I am weary as I write this, bone weary. Between the auto-immune diseases trying to gain control of my body, and the medications trying to gain control of the diseases, I am fatigued by the battle for supremacy. I am also weary of mind, trying to grasp what is going on in the world around me and around the world. The fight for control of our thinking, our work, our vote, our health, our freedom has left me wondering what might be around the next corner that is even worse.
Just because I am weary of body and mind does not mean, however, that my spirit is the same. In fact, as the body and mind flails, my spirit is stepping up. I am even more dependent upon God’s Spirit to uphold me. I am even more determined to allow Him to pour out His strength and power upon me. I am even more committed to not allowing the things of this world to be my focus, but instead to search the deep things of God in pursuit of Him.
The daily Bible verse that was delivered to my email recently says it all … “but those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength; they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not become weary, they will walk and not faint.” [Isaiah 40:31]
That is such a familiar verse, we have said it, probably memorized it, and even sung it. if you have sung it, you know that at the end of that little chorus the author added a prayer, “Teach me, LORD, teach me LORD, to wait.”
I do not know if the author added that prayer as just a nice ending to the song, or if he realized that for us to live Isaiah 40:31, we would have to be taught how to wait no matter what was going on in us and around us. We do not “wait” very well naturally (think long lines to check out, traffic jams). We must learn to wait.
I also chuckled a bit over that last line this morning … the author of the song did not just say “Teach me LORD” once, he repeated it … “Teach me, LORD, teach me LORD, to wait.”
I know in my life that prayer is not a one-and-done prayer, I’ve repeated it often. Teach me, LORD, to wait. I’m repeating it again this morning. Teach me, LORD, to wait.
