There was a war in heaven and Satan, who deceives the whole world, was cast out of heaven, “Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by THE WORD OF THEIR TESTIMONY, and they did not love their lives to the death. Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! WOE TO THE INHABITANTS OF THE EARTH and the sea! For THE DEVIL HAS COME DOWN to you, having great wrath, because HE KNOWS THAT HE HAS A SHORT TIME.” (Rev. 12:10-12) So, just what do we do? The Lord who knows all things said this to us, “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. He NEVER grows weak or weary. No one can measure the DEPTHS of his understanding. He gives POWER to the weak and STRENGTH to the powerless. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall, But those who WAIT ON THE LORD Shall RENEW their strength; They shall MOUNT UP with wings like eagles, They shall RUN and not be weary, They shall WALK and not faint.” (Isa. 40:28-31)
So what does this mean “WAIT on the Lord?” There are three words used for “wait” which represent THREE LEVELS of our relationship with the Lord:
- to trust
- to Serve
- to bind together in an intimate relationship…
- WAIT: yachal; to be patient, hope, stay, trust. “If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I WAIT, till my change come.” (Job 14:14) This is good and needed, but NOT THE WORD USED to “RENEW our strength”
- WAIT: tsaba’; to serve, perform, the sense of summoning one’s wishes. “This is it that belongs to the Levites: from twenty and five years old and upward they shall go in to WAIT upon the service of the tabernacle of the congregation:” (Num. 8:24) This also is good and needed, but NOT THE WORD USED to “RENEW our strength”
- WAIT: qavah; to BIND TOGETHER, weaving cords together, as if making a rope, to be INVOLVED IN INTIMACY WITH!!! THIS IS THE WORD USED TO “RENEW our strength” “WAIT on the LORD: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: WAIT, I say, on the LORD.” (Psa. 27:14) We need to become intimate with our Abba Father…
-Bill Stockham