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While We Wait - The Strength to Wait

  • Writer: Paul Downie
    Paul Downie
  • 1 hour ago
  • 27 min read

Isaiah 40:27-31 NIV 

[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 grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; [31] but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. 

I am not a weight lifter. In fact, if there’s something heavy that needs lifted, I’m more likely to wait for someone else to lift it. But I have been in a gym, once or twice. I know that some weights are heavier than others. 


It’s like that with waits too. Sometimes when we have to wait for something, we wait impatiently with optimistic impatience, knowing that at the end of the wait there is something good. For example, we might be waiting for an event like a football or a rugby match, or waiting to fly or to go on holiday. We understand the nervous anticipation and the adrenaline. We love moments like those, because we are looking forward to something special. 


But there are also moments that we dread. Perhaps waiting on medical or exam results we are afraid are unfavourable, or to hear news about our job or a loved one’s health that we fear are inevitable. 


There are those whom don’t understand, who just want to get on with life and care little about the mess they leave behind. These people look on Christians who are waiting on God as if we lack initiative, as if we are pathetic and weak. 


But they are wrong. It takes incredible fortitude and strength and self-control to be able to wait for God when every fibre of your being is screaming at you to do something else – anything else – other than to obey. 


Waiting on God is not for the weakling. It is not at all easy. 


It takes strength. 


This study is about how we get the strength to wait, when all around us people are doing the exact opposite. 


But before we get into then, we must first understand what they are.  


The Bible commentator David Guzik splits Isaiah into three sections: condemnation in chapters 1-36, confiscation in chapters 36-39, and consolation in chapters 40-66. Isaiah has just recounted the bitter, bloody Fall of Jerusalem and the exiling of anyone who was worthwhile to Babylon (Isaiah 39). The consequences of this, as we will explore in my next post, were deeply, deeply painful. In essence, the nation of Israel ceased to exist for at least seventy years. 


So having prophesied with such dreadful accuracy the destruction of his own people, Isaiah now turns to comfort. 


But what comfort can you give a nation that is about to lose absolutely everything? 

The comfort Isaiah offers was that although everything was looking dreadfully and despairingly bleak, one day Jerusalem, and the Jewish nation, would be rebuilt. 


Isaiah 40 is a truly astonishing chapter. It was written before Jerusalem was even destroyed.


Yet it describes the return of the first group of Jews, which took place approximately sixty-seven years after the first wave of Jews were exiled, and forty-nine years after the Temple was reduced to a ruin. 


That’s some wait. 


It’s also some journey home. As an example, both Ezra and Nehemiah took around four months to travel the nine hundred miles on foot from Susa in Persia to Jerusalem. So these people whom Isaiah is talking about who would wait on God are not just doing it to see some wish fulfilled or want received. 


No, they are doing it to receive the strength to endure a difficult and dangerous journey to a ruined city to rebuild it in the midst of hostile forces (see Nehemiah 4 and 6). 


That puts a different understanding on these verses entirely. 


Let’s look first of all at The Place of Waiting. 

 

The Place of Waiting 

Isaiah 40:27-28 NIV 

[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. 

There are many times in life when our cause, like that of the ancient Jews, feels like it has been forgotten. 


I have a degree of empathy for this feeling. Two evenings ago at time of writing, around this time, I was watching weather forecasting apps to see where Typhoon Kalmaegi would make landfall, and then watched powerlessly as the powerful typhoon barrelled just a few miles past my wife’s home village, where her family reside. I stood by her as we waited for contact to confirm they were all alive, while photos and videos of utter devastation arrived on our social media feeds. She went to work the next day to hear colleagues say, ‘Well, they live there and their houses are a bit flimsy, so what do you expect?’  


Feeling like your cause has been forgotten and disregarded? 


You bet your life we did. 


The place of waiting can be desperately, desperately lonely and painful. 


