I want to look today at a verse that many people use, but they maybe don’t fully understand what it means – I know I didn’t!.
I never really knew what it meant to wait upon the Lord. In our normal day to day though process we think of waiting as sitting patiently for, but the problem is our location of waiting.
When we wait, we often only use that as an excuse to do our own thing because God isn’t forcefully pressing His will on us. Then when something goes our way we’ll say, See it was God’s will! Or when something goes wrong we’ll say, It must have not been His will.
God doesn’t want us to operate this way! He wants us to listen and then obey.
This is how we can tell a baby Christian from a maturing Christian.
Wait upon the Lord like a Child
Think of your own child. When he first learns to walk, he’ll start off walking and even if you tell him something he many times will keep walking. We’ve all seen videos of moms or dads grabbing their toddlers seconds before they hit their head on the coffee table or fall off of something.
So many times we as immature Christians do this same thing. We don’t want to listen because we just discovered this ability that we have. Christians like babies want to run off and “do something for God.” Problem is they haven’t asked God what He wants.
Waiting on the Lord doesn’t mean you are waiting for the Lord to interrupt your life to give you His will. He won’t do that. You’re going to have to enter into His presences and wait for Him to speak.
30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:
31 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.
Isaiah 40:30-31 KJV
From these verses we see two things that the Lord tells us.
#1 Our own Strength has limits.
It says, “Even the youths shall faint…”
God is telling us that our own strength just isn’t going to cut it. We have limitations. We understand this when it comes to exercise and even with mental challenges, but sometimes I think it’s hard for us to understand this spiritually.
You’ll see many addicts or people struggling with things that they have to do spiritually (like preach or psalm) try to do it in their own fleshly strength. The truth is that this is just completely impossible.
Paul put it this way…
3 Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
Galatians 3:3 KJV
I must admit we are all guilty of this to some extent. We try to do things in our own strength and end up falling short.
This shouldn’t be a surprise though because God literally is telling us that this will be the case.
#2 By waiting on the Lord we will “change” our strength.
Open your eyes and look God has given us the land. God literally promises to bless us going in and coming out, but in order for us to walk in that blessing we have to walk with Him.
See the word “renew their strength” translated in the Hebrew means change.
When we wait on the Lord (aka seek God’s face in the secret place) we change where our strength comes from.
We are no longer seeking to complete things in our own strength, but instead we are walking after the spirit because we are aware of the spirit inside us.
You cannot expect God who is a spirit to lead your spirit if you aren’t making yourself aware of Him. God will not force you to follow Him.
He made the first move by dying on the cross for your sins. Jesus came to carry all our sins and pain and was nailed upon a cross for you and me. What better way to introduce yourself than to die for them right out of the gate.
Sometimes I think we forget how crazy it sounds to ask, “Does God really love me?” After He literally DIED so that you could come be with Him.
8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:8 KJV
God isn’t asking for some super hard commitment. He simply wants you to say yes at every turn.
And here’s the deal, when you decide to sell out then you get this part of the verse…
“they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”
You will get way further way faster with way less effort. Jesus put it this way.
28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
Matthew 11:28-30 KJV
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
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