“But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”
Isaiah 40:31
Do you like to wait patiently? Are lines fun? Is eating dessert last your favorite thing? I, for one, would have to answer a resounding “NO” to all those questions. My AuDHD daughter would too. ADHD makes waiting difficult. People with autism can have trouble with this as well because it requires executive function skills that both disorders have difficulties with.
Whether it’s my daughter’s turn, she thinks she’s “starving” and wants dinner, or wants me to give her something when I’m busy, she has issues with patience. When she was little, we’d play games like Green Light, Red Light and Mother, May I to help her work on her patience. Honestly, any game that involves turns is good training. Kayla now plays chess with daddy, which requires a LOT of waiting. My husband thinks long and hard before making every move. I don’t even play chess with him.
Patience is relative.
My best friend’s and my family go on vacations together (we’re that close). We’ve gone to Florida a couple times and enjoyed Legoland. We even bought those special passes that allow you to cut the line by entering through the exit. The kids DID NOT appreciate the privilege. Our wait was significantly reduced, and yet they had no idea how good they had it.
When I took Kayla and my godson on a virtual reality ride, they were so impatient. We got to skip ahead of a giant line, but still needed to wait for the people suffering through the long line to fill up the spots and also for the current ride to be over. Boy, did the kids gripe. We waited maybe five minutes max. Unbelievable! If you want to read more about the psychological reason it’s hard to wait in line, I found this article interesting.
How is waiting a good thing?
If waiting is so hard, then why would this verse say it renews us? When I’m stuck in the line of life, I’m not comfortable. In fact, I’m pretty antsy. My head keeps stretching left and right to see ahead and find out what’s holding things up. Kinda like when you’re stuck in traffic and trying to deduce if there’s an accident up ahead or just an annoyingly slow driver.
In other versions of this verse, you will find the words “trust” and ”hope” rather than ”wait.” These other translations are the key to understand what waiting on the Lord really entails. It’s about knowing, really knowing, that God is working in the background, making everything work for our good. When we do this, our anxiety lessens. We don’t have to see the solution to know God’s figuring it out. We just need to trust, to hope. To wait.
It’s worth the wait.
This kind of waiting has expectation. That’s why we can wait patiently. Regardless of the passing time, we’ll get there. You don’t stand in line to get a latte and are surprised when it’s finally your turn. You expected to eventually buy your latte. When we play card games, no matter how long the person ahead of you takes to make her move, your turn will come up. If I’ve told Kayla that she can have something after a certain amount of time, she gets it when the allotted time ends.
Today’s verse doesn’t mention being patient or at peace as we wait, but if we don’t, we’ll go crazy. When we trust, we are renewed. We are weightless—so much so, we fly. We’re able to keep going for as long as it takes to get an answer.
What are you waiting for? Put your hope in Jesus. He’ll never let you down!
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