How to Wait Powerfully on God in Your Battle

What’s your battle?

Not the battle with the Wifi or even with the teething toddler. I’m talking about those life challenges that test your limits – as a mom, as a wife, as a believer.

I want you to name yours out loud, friend, and then get ready to launch an all-out assault on that problem – an assault using one word from scripture. One tiny word: wait.

If I walked up to you and said, “Those who wait upon the Lord…” I bet you a box of Samoa’s that you could finish the sentence.

“But those who wait upon the Lord will find new strength.” - Isaiah 40:31.

Was I right? This is such a well-known verse, but have you noticed that familiarity with a verse can sometimes lead to it becoming a platitude rather than the powerful, living Word of God?

We must guard against this watering down of scripture. Hebrews 4:12 reminds us that “the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

Did you catch that? The Word of God is alive, active. It cuts to our hearts like a sword. I’ve heard Isaiah 40:31 countless times but never felt what Hebrews 4:12 describes.

Then one day, my husband and I listened to a sermon titled “Strength in Your Struggles” by Dr. Tony Evans in which he focuses on one word in verse 31: wait. In English, the word “wait” means: to stay where one is or delay action until a particular time or something else happens. I wait for Netflix to start. I wait for the microwave to ding. These imply inaction. I’m waiting for something else to happen so that I can make my next move. If I read verse 31 in this way, I’m going to assume that, in my trials, I sit by while I wait for God to move in my circumstances.

Dr. Tony Evans explains that the Hebrew meaning of the word “wait” is much more picturesque than mine (cue me staring at turntable in microwave). In Hebrew, the word qavah, which means “to wait”, has two definitions. The first is to look for, expect. The second is to plait, referring to the braiding of hair or a cord.

When you plait your hair, you take different sections of it and you wrap them around each other, tightly intertwining the sections together. Imagine the wind is blowing hard, and you walk outside with your hair down. What happens? Your hair is subject to the blowing winds.

It’s the same with our trials. When we try to walk through our trials without being tightly intertwined with our Heavenly Father, our stormy circumstances will toss us around. But tying every area of your life to God gives you a sure footing in that storm. Just like hair being braided doesn’t stop the wind from blowing, it merely weathers the elements better, we too can weather our battles better when we plait our life around God.

Do you see how this shifts our reading of Isaiah 40:31? God’s promise is that if I wait on Him, plaiting my life around Him, He will supply “new strength.” I now have an active role to play.

We plait by…

• Submitting every decision/goal to God and His plans.

• Praying every time we are tempted to worry.

• Fasting

• Reading scripture when we first open our eyes and right before we go to sleep (the Jesus Calling app is great for this!).

• Learning more about God. (Dr. Tony Evans and Pastor Robert Morris have epic sermons on YouTube.)

• Checking in with God throughout the day – seek His plan for your day.

• Listening to worship music as background noise.

• Being present in the moment. We can’t simultaneously worry about the future AND enjoy the giggles of our children. When we enjoy the gift God gives us in the moment and refuse to worry about our problem, we demonstrate trust.

We do not have to be blown around in the storm while we wait for God to deliver us. We have an active role to play – one that prompts us to cling tightly to our Father.

So plait, friend. Cling. Weave. Get close to God. He WILL give you new strength for your battle.

Happy plaiting,

Kelley Thigpen