Strength In Waiting

Isaiah 40:31 "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."

Often in our lives we do not enjoy waiting. The temptation that we normally face is to take things into our own hands to bring resolution and solution. Though God never calls us to sloth or irresponsibility, He does not want our choices and decisions being determined by our flesh.

Sadly, many situations and scenarios that we face in life sap us of strength. The enemy of our souls, and even just the living in a fallen world, often tries to rob us of the strength that we can experience in Christ. Sin, bitterness, unforgivness... all strategies of the enemy to push our lives to a place of weakness so that we feel compelled to turn inward to ourselves instead of turning upward to God.

It is never pleasant to wait on the Lord (I guess it does become more pleasant with practice though haha). Our sinful nature would rather kick, scream, come up with our own solution, become angry, become hopeless, or become discouraged than to simply "wait upon the Lord."

However, from my own life experience and the experiences of those around me, I have come to see that if we do not actively seek God in the midst of our problems, or our times of weakness, things never seem to be solved. Maybe we are able to solve one problem, but it seems to always create another problem we have to deal with when God is not the one solving them or instructing us in how to solve them .

Strength is something that is vital to the Christian life. As Christians it is not good to just have knowledge of right but a lack of strength to do what is right. We may no how to minister, but it is essential that we have the strength to minister. God intends His people to have strength, not necessarily physical strength, but a strength that is spiritually rooted within our hearts and souls. A strength that cannot be shaken by this world.

How does this happen, we must wait upon the Lord. We must seek him. As we actively seek him, we wait upon him to reveal his instruction and to fill us with his strength. It is a promise..."they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength."

Are we promised to never have difficulty? No! But God does promise that He will give us the strength to overcome. He does intend for us to soar, and live off of the strength of His Spirit, which is infinitely more powerful and enduring than the energizer bunny.

The strength of God comes when we determine to accomplish the purpose and mission to which He calls us. Waiting upon the Lord is essential because it lines us up to His will. Spending time waiting upon the Lord helps our minds to conform to His; our hearts to conform to His heart.

God does not just give His strength to those that want to build their own kingdoms and accomplish their own purposes. But God does promise to give strength to those that wait upon Him. As we wait, as we seek, as we spend time with him and allow ourselves to conform to Him, God will give us an abundance of strength to live empowered to fulfill that which He calls us to.

Even when everything on the inside says "Do what YOU have to do." Or if your mind tells you, "If God loved you or intended to help you, He would not allow this to be happening." Why God allows it, I don't know and cannot answe. But I do know with certainty that if we seek Him and wait upon Him, we shall mount up with wings as eagles; we shall run, and not be weary; and we shall walk, and not faint."