“Those who wait for 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)
Waiting is not something we do well, we want something we want it now, we don’t want to wait our turn, we want to get there first. We hate waiting for news that is coming to us, whether its good or bad we might be expecting, we worry, we fret, we get frustrated, and impatient in our waiting. Waiting creates anxiety in our lives, that create a whole mess of other problems for us because of our not waiting well. In the passage from Isaiah, the prophet speaks of waiting for the Lord, in the sense that it changes the way we wait, to wait for the Lord is to renew our strength, to mount up with wings of Eagles. An Eagle is a majestic bird, to see an eagle with wings outspread against the expanse of the sky is an image of beauty, it is also an image of power, strength and freedom; an image the prophet no doubt wanted to instill in the minds of the people of Israel that they might persevere in a time of great despair, great struggle. They were living in a time of exile, captivity, and their longing to return to their homeland of Jerusalem while a long time coming was also compiled by the feeling that God was absent from them, they no longer felt God was with them, and they were losing hope. Isaiah wanted the people to have hope even in the midst of their waiting, that God hadn’t forgotten them, despite what their circumstances may dictate to them, God was there.
Throughout the gospels there are many stories where people’s circumstances may have dictated they give up, but instead they persevered despite what life had brought their way. In John’s Gospel (Jn 5:2-8) a man waited by a pool in Bethzatha for 35 years in hopes that someday he would make it to the pool at a time the water was stirred and believed to have healing properities that he might be made well, and because he waited, he was there when Jesus came along and he was healed. In Mark’s gospel “a woman suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years, it says, after enduring much under many physicans and spending all that she had, she was no better, but rather grew worse; hearing about Jesus she said “if I could only touch his cloak, I will be made well,” and upon touching his garment immediately her hemorrhage stopped(Mark 5:25-29).” In Luke’s gospel (13:10) another woman crippled for eighteen years when she encountered Jesus received healing. These people had waited in hope, persevered despite the odds against them, even despite the weariness of their situations, they kept going, hoping that someday things would change for them and it did.
Do that mean if we trust in God, wait for the Lord, all that ails us will immediately disappear, our sickness will all go away, our troubles or trials in life will all be over? No, it doesn’t but it does mean that we look with renewed hope, renewed strength to face and deal with the circumstances of our lives in a way that we are not overcome by the crisis that come to us in this life, but that we will overcome despite them, for we know “our Lord is an everlasting God, He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable(Is 40:22)”.
Blessings,
Rev. Hannah+
