After reading this post prior to the beginning of the year, I committed, along with many of you, to memorize 2 verses (or passages) of Scripture each month for the entire year of 2009.
My verse for February 15th marks the fourth verse for this year!
My verse for February 15th marks the fourth verse for this year!
The verse that God has impressed upon me to memorize and meditate on during this last half of February is:
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 40:31 (King James Version)
Like most of ya'll, I have heard this verse most of my life, but God brought this verse to life for me this week in my Esther Bible study. Instead of just hearing the verse, I heard His voice!
WHEN does this verse say that our strength will be renewed?
When we "wait upon the Lord"!
How many times have I been waiting on a "thing", or on a person, or an event -- rather than waiting on the LORD! As Beth Moore so clearly brought out in this week's lesson, our strength will be depleted when we are waiting on ANYTHING other than the Lord!
My strength will be depleted when I am waiting on the person, the event or some "thing" to happen.
My strength will ONLY be renewed if I am waiting on HIM!!
Father, we live in a world that is constantly telling us that we don't have to WAIT - that we can have everything "instantly". We have self-checkout lines so we don't have to wait. We have fast food restaurants, some of which have 2 drive-thru lines so we don't have to WAIT. We have DSL and if that's not fast enough then we have even faster high-speed DSL. We have remote starts on our cars, so we don't have to WAIT on the car to warm up when we get in it. I confess to you, Lord, that waiting is very difficult and sometimes exhausting.
Help me to trust you, Lord, that while I am WAITING, it does not mean that you are inactive! You are working behind the scenes to bring about something very exciting - when the time is right! Teach me to wait upon you, Lord, and during this process, You promise that my strength will be renewed.
16 comments:
Thank you so much for this post...this morning. I really needed to read this, absorb this and know once again that God is the source of my strength.
Em,
You know where I've been on the waiting issue. In fact I taught on waiting on God a week ago in CYC. God has been using so many avenues to help me to understand that waiting is okay, and while I wait I need to be serving and worshiping Him. Have you heard that song by John Waller? "While I'm Waiting" If not, go do your itunes magic and get that song =) I'll even pay for it. I'll send you a buck -- seriously, if you don't know it you should, oh you should!!!
Love you friend,
Have a Blessed Lord's day today,
Dawn
PS LOVE this Scripture as well!!
I have a hard time waiting sometimes too.
I love that scripture because God has perfect timing.
Beautiful.
I love this verse AND what you said about it. Waiting is so, SO hard...but if we remember we are waiting on HIM and not things or people...that should give us a new perspective. Thanks for always being such an encouragement!
I cant believe its time for the 4th verse!
That's a great verse. Seems "waiting" is a common theme for me these days too. The Preacher talked about dealing with our trials today and the verse that hit me today was Psalm 37:7 "Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him."
Thank you for sharing this today.
Waiting is one of the most difficult things.
A couple of years ago the company my husband works for was sold. He works in a 29 story building and after a few months almost everyone was gone....except my husband and a very few others. He waited a year while there were numerous changes and uncertainty.
Others were offered jobs elsewhere. He stayed.
He never missed a paycheck, but also never knew when he would be asked to leave.
He felt led to stay. A company eventually bought the building and he has been so blessed. Talk about a hard wait. A year!
God is faithful and I truly believe the closer we are to Him in our daily walk (John 15 abiding with Him) the more we will find comfort in those waiting and trusting (another hard one for me) times.
I am loving Beth's study of Esther! Isn't it great?!!!
Tonight is #4 for our group. The lesson on "If _____, then _____." I can't wait for my group to see this one. It's so good.
Thanks again for this wonderful verse and reminder.
Love you,
Valerie
P.S. I found the song Petrii was talking about "While I'm Waiting" from Youtube and put it on my blog today. It's a great song! Thanks for mentioning it Petrii.
I come from Valerie's blog. I'm always intrigued when I hear someone is writing on 'waiting'. I've been waiting on the Lord for 19 1/2 months. I love the clarification here...our strength is only renewed when we wait on Him and not on another person or thing. My situation does have to do with another person...one I called my beloved. The legal system calls him and previous husband but God and I call him husband. My beloved chose to disobey his Father and be deceived by the enemy of lies. Sometimes I do feel like I'm waiting on beloved to open his eyes. However, I know ultimately it IS the Lord on whom I'm waiting. Because, it will only be by HIS power that beloved changes his course. I know he will come see the truth without God shining it on him and nudging him to see and believe.
I love being reminded that it IS God on whom I'm waiting and trusting.
I love Lamentations 3:25 that says "The Lord is good to those who wait on Him, to the soul who seeks Him."
Sweet blessings,
Paula
Good post! "Waiting"...something I do have trouble doing.I'm one of those that thinks I can do it rather than waiting to see what might take place if I just waited....
God's timing is always perfect...I have a tendency to try and hurry it though...(confession here!)
Mom, I'm so glad you shared this with us. I so needed to hear that and be reminded to wait upon Him, not wait on my baby to come. I have done that and definitely found my strength depleted. I want to be renewed by waiting only on Him.
I love you and thank you for loving me and praying for us.
I too needed to hear this. I am glad that I was able to stop over. I will wait on Him:)He is worthy and so worth it!
Love Cindy
I love that verse. Very soon after my father went home to be with Jesus and my mother, I was to give a devotion in staff meeting. I really didn't think I could and my hubs told me that I didn't have to do it. I opened my father's worn Bible and it fell open to this verse in Isaiah. It was obvious that this verse meant a lot to him b/c it was clearly marked. The Lord ministered to me through this verse and gave me such comfort and strength. I did give the devotion that day -- directly from that verse and my Dad's Bible.
Waiting can be long and at times, not long at all. I never want to miss what God has for me by getting ahead of Him. When I am asked to wait it's because He is working either on me or the situation on my behalf. Thank you for sharing!
To my professional blogging friend: I just wanted to say thanks for stopping by my blog! I love reading both of your blogs - you are a wonderful person and great friend to have!
Oh Emilie, I just loved this. I thought I left a comment when I first read it but realized (when I came back to read it again, haha!) that I hadn't! Thanks so much for sharing this. I love it and it hit me deeply. Homegirl needs to be waiting on HIM!
Love you!!
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