the stories of these great men and women is because they went through the difficulties of life with God. In the end, they enjoyed the process with God and the promise of God.
CONCLUSION
When We Wait On God, He Will:
1. Those Who Wait On The Lord - They Will Have Inward Strength. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.
2. They Will Have Upward Strength: They Shall Mount Up With Wings As Eagles. The eagle doesn’t like the mud and filth of this world, he will be on the highest mountain.
3. They Will Have Outward Strength: They Shall Run, And Not Be Weary. Galatians 6:9 Let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. Today, many are jumping out of the Lord’s work.
4. They Will Have Onward Strength: And They Shall Walk, Not Faint. God will give us strength for the long haul, to serve Him all the days of our life.
Note: Difference Between Anointing With Oil From A Bottle And From A Horn. Waiting for God is not laziness. Waiting for God is not going to sleep. Waiting for God is not the abandonment of effort. G. Campbell Morgan: Waiting for God means, First, activity under command; Second, readiness for any new command that may come; Third, the ability to do nothing until the command is given. So How God Develops Leaders? He Calls To Them. He Schools. He Challenges. God Unleashes.