That was the position these Jews were in. From being a strong power in the Middle East, they had become nobodies: just one small people among many other peoples and nationalities that the Babylonians had subsumed. They had lost their identity. They would have seemed small and thoroughly insignificant. 


But not to God: 


Isaiah 41:14 NIV 

[14] Do not be afraid, you worm Jacob, little Israel, do not fear, for I myself will help you,” declares the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/isa.41.14.NIV)


Before we surrender to the anxiety of a long and stressful wait on God coming to our aid, we need to understand what causes it. Back when I was much younger, sweets and meat were occasionally weighed out on mechanical balance scales. On one side of the scales were weights that added up to the weight of whatever you wanted to buy, on the other side were the goods. When they were balanced, you knew you were getting what you wanted and were paying for. 


Anxiety occurs when the weight of the situation we are facing on one side outweighs the resources we have to face them on the other. 


And do you know something? Often that is the case. Often we do not have what it takes. Often we are weak and overwhelmed. That is the reality of our situation.  


But if someone leaned on a balance scale, they could tip it in their favour. And that’s what God does. We are small. We are weak. We are overwhelmed. But God is leaning on the scales. God is tipping them in our favour. 


Or to use another metaphor: 


Matthew 11:28-30 NIV 

[28]  “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. [29] Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. [30] For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” 

Do you see it in this verse? 


In isaiah 40 we see two complaints. 


And we can understand them. We really can. 


Those complaints are that their way is hidden from their God. What way? The way of devastation and pain and exile. The way of a dreadfully long, dreadfully risky journey to repair a devastated city in a dangerous place. 


We get it, don’t we? Who couldn’t say that they would feel the same? 


And they also believed that their cause was disregarded by their God. 


Let me tell you something plain and frank. I work for a newspaper company that has hardly mentioned the disasters that have befallen the places and the people that I love. While more than a hundred people have died, people stand on rooftops begging for rescue and over a million households remain without power three days after a shocking calamity, the news on our TV stations was concentrating on the shenanigans of a minor member of the British royal family. 


This is what it means to have your case disregarded. 


It stings. It hurts. You feel so raw. 


But this was worse. They felt their case was disregarded by their God. 


Now, given the horrendous sins that led to the exile (Jeremiah 7:1-15 is a good example), perhaps we could see why God would turn his back on the previous generation. But at least one generation later, the Jews felt like God had simply ignored their pleas for help. 


Is this how you feel? 


Then notice God’s three answers. 


The first is to do with God’s identity.  


He is the Everlasting God. He always was. He always is. He always will be. He hasn’t stopped existing even though life is tough right now. 


He is also the Creator God. He made this world. He made you (Psalm 139:13-16).


Because He made you, He knows how much you can take: how much stress and pain you can handle. That’s why we know that He will not stretch us or tempt us more than we can bear (1 Corinthians 10:13). 


None of that will ever stop being true. Nothing we can ever endure will ever stop it being true.  


We also see His potency. 


God does not sleep (Psalm 121:3-4). God does not get tired. The fact that things are going wrong does not mean that God has stepped away off the job for a sneaky nap. He is strong. He is unfathomably strong. There is no-one who is stronger. 


We also see His acuity. 


He is wise. 


Romans 11:33-36 NIV 

[33] Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! [34] “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?” [35] “Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them?” [36] For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen. 

1 Corinthians 1:25 NIV 

[25] For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/1co.1.25.NIV)


Isaiah 55:8-9 NIV 

[8] “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. [9] “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/isa.55.8-9.NIV)


And this is so important. 


Because it means that God knows. God knows even if we don’t. 


Five weeks ago, I took my wife to be cut by a man she barely knew. When she left, she was on painkillers. When she weaned herself off them, she was sore and tender for a while. Ever since then, she has been unable to lift anything heavy while she recovers. 


If I didn’t tell you that she had been in hospital for necessary surgery, you would likely have guessed. After all, what madman would take their beloved wife to be treated like that? 


From one perspective, it just looked painful and wrong; from another it was necessary and right. 


