Waiting; Yielded and Still

Isaiah 40: 18-31

“Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching of his understanding.

He giveth power to the faint; and to those who have no might he increaseth strength.

Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”

I don’t know about you, but, for me, the Lord comes in the “night season” and deals with my heart. In the early hours this morning, an old chorus from my youth was on my mind. It goes something like this:  Have thine own way, Lord, have thine own way; thou art the potter, I am the clay; make me and mold me, after thy will, while I am waiting, yielded and still.”

I’ve often thought the reason God speaks to us in the night is that it  is possibly the only time when our minds are quiet enough to hear His voice.  Waiting and yielding and being still; three things that we find really difficult to do in our busy world.  But sometimes we find ourselves being faint and lacking might. We desperately need His power and His might. And so it is that He brings the words of a long forgotten chorus to our mind and we stop, and consider, and partake of Him.

For, you see, He says when we are weak then He is strong. We can go to Him and nestle up and let Him be our all in all. Under the shadow of His wings we find shelter, a hiding place, a strong tower.  He knew there would be times in our walk with Him when we might faint or lack might. He made provision for us. He is speaking to our soul, “Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard…….”.  He is saying I am here, come unto me, he who is weary, and I will give you rest.” 

Once we are rested, refreshed, invigorated and renewed by our Heavenly Father, we can once again pick up our sword, prepared to do battle.  Sometimes He says the battle belongs to Him and He fights it for us.  This is especially true when life has become such that we faint and lose might.  In those moments, don’t walk, but run to the One who can sustain us.  Isaiah 41: 10 reminds us that we are not in this struggle alone, “Fear thou not; for I am with thee; Be not dismayed; For I am thy God. I will strength thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.”

And so He does. Then we are able to mount up with wings as eagles, and begin again.