Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
His understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might He increases strength.
Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.

Isaiah 40:28-31

Tttddp … tttddp … tttddp.  Eyes peer through the hospital doorway. I see a crutch, then a white-haired man grinning from ear to ear.

“Hi, I’m Rev. Henry. I’ve been praying for you. May I come in?”

I nod my head.

Tttddp … tttddp … tttddp.

My life changed that day.

In and out of hospitals. Waiting for the decisive test, a test that could kill me, a test that could tell the doctors what was wrong.

At 19, I thought I was doing what God had planned for me. I met the man God had prepared for me. I was going to college. Then, I got so sick I became a college dropout.

There I was in a hospital bed waiting … waiting on the test … waiting on God. And in walked this white-haired man whose legs didn’t work right smiling as if he had the best life in the world.

My family did not attend Rev. Henry’s church, but through friends and my father’s co-workers, I was placed on the church’s prayer list.

Rev. Henry visited me faithfully and after the hospital, he discipled me in the lovingkindness of the Lord and showed me that through adversity, God gives His people strength.

My life verse, Isaiah 40:31, has proven faithful.

Three promises for those who wait on the Lord:

1.  Strength renewal. Rev. Henry’s legs didn’t work, but he was strong because he had endured the polio that placed his legs in braces for life. He passed that strength on to me. The strength came from leaning upon God and consuming His word.
2. Spiritual perspective. Eagles see God’s creation from the mountaintops. They soar above the small matters, and yet, their eyes can see the small animals, swoop down and scoop them up. Waiting on the Lord gives us the ability to soar above the problems, and yet, when God gives us His wisdom, we can see what is standing in the way of our relationship with God and remove it quickly.
3. Supernatural endurance. When we wait upon the Lord, God gives us the strength to go beyond the limits of our bodies and our minds to accomplish what He has prepared for us to accomplish before the beginning of the world.

The word “wait,” qavah, means to “look for, hope, expect.” It’s an active verb, active in the sense that the person of God is trusting in God and acting upon what she is expecting God to do.

My prayer

Heavenly Father, thank You for Your word. It is a true and living Word that contains great and precious promises for us. Thank You for these promises. Teach us how to wait upon You.

What are you waiting for God to do in your life? What are you doing about it?