Verse "But 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." Isaiah 40:31 (KJV) Reflection Waiting is perhaps the most difficult discipline for the modern Christian. We live in an age of instant answers, immediate gratification, and on-demand everything. Yet God often calls His people to wait. Not because He is slow, but because waiting itself is a means of grace. In the Reformed tradition, the means of grace are the ordinary channels through which God strengthens our faith: the Word, prayer, and the sacraments. But waiting belongs on that list too. It is in the waiting that self-sufficiency is stripped away. It is in the waiting that we learn to depend not on our own timing but on God's. Isaiah spoke these words to a people in exile, a people who had grown weary, whose strength had failed, and who were tempted to take matters into their own hands. God's answer was not a quick fix but a call to abide. "Wait upon the Lord." This is not passive resignation; it is active trust. To wait upon the Lord is to renew our hope in His promises, to fix our eyes on His faithfulness, and to refuse the shortcuts that lead back to Egypt. And here is the promise: those who wait will renew their strength. Not their own strength, but strength from above. They will mount up with wings as eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint. The waiting produces what rushing never could: a deeper abiding, a stronger faith, and a clearer vision of the God who is worth waiting for. Prayer Lord, I am weary of waiting. My heart grows impatient, and my hands itch to seize control. Teach me to wait upon You as a means of grace. Strip away my self-sufficiency and teach me to abide in Your promises. Renew my strength not so I can run ahead of You, but so I can run with You. Help me to trust that Your timing is perfect, and that the wait itself is part of Your good plan. In Jesus' name, Amen. Application What area of your life are you currently waiting on God to move in? How can you turn that waiting from passive frustration into an active discipline of abiding in Christ?