Living Prepared During "The Wait"

"But those who wait on 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 (NKJV)

In addition to meaning "wait", the word wait in this passage also means to "look for, hope, expect." This is not a passive waiting, but an active, preparing waiting for God to move and act. To complement this month's study by Tiffanie, below is an excerpt from The Re-Purposed Life that helps us understand how we can live prepared during our waiting season.

There may be long delays between what God promises/ commands us to do/go/become, and when we see the manifestation. But during these delays, we can do what our [Biblical] examples did:

1. Don’t give up. Keep a mentality of expectation for what has been instructed. God has His own way and timing. No matter what modern “feel good” teaching promotes, there is little we can do to alter His timing. Period. His timing is set for a reason, and that reason is rarely revealed to us. It still makes no sense how Noah so patiently built a boat that took more than 100 years to build with no evidence that rain would ever come. The only explanation is that he had to truly expect that God would do what He said He would do…send a flood. Living a lifestyle of expectation allowed him to receive a new purpose greater than what he’d ever known before God spoke to him.
2. Live prepared. In addition to living in a state of continuous expectation, we must live in a state of continuous preparation. Contrary to some beliefs, having faith and being patient does not look like doing nothing. It certainly doesn’t mean we should do what God said He would do; but, if you believe, you prepare. Not to be crude, but if Abraham and Sarah believed Sarah would become pregnant, they had to put in the work…even at their old age. Could their frustration with “putting in the work” at their old age have had an impact on why the pregnancy took so long? I can’t say. We still don’t know why David had to be persecuted in the wilderness for ten years and wait so long before becoming king. Whatever the reason, during this delay David operated as king over what he had. He networked. He created an army. He negotiated with kings from other nations. He fought wars and stockpiled wealth. He never fretted over God’s timing. He ruled what was under his control at the time, and when God’s timing was fulfilled, he walked smoothly and successfully into his new, greater purpose.

                                                                                         Taken from The Re-Purposed Life, Vol. 2, by Dawn L. Bedingfield

Living Always With Great Expectation,
Dawn~