Waiting On God

Many years ago, I took the funeral of a retired minister. One of the readings he chose was Isaiah 40:28-31. At the time it intrigued me. It was not a passage I had really paid much attention to, yet it was clearly important to him. But also, I wondered what it meant.

It says that those who wait on the Lord will rise up on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not grow faint. I had never seen flying Christians. I had never known people who did not get tired. What on earth was this about? What does it mean to wait for the Lord? Those promises: renewed strength, soaring on wings like eagles, running and not growing weary, walking and not fainting; they intrigued me.

It has taken me about 30 years to get back to it and give it proper attention. I wish I had done it sooner because there are many other passages about waiting for God. Waiting on God is a frequent biblical theme and often there are blessings attached to it. If only I had known.

Isaiah 40 is addressed to the Jews who were in exile in Babylon. God had punished the nation because of their prolonged disobedience. They had been in exile for almost 70 years but by chapter 40 a corner had been turned. God started speaking about their deliverance and restoration. The chapter starts…

Isaiah 40:1-2

Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. 2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.

Most of the chapter is about the majesty and power of God. He rules; the nations are nothing compared to Him. The exiled Jews are exhorted to remember how powerful God is and to know that the mighty God is going to deliver them. They thought they had been forgotten by God, but the chapter ends…

READ Isaiah 40:27-31

God is everlasting. He is the creator. He doesn’t get tired. His knowledge and wisdom are beyond our understanding. He doesn’t get tired and He strengthens the weary and the weak. The natural thing is that even youths, even those in the prime of life, get tired and weary. They stumble and fall. But, supernaturally… those who wait on the Lord will rise up on wings like eagles etc.

Isaiah said to the dispirited Jews in exile, “God is going to deliver you. God is going to take you back to Israel. It will happen; wait. Wait in expectation. Believe it. Trust Him and wait for God to act. Those who trust Him will be strengthened to keep going.’

I understand waiting on God to mean trusting in God’s promises and trusting in God’s timing. In other words, waiting on God is about faith. “God has said He will. I believe it. And I will wait for it.” Waiting on God is patient faith even when God seems to be doing nothing. Just wait.

We can probably think of many situations where God seems to be not acting. The Bible talks about Jesus returning. It talks as if it was going to happen very soon. 2,000 years later it has not happened. Do we still have that expectation? Are we living as if we believe Jesus will return – could return any moment?

The Bible speaks of God healing but maybe you haven’t been healed. Having you been praying for a long time for a family member to come to know Jesus, but it hasn’t happened? Do you long to be married?

How do we respond? Are we grieved by the suffering and injustice in Ukraine, the Middle East, Sudan? Are we distressed by the violence in our own country? Why doesn’t God do something. We have been praying for a long, long time. The world has gone mad. Are we tempted to doubt if God is real?

One way to respond is to give up. “I do not believe it is going to happen. I give up. I’ve waited too long. I have lost my faith in God. I am going in a different direction now.”

2 Peter talks about people saying, ‘Where is this “coming” he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.’ (2 Pet 3:4). Jesus isn’t coming back.

The Israelites in the wilderness had the promise of a land of their own, but when they wanted to go back to Ehypt it shows they had stopped believing that promise. They had given up on the promise.

Disappointment with God can persuade us to turn away from Jesus. Many people have felt let down by God or let down by the church and have walked away from faith. Sometimes life is hard and God doesn’t seem to be doing anything and yet there are still all of the promises. Even if things don’t all come right in this life, God promises heaven for those who trust in Him. Can we believe and wait, or do we give up?

In the middle of his suffering, Job’s wife told him to curse God and die. Give up on God.

People might even keep up appearances of faith, but their faith has shrivelled up. They have given up; they have lost the expectation.

Another response is to try to force things to happen. If God is taking too long, can we take matters into our own hands and hurry things along? Give God a hand?

Sarah gave her servant, Hagar, to Abraham. God had promised that they would have descendants. It was not happening. Sarah could not conceive. In one way, Abraham and Sarah are examples of waiting and trusting God. They waited maybe 25 years for God to keep His promise. But they waivered in their waiting as well. They tried to make it happen another way without simply trusting God.