On many occasions, when we suffer or have to endure the pain of waiting on God, we don’t see why or what God is looking to achieve in us. We only see the pain. In time, we might see that it was necessary. 


But not always. 


And those are the days when we need to trust that God is wise, that He has a plan and He is working out that plan for our good (Romans 8:28). 


Otherwise nothing makes any sense  


The place of pain is often a painful one. We don’t always see why. We don’t always understand. We are often frustrated. We feel like a patient in the waiting room in a surgery where all the doctors have gone home and the receptionist is about to lock up. We feel forgotten. Disregarded. Abandoned. 


But what God was saying to those ancient Jews through Isaiah, and to us, is that it just is not true. If we trust in God and have faith in Him and hope in Him, we will realise that we are never alone. 


And no matter what we are facing, the scales are tipped in our favour. 


Apart from the place of waiting, we also see The Posture of Waiting. 

 

The Posture of Waiting 

Isaiah 40:29 NIV 

[29] He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/isa.40.29.NIV)


Waiting can make you weak. I don’t just mean those of greater seniority in years who find it difficult to stand in queues for long periods.


The weakest I have ever felt was when I was in my forties and needing physiotherapy for lower back issues. I felt like I barely made it into the gym to meet with my physiotherapist. I hobbled past the various apparatus and somehow made myself as comfortable as possible. I scanned through the gym to see if he was coming. I badly needed his help. Yet there, on one of the exercise bikes, was a man who was seemingly in his seventies, lean as a greyhound, peddling furiously. 


And there was I, in my early forties, barely able to walk. 


That’s why I don’t go to the gym often. 


But here’s the cold truth: we wait on God because we are weak. We wait on God because we are needy. We wait on God because we are impotent. We wait on God because we have no other solutions. 


And often that is the only time we wait on God. 


That is, of course, not right. But the reality is that if we can fix our problems ourselves, we probably will. But when the solutions get too big for us, we realise we should probably pray about it. The reality is that this should be the case: 


1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NIV 

[16] Rejoice always, [17] pray continually, [18] give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 

Philippians 4:6-7 NIV 

[6] Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. [7] And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/php.4.6-7.NIV)


We pray to God when we reach the end of our road, when we should be praying to Him before we put the key in the ignition. 


The posture of waiting on God is one that freely and openly admits that we are weary and weak. There are times in our lives when we have no problem admitting it.


Right now, at time of writing, I have no problem admitting it. My family has been through an earthquake and a deadly typhoon. They are awaiting a second typhoon this weekend. One of my nieces needs a lump removed and breast reconstruction surgery at seventeen years of age, while suffering from autism, selective mutism and double incontinence. During the last two weeks, I’ve spoken to sisters in Christ whose families were impacted by Hurricane Melissa. I'm weary and weak. And so are they. I should make it my Facebook status. 


But look at this promise of God and cling to it with me. 


To those who are weary, God gives strength.  


To those who are weak, God gives power. 


And how does He do it? The famous verses we saw earlier that Jesus taught tell us: 


Matthew 11:28-30 NIV 

[28]  “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. [29] Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. [30] For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” 

It is by removing the burden from our shoulders and giving us His burden instead, which is made to measure and easy and light. 


Another famous set of verses tells us how: 


Matthew 6:25-34 NIV 

[25]  “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? [26] Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? [27] Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? [28]  “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. [29] Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. [30] If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? [31] So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ [32] For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. [33] But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. [34] Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. 

Nothing saps our energy and gives us less in return quite like worry. Jesus solves that problem by telling to stop worrying and to give our anxiety to God. This is the burden that we are absolutely not meant to carry. That is why the command to not worry or be anxious is mentioned over a hundred times in the Bible. 


Earlier, from Philippians 4, we saw how we should take our anxieties and turn them into prayer, and from that we receive peace. 


