"They That wait...."

"Hast thou not known? has thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: 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." --Isaiah 40: 28-31

That is one of my favorite passages in the Bible. It has helped me so many times when I thought I was at the end of my rope. I've studied it over and over and it never gets old, and often I learn something new. Isn't God's Word amazing!

Recently I was looking at the passage.........something that I've seen before, held onto before, counted on before....jumped out at me in a different way. Verse 31 tells us to wait upon the Lord to renew our strength. Okay, I've always seen that, and have quoted it many, many times. But this time I really focused on the word wait. What does that mean?


Well, I've looked in several dictionaries, american, greek, hebrew. They all kept coming back to this, doing nothing, expecting something to happen. That got my thoughts churning. Wow....let that soak in...doing NOTHING but EXPECTING something to happen!

Before when I've meditated on these verses, I waited on the Lord, waited for my prayer to go through, waited on my prayer to be answered. But I've seen 'wait' as this: I thought of it as perhaps a waiting room, just sitting, wishing away the seconds, minutes, hours, until you got the news you were waiting for. Have you ever been there? It's the most tiresome 'nothing' you'll ever do.

Then I watched my daughter's 5 month old puppy the other night. He has a lot of food allergies. He can only eat chicken, lamb, and rice. That's all! He has learned what the word 'chicken' is and boy, you say that word to him and he gets all bent out of shape! My daughter was eating some chicken fingers and he was so excited. He was at her chair with his front paws up beside her legs, tail wagging, eyes totally on her, and I think I saw a little bit of drool in the corner of his mouth! It didn't matter what was going on in the house, he had his eye on my daughter, and her chicken. I even called his name, and he might've given me a quick glance, but he was right back looking at her so intently. He never whined, never wimpered, but stayed quietly by her side. And you know what....he was rewarded with a savory piece of her chicken!

Let me tell you, that hit me like a ton of bricks!!!! What am I doing?? I'm sitting around, twiddling my thumbs.........waiting, just waiting. Often getting tired, bored and distracted! That's not what the Bible means!

Don't give your burden to Christ and then sit on the curb waiting for the answer! Let's change out the word wait for another word "...they that FIXATE upon the Lord shall renew their strength..." My daughter's little pug was wanting a bite of her chicken, and he let her know that. BUT, he was fixated on her. He didn't let anything distract him. He patiently was fixated on her, and he was rewarded!

In order to get renewed strength, I must bring my burdens to the Lord, but instead of just sitting, I must fixate upon Him, keep my focus on Him, stay in His Word, and just as little Koda received his chicken, I will receive my renewed strength! You see, if Koda had passively waited, he might not have been there to get that delicious chicken bite. He would've gotten bored, maybe have fallen asleep, or turned his attention elsewhere. But, because he fixated upon his master...actively waited....he was rewarded!

Forever, oh Lord, do I want to fixate upon you so that I will never miss those nuggets that you so freely give!