Playing the Waiting Game

“They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength….” You probably recognize these words from Is. 40:31. But what does that mean, “wait upon the Lord?” King James’ translators used the English word “wait” for the Hebrew word “kaw-vah.” Many modern translations render the same word as “trust in” or “hope in.” Kaw-vah literally means “to expectantly look for.” Remember when you were a kid and Grandma was coming to your house? You’d run and look out the window over and over, or go out and swing on the porch swing until you saw her car turn down your street! That’s Kaw-vah – to hopefully wait while expectantly looking. So, Is. 40:31 could easily sound like this: They that… hopefully wait and expectantly look for the Lord to show up in the midst of their present circumstance….will renew their strength!

Right now Des and I are playing the waiting game. We are waiting for our house to sell. (Know of anybody looking for a nice 3 bdr. brick ranch on the lake in Cherrydale?) We are waiting to see what kind of house we will be moving into when we get to our new home in Kansas. We are waiting to see what kind of jobs might be available for Des. We are waiting for answers to questions that right now have no answers. We are waiting. Anybody else hate to wait? Sometimes we do it well, other times….not so much.

I am reminded of Elijah’s weatherman… (Know who he was?) Three years before the great “call-down-fire-from-heaven” confrontation on Mt. Carmel (see 1Kings 18), God had told Elijah to pray that it would not rain as punishment on Israel for their idolatry, and for three years it did not rain. Then after the big show-down where baal was “showed-up,” the people turned their hearts back to God. So Elijah asked God to once again send rain upon the drought-stricken land. As Elijah began to pray he told his “weatherman” servant, “Go look for the rain-cloud.” (1 Kings 18:43) Now that’s kaw-vah! But, even though he was praying according to God’s will, there was absolutely no sign of rain. Again he prayed, and again he sent his servant to expectantly look. Over and over Elijah kept praying and kept anticipating an answer… until on the seventh trip, the servant saw one tiny cloud no bigger than a man’s fist! Hearing the partly cloudy weather report, Elijah told King Ahab, “Better hitch up your chariot and head for the palace because a real toad-strangler is a-brewin!” (I translated the Hebrew on that one myself!) And sure enough, before they got to Jezreel, the cloud became a thunderstorm and the downpour came!

So what’s the point? “Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.”(Luke 18:1) Are you playing the waiting game too? Well, keep praying and don’t give up! Pray and expectantly look for God’s answer! Wait upon the Lord, and He will renew your strength! Remember Elijah’s weatherman!

P.S. for those of you who read between the lines, you probably noticed something between these. After almost 18 wonderful years serving the Lord here in Mechanicsville, Des and I will be finishing the year here at Hanover Friends and then after Christmas, we will be heading back home to Kansas to take a pastorate in a small town near Wichita. I have dearly loved being able to share my “View” with you here in the Local for the past 11 years and pray that you have been blessed! I will have a few more articles in the paper before we have to say our good-byes. But for now, let’s agree to pray for one another, expectantly looking for God’s perfect answer!