by Jim Hughes
Is. 40:31. But those who wait on the LORD will find new strength. They will fly high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.
This verse is cherished by many of us. The promise is that God's favor will be upon those who wait on him. He will be with them and overwhelm them with freedom and strength in Him. The thought I want to dwell on for a few moments is the waiting. What does that mean for us today? A few things come to my mind.
When we wait before the Lord we don't get ahead of Him. We don't strike out on our own and wait for Him to catch up to us. We let Him do the leading. It's like the Israelites of old as they wandered in the wilderness. They stayed in their camp until the Lord moved. Whenever He lifted His presence from the Tabernacle, they broke camp and followed Him. If He didn't lead them anywhere different, they stayed put and occupied where they were at. We sometimes get anxious about things and start moving on our own. We need to learn to wait. Sometimes we get too confident of ourselves and start moving without God's direction. We need to learn to wait.
When we wait on the Lord we spend time in fellowship with Him. We seek Him out just to be with Him. We linger in His presence just to enjoy Him. We spend time in the Word looking for Him. We spend time in prayer expecting to visit with Him.
When we wait, we make the Lord a priority in our lives. We value our time with Him and understand that our time with Him takes priority over everything else. We don't rush our time or try to fit Him into our busy schedule. We understand that everything else must fit around our time with Him and if that means some things have to be set aside and perhaps not get done, so be it.
When we wait before the Lord, we linger until we know that our need for Him has been met. We linger as we bring to Him all the burdens of our heart. We linger until we have peace that all is well with our soul and our burdens are lifted. We linger with thanksgiving on our hearts for Him and all that we are so richly blessed with. We linger that we might praise Him, for He is worthy of all our praise. We understand that there is no greater need that we have than to wait on the Lord. Waiting on the Lord means that our hearts are in an attitude of worship while living in Him. Wait on the Lord and He WILL renew your strength.
About the Author:
Spending his formative years in Ft. Wayne, IN, Jim followed the love of his life to southeast Iowa where they married and have spent the majority of their lives. Jim has pastored several churches throughout his life and has worked many years in local factories to help support his family. The father of two married adult children and one son still at home, Jim is a first-time author.
C Through Marriage came into being through many years of pastoral and life experiences. The book first took on a life of its own over 20 years ago when I sought to address the much publicized moral failures of prominent leaders in the church. In the chapter on Chasity, I include the guideliness that I developed then to protect one's self from such failures.
I am a firm believer in order to make sense out of life you have to use much common sense. We need to get back to the basics of what has worked for many, many generations. If is isn't broke, why try to fix it? I strive to return to the basics of what really works in all my writings.
