I have always loved words. Most of the artwork in my house are Bible verses or my favorite quotes because I am more deeply moved by the written language than I am by a painting or a work of art. For this reason, I believe that when God speaks to me, He uses a word or phrase to grab my attention.
Since quarantine began, I heard Him say to me, “Don’t waste the waiting.” We were all forced into this slower pace of life with more freedom in our daily schedules and routines. In the beginning, this brought me joy and excitement over all the new found time in my day. I heard God more clearly without all the noise and comforts of my former routines. Somewhere towards the end of week two, the anxiety and frustration settled in as I scrambled to find a new rhythm. I started to fill the silence and bring back the comfort I found in staying busy. But as I did, I realized the Holy Spirit’s voice became harder to hear. Again and again I kept hearing God calling me back to that phrase He placed on my heart in the first week, “Don’t waste the waiting.” As I dug into what it means to wait, He placed another word on my heart—renew. The words wait and renew are both found in one of my favorite verses in the Bible. Isaiah 40:31 says, “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.” The Hebrew word for wait is qavah, and its literal meaning is “to bind together like a cord” or “the twisting or winding of a strand of rope.” The word “renew” in this verse means “to exchange for something new.” When we are bound to God like strands woven together, we can exchange our strength for His! But what does this type of waiting on the Lord look like?
When we are spending time daily in God’s Word and getting to know His heart, when we are submitting ourselves to His calling and letting go of our wants and desires, when we are loving others well and becoming the hands and feet of Jesus, and when we are communing with the Father daily in prayer, we are strengthening that cord and shoring up that relationship. The more strands we tie to the Father (our source of strength), the stronger our rope becomes.
During this waiting period, may we all be working on building a strong rope that can withstand the pressure and the tension placed upon it when it is put to use. May we feel strengthened each day as we prepare to “mount up with wings like eagles” and soar into what He has planned for us next. “Don’t waste the waiting.” Use it to build the strongest rope you can that will be ready for whatever God is calling you next.