In fact, in the Beatitudes, we saw this: 


Matthew 5:3 NIV 

[3]  “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/mat.5.3.NIV)


Or, as The Message puts it: 


Matthew 5:3 MSG 

[3] “You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/97/mat.5.3.MSG)


That is, you’re blessed when you are weary and weak, when you have nothing left to give, when you have reached the end of your tether, because it’s then you realise that you can’t carry the burden you are carrying, and you have to lie it at the feet of Jesus. 


And it’s then – right then and there – that He takes your burden and replaces it with His, which is the one you were made to carry. 


Apart from the place and posture of waiting, we also see The People Waiting. 

 

The People Waiting 

Isaiah 40:30 NIV 

[30] Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/isa.40.30.NIV)


Many years ago (thankfully) I found myself in the position euphemistically referred to as ‘between jobs’: I was unemployed. 


In the UK, unemployed people need to register with the Department of Work and Pensions and prove they are either looking for work or incapable of working in order to receive state benefits. We needed the money, so I went to my local DWP office to register. 


That was a blow to my pride and my dignity. Among the people there, I could barely count on one hand the number of people who looked like they were seriously looking for work. Several appeared to have drug and/or alcohol problems, and were showing up basically so they could get their money. I was over-qualified for around ninety-five percent of the jobs they had on offer – I wouldn’t even get an interview. The forms and the lines were long, the interviews were held in an open-plan office and the whole process felt depersonalised and demeaning. 


I made a promise to myself to get a job as soon as I could so I would not need to go back there. 


I was so grateful to God that I found one within a month. 


There are hard places in life in which we find ourselves and immediately feel like we don’t belong. 


For those of us who have a history of being strong and independent and powerful, waiting on God can be one of them. We feel like our dignity and pride and self-reliance have been offended. It grates that we are no longer in control. Our stress levels are at boiling point because we are in a bad situation and we can’t find our way out. 


And this can happen to anyone. Literally anyone. As Solomon said: 


Ecclesiastes 9:11-12 NIV 

[11] I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all. [12] Moreover, no one knows when their hour will come: As fish are caught in a cruel net, or birds are taken in a snare, so people are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them. 

There is pain and there are trials that are so great and insurmountable that wealth, poverty, wisdom, stupidity, loneliness, company are all utterly meaningless and useless. They do not help us at all. 


At times like those, we have to wait on God because we have nothing else and no-one else. 


But do you know who is behind all of those trials? 


God. 


And do you know what He is often doing? 


Look at the verdict King Nebuchadnezzar reached after enduring such a trial: 


Daniel 4:37 NIV 

[37] Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/dan.4.37.NIV)


God often takes us right to the very limit of our control, and then beyond it, to show us that He is in control. It was always Him. It was never us. 


And there us a beautiful reality to this. He doesn’t just do it to the elderly or the infirm. No, God does it to the young and the vigorous. Even they reach the limits of their strength and control and power. Even they find themselves far outside their comfort zones. Even they find their resources exhausted and their strength depleted. It’s not just those of us who have been around the block a little bit. It’s all of us. 


It’s perfectly okay to admit when we have reached the limit and crossed it. There is nothing wrong with admitting that we are stretched and worn out and broken. 


Because it happens to all of us. We all know how we feel. It’s how we know that we really care, that something is really worth it, that we really are alive. 


It’s also where God’s people found themselves on many, many occasions: 


Deuteronomy 8:3 NIV 

[3] He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/deu.8.3.NIV)


And that was just the Israelites. Psalm 107 lists more. Hebrews 11 still more. It happened on countless occasions. It still happens now. 


When we find ourselves in that position when we are utterly at the end of ourselves, like those Jews travelling from Persia to the Promised Land would have been many, many times, we have to ask ourselves this question: what do we do now? Do we give up? Do we trust to own depleted resources? 


Or do we trust and hope in and wait on God? 


Because if we do that, then we will rise. 


Apart from the place and posture of waiting and the people waiting, we see lastly The Power in Waiting. 

 

The Power in Waiting 

Isaiah 40:30-31 NIV 

[30] Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; [31] but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. 

