Isaiah 40:27Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God? 28Hast 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. 29He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. 30Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: 31But 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.
These verses were instrumental in bringing me to faith in God, yet it had always been a mystery to me: what could it mean, to wait on God? I so much wanted to experience the exhilaration of what it must be like to mount up with wings as eagles, to run and not grow weary, to walk and not faint, to renew my strength. I wanted to live there, beyond myself.
The typical approach of sharing the gospel, demanding that I recognize my need for a savior, that I am worthless, a worm; all that was lost on me. If that is God’s opinion of me, I wasn’t interested. I responded to the concept of me being called a sinner with, “Whatever.” I wanted to fly with God, to live beyond myself, beyond human limitations. That was the promise I heard when I read this passage. If only I could understand the means; what does it mean to wait on God? To me, this is what was missing from the conventional approach to sharing the gospel.
Waiting on God: What could that mean. In a word, circumcision. To wait on God you begin by cutting off the works of the flesh. Stop exercising the Great Commandment, where you attempt to love God with all you heart, soul, mind, and strength, in other words, loving God in the flesh. The true worshippers worship in Spirit and in truth.
Romans 8:2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 3For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
We have been delivered from the law of sin and death by the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. The Great Commandment is the law of sin and death. The New Commandment is the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, to love one another as you have been loved. You have been loved by the work of the Spirit; you are to love one another by the work of the Spirit. You cease from the works of the flesh and yield your members to God as instruments of righteousness. In the flesh, you are not capable of righteousness. When the Spirit does the work in you, it is all good.
Romans 8:28And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [his] purpose.
When we work together with God, all things are good, are righteous. God’s strength, our resources, his purpose, credited to our account. This is something we can be confident of. This is something we know.
The corollary to this is that all things we do apart from God are not good. Our strength, our resources, our purpose, credited to our account as sin. Exercising the Great Commandment is working apart from God, relying on my heart, my soul, my mind, my strength: me, me me, me.
The Greek word for sin begins with alpha, a negative particle. You do not appreciate what sin is until you know what it is not. Sin is the opposite of righteousness. Righteousness is working with God. Sin is working apart from God. The Greek word for the part of the word for sin that is negated is to be a constituent part of the whole. Sin happens when we work apart from God, not as a part of the whole. The whole is God with us, that is the hope of glory. The part we play is to supply our resources, to yield our resources to God. God’s part is to perform the work with his strength.
To work with God is to deny yourself and allow God to work in you. That means you wait on God, not taking things into your own hands. That takes patience. Learn to trust him.
Talk to him. “Your turn, God. Take it from here. My trust is in you, not in myself” If he does nothing, that was what needed to be done in that situation.
If he botches it, you should give him feedback, like you would with a close friend. Don’t worry about offending him – he can handle it. “In my view, God, you could have handled that situation better. As a matter of fact, I think I could have handled it better.” That is what a relationship looks like. Be honest. Be frank. When he responds to your feedback, especially if your feedback is negative, it will be memorable. That has been my experience.
Wait on God.
New Wine 