The Rewards of Waiting Part 1

Isaiah 40:31 (KJV) “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.”

This little story illustrates how we often feel about waiting.

 

A little boy was fishing but was catching nothing. A man came by and asked him, are you fishing little boy? He replied back, “No I am not fishing, I am just drowning worms”.

Waiting on the Lord often feels painful and non-productive; however, we will see in the Scripture that waiting comes with great reward. 

Isaiah 40:31 lists 4 rewards for waiting on the Lord.  We will be looking at examples from Scripture that demonstrate these rewards.  In each case, the people had three things in common:

1.       They remembered God’s promises.

2.       They rested in God’s character.

3.       They relied on God’s love.

Reward 1: Inner/Moral Strength: “shall renew their strength.”  This is strength to resist temptation and sin. It is strength to fight against the enemy and walk in victory; strength to rise above the trials of this life.

Shall renew their strength - Margin, 'Change.' The Hebrew word commonly means to change, to alter; and then to revive, to renew, to cause to flourish again, as, e. g., a tree that has decayed and fallen down. Here it is evidently used in the sense of renewing, or causing to revive; to increase, and to restore that which is decayed. It means that the people of God who trust in him shall become strong in faith; able to contend with their spiritual foes, to gain the victory over their sins, and to discharge aright the duties, and to meet aright the trials of life. (Barnes' Notes on the Bible)

Example from Scripture:

In Genesis 5:32-10:1, we find the story of Noah.  The Word tells us in Genesis 6:5, 8, and 9b “⁵And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. ⁸But Noah found favor with the Lord.^9bNoah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.” 

We know that Noah was 600 years old when the flood came.  Noah had lived for 600 years in a corrupt and wicked world.  We are not given the specific amount of time it took to build the ark; however, some scholars estimate it to be around 100 years.  During that time it is likely that Noah and his family suffered ridicule and harassment from the people of their community.   Yet Noah did not give in even when he looked like a fool for obeying God.  We see that God sustained him with moral strength as he obeyed and believed God would fulfill his promise (Genesis 6:17” And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die..”).

We, like Noah, live in a corrupt and wicked world.  We are confronted daily by the draw of sin.  We too face ridicule for living according to God’s Word.  However, as we wait and trust God’s promises (2 Corinthians 12:9, Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” 1 John 4:4 “But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world.”) our strength will be renewed and we can resist the draw of sin and temptation. 

Reward 2:  Upward Strength: “they shall mount up with wings as eagles.” This is strength to rise above this world and the things that would try to hold us back from God’s purpose and best for our lives. 

The meaning of the Hebrew is simply, 'they shall ascend on wings as eagles,' or 'they shall lift up the wings as eagles;' and the image is derived from the fact that the eagle rises on the most vigorous wing of any bird, and ascends apparently further toward the sun. The figure, therefore, denotes strength and vigor of purpose; strong and manly piety; an elevation above the world; communion with God, and a nearness to his throne - as the eagle ascends toward the sun. (Barnes' Notes on the Bible)

Example from Scripture:

In Genesis 37, 39-41, we read the account of Joseph.  In chapter 37, Joseph has two dreams in which 12 stars and bales of hay bow down to him.  He tells these dreams to his father who immediately grows angry and blows him off.  Joseph is one of the 12 sons of Jacob.  10 of his brothers hate him because he is Jacob’s favorite.  They call him the “dreamer.” They plot to kill him but then sell him into slavery instead.  During his time as a slave he is falsely accused of rape and thrown into prison. There he is placed in a position of authority and interprets dreams for 2 servants of the king.  After a long time the King of Egypt has 2 dreams and the servant remembers Joseph and tells the king that he can interpret the dreams.  Joseph is brought out of prison and made second in command over all of Egypt. 

Joseph’s dreams from childhood are fulfilled when his brothers are forced to go the Egypt to buy food for their families during the famine.  They must bow down before Joseph in order to show respect for his position (they did not recognize him).  He ultimately is reunited with his father and brothers and is able to provide for them during the famine years. 

Here we see that God had a plan for Joseph from childhood.  He was abused and mistreated because of this call, but God used the plans of the wicked (his brothers) to bring about God’s purpose.  In spite of the miserable conditions in which Joseph found himself, he never failed to obey God’s laws and to believe that God would fulfill the dreams he had given him as a boy (Genesis 42:9a “And he remembered the dreams he’d had about them many years before…”). 

How often are we like Lucy in an old "Peanuts" comic strip instead of being like Joseph?

Lucy was complaining about her lousy life. Charley Brown is trying to cheer her up. "Into each life some rain must fall," he said. That didn't seem to help at all. Then he thought of another saying: "Just remember, life has its mountains and its valleys, its ups and downs." To which Lucy replied, "All I want is ups and ups and ups!"

Joseph never complained; he made to most of every opportunity and situation he was presented with.  Life is full of ups and downs, but we must keep our focus on the Lord and his promises, as we do we will soar above the circumstances and challenges of this life and fulfill the plans God has for us.  If we lower our focus we will get bogged down in the cares of life and may never reach the goals God has for our lives.

John 16:33 “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”  Colossians 3:2 “Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth.”

Here we see two rewards for waiting on the Lord: Inner/Moral Strength and Upward Strength. May we keep our focus on Christ and wait on him to fulfill his promises in/for our lives.  

All Scripture is NLT unless otherwise stated.