October
Text Box: Pastor’s Thoughts “Just wait”, I have heard those words all my life. Sometimes I think we spend more time waiting than doing. So much of our daily routines involve waiting. We wait on a coffee pot, a toaster, or if you’re like me 8 AM so I can have my corn flakes. We wait until the last minute to head for work, we wait at traffic lights, and then we can’t wait until we can get back home. I even think I heard a country song about Waitin’ On a Woman but to be safe, I won’t comment on that. I was at the hospital today with a patient; I sat with them in the waiting room until we were sent to another waiting room so that I could wait until their test was completed. Next on the agenda, off to the barber shop to wait to get my hair cut. Wait, wait, and wait some more, one of life’s unavoidable and sometime frustrating everyday experiences. 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. (Isa 40:31 KJV) All of that waiting today ends with God’s word coming to mind, “But they that wait upon the Lord.” One Greek word “qavah”, is translated into five English words in the KJV “But they that wait upon”. Other Bible translations use the word “hope” or “trust” in place of “wait upon”. So what exactly does it mean to wait on the Lord? Consider the Strong’s Greek definition; it describes qavah as a binding together (perhaps by twisting). That definition produces a picture in my mind of a mother lovingly and patiently braiding her daughter’s hair. She is spending precious quality time with her child. Then I also envision the cords of a rope being twisted together and as each new strand is woven with the others, a greater strength is achieved. The setting of Isaiah 40:31 contrast the weariness of men even young men, and God’s unfailing and untiring strength. Verse 31 therefore becomes one of the greatest reminders in all the scriptures. As you and I are forced to deal with the relentless pressures of life, bringing us to our wit’s end, hanging on by the proverbial thread, we find that powerful word “qavah”. With all of the other waiting, do we wait on the Lord? Have we set still long enough for the Lord to braid our hair? Have we wrapped our lives around Him in such a way that we have strength to soar above the storms like an eagle, can we continue running the race, and walk the walk without tiring or stumbling? My thought today…. Waiting is not always a bad thing!