TWR: How Waiting Can Be Strength

I can’t even tell you how many times when I think of waiting, I think of the verse, “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They will mount up with wings like an eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary" (Isaiah 40:31) In fact, because I grew up in a fairly old-fashioned (i.e. we had hymnals) Pentecostal church, I always hear this verse in song (Hymn number 145, I think?). I find waiting tiring, so this verse has baffled me. How is there strength in waiting?

I am a wrestler. Not in the sense that I put on one of those strange suits that draw far too much attention to one’s crotch (seriously though! Lol) and grapple on a mat with someone else. I wrestle God. I may sense His voice telling me to wait, but I want to try my hardest to makes things happen now. I sorta stink at waiting.

I get restless. I don’t know how to sit still. I want living, physical, actual proof that God is working out His plans. I want to know not only what today looks like, but each day to the end of my life.

I think of when I wanted to be married, but it wasn’t time yet. Everywhere I went, every young man I came across, God would hear my squirrel-mind going something like this: “Him, God? He’s cute. What about him, God. He’s not as cute, but he’s seems really smart. No, wait, look at that one, God. Yes, I will take that one.” My hyper-active, boy-crazy mind had to drive God crazy. I depleted my strength running through future possibilities, because bottom line, I didn’t trust God enough that He would bring His promises to pass. I thought that I needed to work them out for Him. God doesn’t need our help with His promises.

Proverbs says “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a dream fulfilled is a tree of life” (13:12, NLT). Deferred means put-off, delayed, or postponed. And it’s true, right? Our heart feels sick when our hope, our dream, gets put-off or laid aside. When we accomplish a dream, our soul fills with the hot air that lifts us right off the ground… kind of feels like soaring… like an eagle.

So, how is it that God can say, “They that wait…strength…eagles…run…??” What am I missing about waiting?!

A couple months back my daughter got a balloon while at church. She was so excited. A pink balloon! I offered to tie the string around her wrist so she wouldn’t lose the balloon when we went outside. I tried explaining how it could fly away, and how as much as she wanted to hold it, it would still be attached to her if I tied the balloon to her wrist. She wouldn’t let me. She didn’t want to let go of the balloon. Sure enough, about five seconds after we got outside, one pink balloon went sailing for the clouds.

The word wait used in this verse is the Hebrew word qavah. This little word is actually used to describe strength. It refers to the idea of tying a rope around something and holding tightly to it. When God asks us to wait, he isn’t asking us to give up our dream. He’s asking us to let go of it, to free up our hands for what He has purposed for us to do right now. But there’s still that rope of promise, that God will be faithful to accomplish what He said He would. So, like I tried to do with my daughter’s balloon, tie that rope of God's promise around your dream. Fasten it to your wrist. And wait.

Image by © Royalty-Free/Corbis, my words added :)

I think when we are asked to wait it feels a little like rejection. You aren’t good enough. You’ll never amount to anything. We want to throw the dream away entirely. Waiting isn’t rejection and it isn’t ceasing to hope. “Hope [put off] makes the heart sick.” You need to keep your hope ON. Perhaps you can’t physically work towards your dream right now, but God is surely working on you and that dream so that when it’s time to hold it your hands, you will have become the person that is able to walk in that dream. Waiting is for becoming. Keep that dream close. Tie it around your wrist and TRUST God’s faithfulness.

Trust.

Waiting is Trusting.

When you place your trust in God, when you stop striving to make the dream happen, or take off the rejection you’ve been wearing… I think you do get that renewed strength. At least I want to try this out. What if I chose to recognize that now just simply isn’t time for the dream in my heart? What if I chose to recognize that my hands need to be busy with the two little one’s that call me Momma? What if I chose to live here and now, instead of 10 years from now? What if I didn’t have to know what tomorrow looked like, I was just happy with today and hoping in tomorrow?

What if I trusted God? Really trusted Him?

Would I “mount up with wings like an eagle and soar…” even while I am waiting?

I want to find out. :)

You?

Thanks for sitting with me in The Waiting Room. Waiting is always easier in the company of friends. :)

Amanda

In case you missed the other parts of the series and want to get caught up, here are the links:

And as a reminder, I love comments (I love hearing from you!). I love getting emails too: conqueringhousewife{at}the-cadence{dot}com.

Like what you read here? Consider subscribing to this blog's feed or subscribing by email to have my posts put nicely into your email box? Or join all the conquering housewives on facebook?

Sharing this here: Denise in Bloom