Wait!

As I was praying for a friend this morning, God took me to Isaiah 40 and the well-know verse about being lifted on eagles wings.

“Even youths grow weary and tired,
And vigorous young men stumble badly,
But those who wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him]
Will gain new strength and renew their power;
They will lift up their wings [and rise up close to God] like eagles [rising toward the sun];
They will run and not become weary,
They will walk and not grow tired”
(Isa 40:30-31, AMP)

I sent my friend the verse, and then God continued to speak…

In particular He highlighted the word translated as ‘wait’ (qavah), which is often also translated as ‘trust’, as in, “those who trust in the Lord will find new strength” (NLT) or ‘hope’, as in “those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.” (NIV)

The word Qavah carries a sense of stretching in the waiting. It’s not waiting passively like we’re at a bus-stop, until the next scheduled bus arrives. It’s a soul-stretching testing of our patience as we actively gather together our hope and trust and keep looking to God.

Then my thoughts turned to the way eagles rise on thermals. They do very little flapping, but prefer to conserve energy by finding the thermals – the spots on earth where the sun is heating the ground, causing the air next to it to heat up and rise. By identifying the thermals, eagles can use them to soar to great heights with very little effort.

So many of us are in a stretching time right now – a time of waiting on God for Him to reveal the fullness of His promises over this season. And there is a real danger of people starting to flap – to exert effort and expend energy in trying to make something happen: more prayer meetings; more zoom meetings; more fasting; more social media releases. it all looks good and busy, but I hear God saying “Wait”. Not in a passive way – in a stretching, gather up your hope and trust, and cling to it, kind of way. It’s not pretty – it can feel incredibly tense – but the point is, we mustn’t flap. When we wait on God and allow Him to heat up the ground around us, pretty soon we will be able to ride His thermals and soar to far greater heights than we could manage by ourselves, where we will be able to see further than before.

May we be found watching and waiting, in faith, that we will be ready to rise in His timing! Amen!