Waiting Upon the Lord

TOPIC: WAITING UPON THE LORD

Main Text: Isaiah 40: 26-31

Memory Verse Text: Isaiah 40: 31

If we are honest with ourselves, we have to admit that there is very much failure in our Christian living and service:

1. The Word of God convinces us of our failure.

 Do we not oftentimes “faint” and have “no power” (verse 29)?  Do we not often “grow tired” and do we not frequently “fall” (verse 30)?  

2.  Observation also convinces us of our failure. 

 We know it is true that we fail because our eyes tell us so as we look at ourselves.  Our own heart tells us that it is true.  How faint and weary we become, and how slow we are to learn the way of victory and power! –  Proverbs 14:10.

What is the cause of our failure?

1. The primary cause is Ignorance of the Resources which are at our Disposal. 

Isaiah 40:28 says: “Do you not know…?”  What are the resources at our disposal?  In verses 28 and 29 we read that “The Lord, the everlasting God, the Creator…” is offering to give us power and strength.  So, against the sad background of our failure is the promise of God to turn our failure into glorious triumph.  This God, this mighty Lord, is placing all His unlimited resources of strength and power at our disposal; but we must tap these resources, and this indicates the second cause of failure.

2. The secondary cause is Failure to Tap those Resources. 

That is, failure to appropriate them.   Verse 29 says, “He gives…”, and in response to His giving we must receive.  How does this giving and receiving take place?  How can this mighty enabling become mine?  What is God’s method of transferring His power to me?  “They that wait upon the Lord…”  But what does it mean to “wait upon the Lord”?  Does it mean to pray, worship, attend services, read the Bible?  Yes, but not primarily.   From Isaiah 41:1, we learn that it means to “Be silent before me” – compare Psalm 62:1, where the word “waiteth” means “be silent”.

Waiting upon God means to be cast upon Him in utter dependence, ready to hear His voice and do His bidding, having our whole expectation from Him.  It implies complete confidence in the Lord, and absolutely no confidence in self or in human help. There is a four-fold result, of waiting on the Lord:

1. We shall have God’s strength in place of our weakness.  

Have you realised that your greatest weakness is your own strength, and that if you will go before the Lord in utter weakness He will exchange your weakness for His strength?  

2. We shall enjoy life above the average. 

We shall “soar on wings like eagles”, far above earth’s level, where, “the things of earth…grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.”  The eagle is the only bird which flies so high that it is lost to sight, and that is where we belong.  We belong to Heaven now (Philippians 3:20). 

4. We shall do supernatural things. 

We shall “run and not grow weary.”  It is not natural to keep running and not feel weary. God promises supernatural power for the accomplishing of supernatural tasks.  We are a supernatural people because we are linked to a supernatural God! –  John 7:38; 14:12.  

5. We shall live victoriously in the hardest place of all – in the daily routine of life. 

We shall “walk and not be faint”.  The most testing place for each one of us is that place where we engage in the “trivial round and common task” –Genesis 5:24 and Psalm 37:23.

PRAYER NOTE:

Lord, give me the grace to wait unto the Lord continually, and to have my strength renewed day by day.

Help me to mount up with wings like eagles in every aspect of my life and ministry.