The prophet Samuel told King Saul to wait seven days for him to arrive, and he would then offer a sacrifice to God. Saul was in a desperate situation; his army was beginning to desert him. It was urgent. After 7 days, Samuel had not arrived. So Saul offered the sacrifice himself – something only a priest could do. Then Samuel arrived. ‘You have done a foolish thing,’ Samuel said. ‘You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command.’ (1 Sam 13:13-14)

Yes, it was desperate. Yes, we can understand the urgency, but it was wrong. God had given Saul a command that involved waiting. Saul took things into his own hands. The seven days had elapsed. God was late! The temptation is to act ourselves, to make it happen, rather than wait for God.

People can try to make it happen by looking for help elsewhere. Israel at times formed alliances with other nations instead of just waiting for God. That was never the right thing to do.

Saul turned to a medium for guidance. The Philistines were attacking (1 Sam 28); Samuel had died; Saul had enquired of God, but God had not answered, so Saul went to a medium. Again, it is understandable: the circumstances were dire; God had not answered. But it was wrong. Saul should have continued to look to God. He didn’t wait.

Have you been wronged? God says do not to do is seek revenge. Justice belongs to God. Believe that God will do what is right; be willing to wait for God’s timing.

Proverbs 20:22

Do not say, “I’ll pay you back for this wrong!” Wait for the Lord, and he will avenge you.

The options are give up, take a different course of action, or wait for God. There are lots of passages that say it is those who wait on God who receive God’s blessings.

Waiting is not passive. Waiting is not doing nothing just waiting for God to act. In Isaiah 40, God renews the strength of those who wait on Him. You do not need strength if you are doing nothing. They will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not faint. They are to still be running and walking, not sitting.

Jesus didn’t start His ministry until He was about 30. In John 2, He said to Mary, “My hour has not yet come.” He was waiting for the right time. But, almost certainly, all of that time was preparation. He was learning and growing – growing in wisdom and stature, in favour with God and with people.

Psalm 27:14

Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.

There are things to do, commands to obey while waiting: be strong; take heart.

Do you remember Simeon, the old man who met the baby Jesus? Luke 2:25 says, “He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him.” He was waiting for Israel to be delivered. God had promised that he would not die before seeing the Messiah. Was he sitting around just waiting? No, the Holy Spirit was on him. He was walking with the Spirit. He is described as being righteous and devout. He was living righteously and he was worshipping and serving, devoted to God – while he waited.

Psalm 37:7

be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him.

But notice all of the things mentioned before that that people were to do while waiting:

·       Trust in the Lord and do good

·       dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.

·       Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

·       Commit your way to the Lord;

·       trust in him and he will do this:

·       he will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun.

The main Hebrew word for waiting in the Old Testament – the one used in Isaiah 40 – has a sense of tension like a rope being pulled tight. There is a tension between waiting and wanting it now; a tension between trusting God and doing it myself. Waiting is hard, but there are promises attached to waiting.

Isaiah 64:4

[God] acts on behalf of those who wait for Him.

Who will experience God? Who will see prayers answered? Who will see God move? God acts on behalf of those who wait for Him.

Isaiah 30:18

Blessed are all those who wait for Him.

Lamentations 3:25-26

The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the one who seeks him; 26 it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

I still haven’t seen any Christians flying on the wings of eagles or running and not growing weary. But that is a metaphor. The Jews had been in exile a long time. They could easily lose hope. Now the promise was that God would deliver them and they were to wait for that to happen. As they waited, God would strengthen them; God would enable them to keep going – to not faint, to not give up. Their deliverance was promised. They were to trust the promise – trust that it would happen. And trust God’s timing. It might not happen immediately, but would they wait, still believing that it would happen? If they kept going (kept running the race) God would give them the strength until they saw the promise fulfilled.

The same promise applies to us. What we long for – what we believe God has promised – can take a long, long time. We might not even see it until we are in heaven. But if we say, ‘I am not going to give up and I am not going to trust myself instead of God, or trust anyone else instead of God. I will wait for God’, God promises to reward that trust and, in the meantime, give us the strength to keep going.

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