Athletes who complete in longer races or team games that last for a while often talk about a ‘second wind’. 


No, it has nothing to do with backed beans or any other such foodstuff. 


It has to do with a second burst of energy. You were tired – even exhausted – and then somehow, as if from nowhere, you have the energy to keep going, or even thrive. 


Here Isaiah prophesied about people on a very long journey. Four months on the road along a trading route through dangerous, hostile places, to a ruined city surrounded by enemies, is not something any of us would ever want to contemplate. I doubt if any of the travel shows we often love to watch would ever show such a thing. When I was a boy, a radio DJ attempted to go right around the world without flying in eighty days. His adventures made headlines. A TV show called ‘Race Across The World’ (‘The Amazing Race’ in the USA) is also huge, where people have to travel a remarkably long distance by surface transport. But, again, this journey generally lasted less than fifty days. 


The journey back to the Promise Land would have been around a hundred and twenty days, and not exactly in comfortable trains or buses. 


None of us would have had any issue with someone on that journey complaining that they were tired. I can’t think of anyone who would not feel it. I know I would. 


Yet these verses are about those who ‘wait’ or ‘hope’ in the Lord. 


But what does that mean? 


Let me explain.  


Years ago, I was standing in a station waiting on a train. This was before there were electronic boards that tell us when the train will come. I was standing next to a giant poster of the timetable on a notice board.


A man came over to me and asked me when the train would come. I pointed him in the direction of the timetable. He told me he couldn’t read it. This amazed me. We were taught how to read timetables really early in secondary school. For me it was almost second nature: generations of my family had worked on the railways. So, despite my surprise, I told him when the train was due. 


Transportation timetables are a promise – sometimes more an aspiration, but a promise none the less. They cause us to wait in certain places expecting that the transport will arrive. 


God’s promises are like that – although unlike a transportation timetable, God does not always tell us when they will arrive. Instead, we should take what He has told us and believe it, expecting that it will come, even though we don’t know when. 


This expectant waiting in certain hope has four effects on us, all underlined in this passage by a verb. 


Firstly we see that it renews. It renews strength.  


Now, we might think that this automatically means physical strength, and that all of a sudden we should see Christians running around at all hours as if they had a a shot of adrenaline. Or caffeine. Whichever is the more potent. 


But that is not the case. 


I have listened to enough interviews with former athletes to understand that their second wind does not occur first in their muscles, but instead in their mind. It’s often a case of mind over muscle. Their body is weary. Their muscles are aching. Cramp is setting in. But the will to reach their goal energises them, and that begins in their mind. 


The same thing happens to believers in Jesus. Look at how pilgrims on their long journey to worship at the Temple were energised by simply reaching the edge of the city walls: 


Psalms 122:1-2 NIV 

[1] I rejoiced with those who said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.” [2] Our feet are standing in your gates, Jerusalem. 

Did you catch the sense of excitement, of wonder, even if the journey was not yet over? 

Now ask yourself this question: how do you feel when you think your efforts are wasted and everything is all in vain? Isn’t your strength depleted? Don’t you suddenly feel tired? 


But when you realise that everything you do is important and meaningful and worthwhile, what happens then? Don’t you have a sense of purpose, of drive? Doesn’t it give you energy and strength, no matter how you feel? 


These verses are so important: 


1 Corinthians 15:58 NIV 

[58] Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/1co.15.58.NIV)


Galatians 6:9 NIV 

[9] Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/gal.6.9.NIV)


Revelation 22:12 NIV 

[12]  “Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done.  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/rev.22.12.NIV) 


Do you see it? What we do for God is never, never, never in vain. It is always worth it. It is always meaningful.  


And that gives us energy. That renews our strength. 


These verses also say that we soar. 


Now, we need to understand this correctly. What it doesn’t mean is that we will be directed to our seats in church by an usher in an orange high visibility vest, waving a couple of table tennis bats around. Neither does it mean that our pastors are the equivalent of air traffic control. And neither does it mean that Christians don’t need airplanes to go on holiday. 


