But those who wait on 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 40:31 NKJV

We are all about instant gratification today. We don’t like waiting. We want what we want and we want it now. Waiting in traffic jams, waiting in queues, waiting to speak to an actual human being when you’ve been put on hold, waiting for other people to turn up, show up… waiting in situations like this can be draining and leave us feeling wiped out and exhausted. And yet we’re told to wait on the Lord. Because. When we wait on God, our strength will be renewed, we will rise up, we will soar.  

The world’s definition of waiting is to stay where you are or to delay action – it’s all about hold-ups and standing by. It’s passive. But the biblical definition of waiting is so much cooler! It’s about enduring, remaining, lingering, and in the case of the Hebrew here (קָוָה qâvâh) binding together.

Biblical waiting is proactive. Biblical waiting means we have a role in the waiting. We are to bind ourselves together with the Lord. And that, will renew our strength not drain it. Those who draw near to God, those who remain in him, who abide, who continue in His presence… those are they that will rise up and soar like eagles.

It’s well known that eagles are majestic creatures who can soar at heights like no other bird. They don’t do this by flapping their wings like crazy, striving and giving it all they’ve got. If they did that they would actually die from the energy exerted. You want to die from overexertion? No. Don’t do that. Instead, be like the eagle. An eagle will soar, will hold out its wings and let the atmosphere around it do the work. Wind thermals rise up in columns into the atmosphere. An eagle will wait for one of these gusts of wind, the beginning of a storm, to come and then set its wings so that the wind picks it up and rises the eagle high above the storm. An eagle doesn’t escape a storm, it uses the storm to lift it higher. The more it flaps and flusters, the slower an eagle will go. When it submits itself to the wind, an eagle can soar at speeds of up to 75mph.

Proactive waiting on the Lord looks like positioning ourselves where we’ll be caught up in the Lord’s presence and atmosphere. God is working while we’re waiting. It’s taking ourselves to higher ground in the word and through prayer. It’s stretching out our arms and allowing God to raise us up above the storms. Waiting for God doesn’t need to be a draining, exhausting, flapping-your-wings-and-dying experience. It’s binding ourselves together in intimacy and remaining in Him. For apart from Jesus we can do nothing, but if we remain in him. If we abide and wait, then we too, will soar like eagles and produce much fruit.

“Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord.”

Psalm 27:14