They Who Wait on the LORD

“Those who wait in the LORD will renew their strength” (Isaiah 40:31).

Isaiah 40 is one of my favorite chapters in all of the Bible. It is one of the most hope-filled chapters in all of the scriptures.

The NIV translation says, “Those who hope in the the LORD will renew their strength,” but the Hebrew word is, “qavah,” which means to “wait.” Wait is the proper translation. I think what the NIV translators were saying is that those who wait are those who hope. I get that, but I wish they would have left the translation as “wait.”

How can one live in God’s strength today? Great question. Let’s find out!

First, the key to living in God’s strength is to wait.

Wait? I don’t get it.

What’s waiting got to do with living in God’s strength? The first truth about living in God’s strength has to do with our attitude and posture.

• You see, the word wait here is best translated by an old English term “tarry.”
• To tarry means to eagerly long for.
• We turn to God and eagerly seek, long, yearn, tarry for God because we know that strength is not in us. We are seeking a strength which is not in us.

Secondly, we aren’t waiting for waiting’s sake. We are waiting for the LORD.

• We wait, long, yearn, and tarry for the LORD because he is the source of strength.
• When is the last time you were intentional about carving out time to wait on God? Is there a time slot in your day where you are free from activity so that you can devote your entire attention on God?
• When is the last time you waited, longed, yearned, and tarried for the LORD like that?
• Perhaps that is part of the reason why we so rarely experience the strength of the LORD.

Finally, carve out a time every day to seek the LORD, to wait, long, yearn, and tarry for the LORD.

Those who do so, “shall soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint” (Isaiah 40:31).