If you look at birds as they fly, particularly migratory birds, then you will see what it means. They don’t flap their wings all the time. That would be totally impractical and a waste of precious energy.  


What they do instead is get themselves up to the correct height and then spread out their wings to catch warm air currents called thermals as they rise from the ground. They then use these thermals to direct their flight and stay up.  


This verse indicates that we do something similar. It’s often not our effort that gets us through waiting for God to intervene. It’s not sheer grit and determination. Often it’s God Himself.


As God told Moses to tell the Israelites:  


Exodus 19:4 NIV 

[4] ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/exo.19.4.NIV)


What this means is that while the Israelites made their way across the desert and waited on God to take them to the Promised Land, they were cared for by God. He held them tightly. He provided for them. 


Even when they did not deserve it. 


Allow me to show you another way in which we can soar through our troublesome wait. 


Have you ever seen someone crowd-surf in a concert? It’s not something I recommend. But you see them fall off the stage, usually backwards, and they are held up by the audience. 


There are times when we don’t feel like we’re soaring. Instead, we feel like we’re limping, at best. These are times when we need other people to hold us up: 


1 Corinthians 12:26 NIV 

[26] If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/1co.12.26.NIV)


Those are the days when we discover the true meaning of this verses, and why it’s vitally important that we obey them: 


Hebrews 10:24-25 NIV 

[24] And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, [25] not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. 

Do you feel like you are soaring through your problems right now? I don’t always feel that way. But if I draw close to the Word of God and other people to encourage me, those are the times when I feel the updraft and I am lifted up until I gain a new perspective. 


Perhaps you need this too. 


We also see that we run. 


Now, we have to be honest here: would you advise someone on a nine hundred mile, four month long journey to pick up the pace and run? 


Of course you wouldn’t! For a journey that long, you would need to pace yourself.

 

Yet here the verse talks about running!


Why? 


There are a couple of Proverbs that could give us an idea: 


Proverbs 4:11-12 NIV 

[11] I instruct you in the way of wisdom and lead you along straight paths. [12] When you walk, your steps will not be hampered; when you run, you will not stumble. 

Proverbs 18:10 NIV 

[10] The name of the Lord is a fortified tower; the righteous run to it and are safe. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/pro.18.10.NIV)


There were times when a long distance traveller would have to run, such as when they would need to be in a city or an oasis by nightfall, or to get away from raiders or enemies or inclement weather. At those times, weary legs could mean the difference between life and death. So this promise that they would able to run without feeling weary would make an enormous difference to them. 


This verse also teaches that we will walk. 


This one we really understand. Walking was their main way of getting from ‘A’ to ‘B’. For a long journey like this, it was essential, but not at all something to be taken for granted.


Especially over this enormous distance. They would have been relying on God to look after them, as He did for the Israelites on their long forty year journey through the desert: 


Deuteronomy 29:5 NIV 

[5] Yet the Lord says, “During the forty years that I led you through the wilderness, your clothes did not wear out, nor did the sandals on your feet.  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/deu.29.5.NIV)


To be able to do a journey of this length, through all the difficult weather conditions of the desert, and not faint along the way, is a blessing that should not have been taken for granted. 


Now, there is an interesting pattern here. Those who trust in the Lord and hope in Him start by soaring, then running, then walking. I believe there us a crucial point in this. God is taking Isaiah from the special, spectacular intervention of soaring to the more mundane interventions of running and walking. God is telling Isaiah that the same God who helps them to soar is the same God who tells them where to place their feet. 


And Isaiah later prophesied: 


Isaiah 30:21 NIV 

[21] Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/isa.30.21.NIV)


Waiting is never easy. 


A friend of mine decided to run a version of the Marathon des Sables across part of the Sahara Desert. I don’t doubt for a second that to complete this race took a great deal of endurance. 


