We wait, but not as those without hope. We wait precisely because of the hope found in Messiah Yeshua/Jesus (1 Pet. 1:3-6). We wait, but not in nothingness. We wait in His promise (1 Cor. 1:20), as the author of Hebrews encourages us, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful” (Heb. 10:23). Amen.

For forty-seven years I never thought of the thyroid gland, until mine demanded that I consider it. For forty-nine years I never really considered my knees, until, one day, they spoke through extreme pain. Through hypo and hyper thyroid issues, and eventual treatment, to shots into my knees to possibly help them make it a few more years, I waited. In the wait and through the trials I gained weight, lost fitness, but grew in ways unimaginable by the wait.

When one considers the dramatic change from running in the mountains to barely climbing the stairs, unimaginable growth probably would not leap to mind. But there, in the wait, He moved. Sometimes the setbacks are a setup for rescue. I was scheduled for a total knee replacement this Friday, but an issue arose that could have had a devastating impact on my recovery. This delay was by the grace of God. I wanted the extreme joint pain of the last year over, but His kindness once again rescued. Now, I wait.

Those of us in the covenant family of God wait. We learn to wait, and the fruit of the Spirit aids in this endeavor (Gal. 5:22-23). Those of the hall of faith (Heb. 11) provide examples of waiting on the Lord, at times not seeing the fulfillment of the promise in their days. Yet, He remained faithful. Abraham waited. Isaac and Jacob also waited. Moses waited. Joshua waited. David waited, and penned some of the deepest reflections on waiting. Then, the prophets waited. And the people of Israel waited. Even the Messiah waited.

In Proverbs 13:12 we read: תּוֹחֶלֶת מְמֻשָּׁכָה מַחֲלָה־לֵב וְעֵץ חַיִּים תַּאֲוָה בָאָה, “Hope/wait prolonged makes the heart sick/weak; but when the desire of the heart comes, it is a tree of life.” I’m not going to hide the despair that I felt when I realized that I would have to wait for surgery. But then the Holy Spirit reminded me of what He has accomplished in the previous two years of waiting. In the despair, weakness. In faith, strength.

In the past two years of largely being in a “holding pattern” the Lord has developed, deepened and cultivated relationships, opened wide the doors of ministry I had previously not considered, and above all, He brought me deeper into relationship with Him. All, in my mind, while I was “sidelined.”

It is the power of the wait that transforms us by His grace. He knew when to let the dam of living water spill over into my dry wilderness, every time. Waters that ripened fruit I had not considered or noticed. There were times when the silence was deafening, yet He was surely present. But more often than not, the Lord spoke with a shout through the voices of those around me. This morning I was considering Moses, Aaron and Hur. When Moses grew weary, Aaron and Hur supported his hands, and when they did, the Torah tells us: וַיְהִי יָדָיו אֱמוּנָה עַד־בֹּא הַשָּׁמֶשׁ, “and his hands remained faithful/firm/soild/steady until the going down of the sun.”

See friends, in His wait, we relate to and identity with our forebears, while learning to be supported by brethren in faith. The past our example, the present our active support. There in the wait the blessing of well watered fruit hangs on the branches of the Tree of Life so that we “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Ps. 34:8). The thing, moment or desire of our heart may have yet to arrive, but we know He is still faithfully working. Nevertheless, for those of us in Apostolic faith there is a change.

The apostle Paul writes, “But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Cor. 2:9). The apostle is reflecting on Isaiah 64:4, but with one significant change. Paul, a precise and faithful student of God’s Word, would know that Isaiah said “wait” and not “love.” Isaiah through several chapters was anticipating the One to come, Paul is proclaiming the hope that has arrived in that One: Messiah. The “wait” of Isaiah is the piercing pain of hope deferred, while Paul proclaims the love of God that now soothes us in Christ while the eternal promise is working out redemptive history.

Why do I tap out these words today? I use myself, not to glory in the pain or delay, but in the Lord. I know many of you are waiting as well, for all sorts of rescue. I merely desire to remind us all to keep looking to Him, or more precisely, keep digging into Him. We know that our help comes not from the mountains, but when we want our mountains to be moved and the circumstances of life changed, we need to keep digging into His faithfulness, evidenced in our lives by His Word, supernaturally and through the presence of the Aaron’s and Hur’s around us. His promise is never accomplished in our strength, or in our time. We are human, and in our despair our hearts may grow faint, but remember that the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit will reinflate the faint heart with the breath of life.

But what of this desire? This desire of the heart? The oft quoted Psalm says, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart” (37:4). This is not a magic formula for prosperity. It is a correction. What is the object of our delight (our softness), and our desire? David, who waited upon the Lord, knew that the Lord is to be the desire of our heart; and when He is the desire of our heart, He will supply our need (Ps. 23:1). Then the wait is over.

The Lord could have delivered the promised son to Abraham earlier, or He could have announced the promise later, closer to the fulfillment, and we could say this about example in every example above. The waiting set a hope in Abraham, our forebears, and in us. The hope causes us to look higher than the mountains, the sky and even the heavens, to the One in Whom every promise of God is wrapped up: Messiah Yeshua/Jesus. As Paul reminds us, there is yet a preparation happening, but we have the love of God in us and with us in the person of Christ, and He is all we need (Phil. 4:19).

So I wait, but I wait in the hope of the One Who has redeemed me from death, given me life, and freely allows me to taste of His fruitful tree in the Spirit, and see the goodness that He has cultivated even in the waiting. For we wait, not as those without hope, for we wait in the hope of Yeshua/Jesus.

Maranatha. Shalom.