Wait I Say On The Lord

    Hope itself is really a form of waiting.  New Testament hope is a patient, disciplined, confident waiting for and expectation of the Lord as our Saviour.  Hope demonstrates its living character by the steadfastness with which it waits.

    __ It is a bridegroom waiting for his bride on their 
          wedding night
    __ It is the waiting of a strong man for the race
         the most loves to run.
    __ It is waiting for the clock to say 6:00 when Christmas
         morning, and you are seven years old, and you mom
         or parents told you not to wake them up before 6:00,
         and you know they got you something     really special.

    If you are waiting on God these days…are you obeying him, but you don’t see the results you hoped for yet…you need to know  that in the Bible there is a wonderful promise attached to this waiting.

    Here is the promise:
    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 (Isa 40:31).  Let’s say to ourselves, soaring, running, and walking.  Now I want you to know, with your walk with God, you must live these words –one line at a time.

    Sometimes you will mount up and soar on wings of eagles. This is a beautiful picture.  People who study birds say they have three methods of flight. 

    The First is flapping – keeping their wings     in constant motion to counteract gravity.  Hummingbirds can flap up to seventy times per second.  Flapping keeps you up in the air, but it’s a lot of work.  Flapping is awkward and clumsy.  Many people spend a lot of time flapping around.  It can get you from here to there, but there is not a lot of grace involved.

    The second flight method is gliding.  Here the bird builds up enough speed, then coasts downward a while.  It is much more graceful than flapping, but unfortunately it does not get the bird very far.  Reality in the form of gravity sets in quickly.  Gliding is nice, but it does not last.

    Than there is the third way.. soaring.  Only a few birds, like eagles are capable of this.  Eagles; wings are so strong that they are capable of catching rising currents of warm air—thermal winds that go straight up from the earth –and without moving a feather can soar up to great heights.  Eagles have been clocked at up to 80 mph without flapping at all.  They just soar on invisible columns of rising air.

    Isaiah says that for those who wait on the Lord, times will come when they soar.  You catch a gust of the spirit –Jesus said, “The wind blows wherever it pleases…So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

    Sometimes in your life you will be in an era of spiritual soaring. Maybe you are there right now.   You find yourself simply borne up by God’s power.  God is answering prayers with extravagant generosity, using you in ways that leave you astonished, giving you power to rise above temptation and sin, making you surprisingly productive in your life’s work, and flooding you with strength and wisdom beyond your ability.

    Be very grateful.  Do all you can to stay in the stream of the Spirit’s power ---be very obedient as the Spirit guides you.  Keep praying and don’t assume you are soaring on your own strength.  Maybe there are particular disciplines helping you catch the Spirit’s power – solitude, memorizing scripture, simply getting enough rest.  Identify these and be very diligent in them, build on them, and enjoy the ride.  You are walking on water.  You are soaring with the Spirit.

    However, I want you to look at another line in Isaiah’s description.  Sometimes we are not soaring, but we are able to run and not grow weary.  If this is where you are, your life isn’t feeling 
    effortless.  You do not see a lot of miracles.  You have to do some flapping.  But with persistence and determination you know you are running the race.  You feel frustration, but you also feel God’s pleasure in your obedience.  You need to keep running –faithfully
    obeying, serving, giving and praying.  Do not try to manufacture spiritual ecstasy.  Do not compare yourself with someone who is soaring right now.  Your time will come.  Just keep running.

    Then there is a third condition that Isaiah describes. Sometimes we will not be soaring and we cannot run – because of doubt or pain or fatigue or failure.  In those times all we can do is walk and not faint.  This is not walking on the water, this is just plain walking.  The kind of walking where you say, “God I’ll hang on.  I don’t see, I don’t feel too fruitful or productive, and I don’t feel very triumphant.  But I won’t let go.  I will obey you.  I’ll just keep on walking.”

    We have some very fast runners in our churches to day.  We have some eagles that soar much higher than you may can fly and see.  It is a hard thing to be a walker when you are surrounded by racers and eagles.  But sometimes walking is the best we can offer until we learn how to trust and obey.  He understands all about that but He is expecting you to grow and take flight soon.  He understands, right now, that walking counts too.  For right now, keep walking because what we wait for is not more important than what happens to us while we are waiting.

    Questions:

    1.  How do you tend to respond to waiting?
    2.  Why do you think Jesus waited so long to come to the disciples in the storm?  In what ways have you seen waiting develop your character?
    3.  In what aspect of your life is waiting most difficult for your right now?
    4.  What would you say is the difference between “waiting on the Lord” vs. “waiting around”? 
           How might you transform your     current waiting into “waiting on the Lord”?
    5.  Would you say that you are “soaring,” “running,” or “walking” these days?


    Journal your thoughts








    E. Schenck
    Because of Christ Ministries
    P. O. Box 2191 - Merced, Ca  95344
    eschenckk@gmail.com




















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