What Are We Waiting For?
Lou Tiscione, Pastor, Weatherford Presbyterian Church (PCA)
“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).
The answer to the question in the title is direct. Believers wait upon God while trusting in Him. Believers take God at His word and seek to live under it by the power the Holy Spirit. We wait, trusting in God knowing that He will provide, protect, and deliver us.
God declared this promise through the prophet Isaiah. It is God’s promise for those who belong to Him. The verse is in contrast to those who rely on their own strength The strong in worldly terms will grow tired and weary. But those who wait for the LORD will not only survive but will run because they won’t get tired in Him.
God promised to deliver His people, and the prophet Isaiah began chapter 40 with God’s word of “comfort”. “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.” This chapter of Isaiah is the beginning of the “Suffering Servant” passages. The Servant is revealed to be Jesus! He declared that He was the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy of the Suffering Servant, as recorded in Luke 4:18-21. The Servant of God, Jesus, is the one who brings comfort. The comfort He brings is the assurance of deliverance which leads to glory in heaven.
Isaiah often wrote in the prophetic past tense. That is, he saw future events as completed. When he wrote of judgment, he saw the total destruction of the wicked. He saw their final end. He used expressions such as, “He was pierced for our transgressions” (Isaiah 53:5a).
The end is certain. On the one hand God will establish perfect righteousness, and on the other He will judge all ungodliness. There will be no escape for the ungodly. He will also lift the curse of original sin and usher in the new heaven and the new earth (Revelation 21).
For His people God has promised comfort, peace, and glory. This is what we are waiting for! We know that God never fails to keep His word. His word declares He has claimed His people as His possessions (Isaiah 43:1). Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish and no one will snatch them out of my hand” (John 10:27-28).
God’s people wait upon Him with eager expectation of the fulfillment of His promises. The promise now is comfort. We eagerly await His promise of final deliverance. These promises are for all those who belong to the LORD. Those who belong to the Lord wait upon Him. The word translated “wait” means trusting God now by obeying Him while waiting for His final deliverance.
Waiting upon the LORD is how Christians are called to live. It is an ongoing process. This principle is especially important during times of evil. We don’t need to rehearse the recent evil events of an assassination of a man who trusted in the Lord and threats against law enforcement. God’s word says that those who belong to Him are not spared of evil or natural disasters..
Evil behavior and disasters will be with us until Christ returns. The evil in the world done by men is a result of the fall of Adam and Eve. Disasters, natural or otherwise, will be absent from the perfection that God has promised when Christ returns. But for now God has promised comfort. His comfort is the certainty of knowing that evil and distortions and disasters will come to an end. Further, God’s comfort is in knowing that He is walking through these evil circumstances with us. Those who believe that Jesus is who He said He is and rely upon Him have the assurance that nothing will ever separate them from God (Romans 8:35-39).
The comfort is in knowing that His word is always true. He promised never to leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). By God’s grace, the experience of Christ’s work in our lives causes us to know that He holds us in the palm of His hand.
We are waiting for perfection. We are waiting for justice, peace, and glory. We wait for them with eager expectation and assurance that God will bring them all to pass. While we wait, we have the comfort of the Lord’s promise to be with us!