But for some of us, our test of endurance is a lot more mundane, and often feels just as challenging. Perhaps it’s waiting by the bedside of a loved one, or waiting in a hospital waiting room, or longing for test or examination results, or waiting to hear if a project has been successful or not. In the week that has passed, at time of writing, it has been waiting in constant dread of a huge typhoon potentially hitting my wife’s home village where her parents live (we are thankful that it didn’t, but we know others were not so blessed).  


Waiting hurts. It can drain an enormous amount of energy from us. 


Yet here we see God promises to give us the power we need to survive, or even thrive in, that difficult waiting. 


Doesn’t that make you want to turn to Him right now in prayer? 

 

Conclusion 

Isaiah 40:27-31 NIV 

[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 grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; [31] but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. 

Many years ago, I remember one particular wait in a room that was filled with tension. We were in a UK Immigration office, waiting to see if my wife would receive an extension to her spouse visa. The room was full of others also waiting on visas. Lives were being put on hold for the sake of a small stamp on their passport. The tension in that room was worse than any dentist surgery I have ever been in. 


One by one, each applicant was called forward to submit their paperwork to an official behind a glass window. There would be a brief interview, the paperwork would be reviewed and then the verdict would be given. There was a right to appeal, but that would take months, even years, and even then the outcome would not be certain. 


Waits like that require a lot of endurance. 


That day, ours was successful. But the experience of being in a waiting room while someone else decides your future is something many of us can identify with. 


In these verses, the Israelites’ long return home to the Promised Land was prophesied. It was not exactly a joyful procession to a festival of worship. Instead, it was a ragtag group of returning refugees, making a long, difficult and dangerous return to a nation filled with problems and a capital city on its knees. This journey was a serious challenge of their patience and endurance. 


We see four key lessons in this prophecy that can help us when we are forced to wait for situations that are outside of our control or influence. 


The first is that the place of waiting is a place of need and lack: we don’t have something, someone else has it and we need them to give it to us. It’s a place of dependency on God above all. But our situation is not unknown or unimportant to Him. He is a great and powerful God who made us, looks after us, and will seek only our good. 


We also see the posture of waiting: that it makes us weary and weak, but God gives us the strength to endure. 


We also see the people waiting, that it can happen to all of us and that even the very fittest of us can find it very difficult. 


And lastly, we see how God gives us power in waiting, to be able to rise above it. We see that this power is not just for those special times when you feel like you are soaring above all your problems, but also for the mundane times when you just need to know where next to place your feet. 


I could recount many times when this has been true of me: many times when I have been left exhausted and drained, but have somehow made the right decision, looked back and marvelled. I can think of many occasions where I have got through hard times, looked back and wondered how I ever managed it. 


But let me finish by taking us right back to an almost neglected verse on handling the menace of anxiety: 


Matthew 6:34 NIV 

[34] Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/mat.6.34.NIV)


Often in life those who perform the greatest acts of daring heroism are not those who throw themselves out of planes with a glorified bedsheet billowing behind them, or who dangle themselves off bridges on the end of an elasticated rope, or who climb great rocky peaks for no other reason than to boast about it. No, often the greatest acts of courage are those who face real adversity, wait on God for their sustenance and, despite all the obstacles they face, just keep moving forward. 


These verses were written to a group of people who faced a seemingly insurmountable obstacle, yet the Bible tells us in Ezra and Nehemiah that they succeeded.  


Why? 


Because they waited on and placed their hope in God. 


So what will give you the strength to carry out your simple act of everyday heroism today? 


Prayer 

Lord, I am struggling. I am in pain. I am waiting on You. I am hoping in You. Give me all of the blessings outlined in this passage today. I need every one of them. Amen. 


Questions for Contemplation 

  • Given the situation these Israelites faced, would they be right or wrong to have complained about it? Why / why no? 

  • What blessings does God give to those who wait on and hope in Him? 

  • Do you need these blessings? How can you get them? 

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