Day 631 - March 8 - They that Wait

"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

We all know this verse from the Old Testament - if you're a believer, or have been journeying with us here at CW for any length of time, you've heard it time and time again. It's a great verse.

It also brought home to me how many verses I've memorized in the King James Version even though I seldom read the KJV. But in this case, that's a good thing, because the fact that I think of this verse in the KJV was instrumental in developing a thought I've never had before, and let me see this verse in a different light.

How, you might ask? Well, if you take a few minutes and look this verse up in most of the other contemporary translations, you'll find that the translators give a certain meaning to the first phrase of this verse by translating the Hebrew into a sentence that means "wait for the Lord" - that's how the NAS and ESV translate it, and the NIV translates it "hope in the Lord" which pretty much means the same thing. A literal translation gives a sense of anticipation or expectation, so these are accurate, at least in my opinion (which when added to four dollars will almost get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks.)

But since I memorized it in the King James, that's how I hear it in my head when I repeat it to myself. I was thinking about it the other day, pondering the one-word message I heard from the Lord earlier this year - "wait". And because I'm not very good at waiting, I was thinking about this and wondering what it meant to "wait upon the Lord" when the alternate meaning of that phrase jumped into my head. You see, there's more than one kind of waiting.

When I read this verse, I always think of the "hang out on the bench in the mall while I wait for my wife to come out of the fitting room" kind of waiting, or the "Hurry up! I'm second in line for the bathroom" kind of waiting - but I have never (until now, at least) thought about it in the sense of the "someone who waits upon someone else" kind of waiting.

If you go to any restaurant where the food doesn't come in a paper bag, there are people there who hold a job position entitled "Wait Staff". You've met countless waiters and waitresses in your day, I'm sure. And these people's job is to bring food to your table. Is that the word picture I'm going for here? Not quite.

You see, these waiters and waitresses only get their title from earlier, more meaningful positions. The original is most recognizable by this phrase - "Ladies in Waiting". "What were they waiting for?", I've asked myself, but the answer isn't what they were waiting for, it's who they were waiting on. By the way, only females had ladies in waiting - men had a person or people called "manservants", but they performed similar functions. You see, the job of ladies in waiting and manservants was to ensure that every need of the person they served was met completely. They helped their employer bathe, and dress; they ran errands, they entertained, and yes, when their employer was less scrupulous these folks were often called upon to do other deeds as well. If you were to believe Hollywood, you might be tempted to think a manservant was sort of like a butler - but the true sense is that a butler takes care of a dwelling, while a manservant (or lady in waiting) takes care of a person.

Got the idea? These folks have one job - wait for their employer's instruction and do it. Hence the name. And yes, I can imagine that employing a group of people for the purpose of making sure my personal requirements were taken care of is probably somewhat expensive, which explains why only royalty had these people back in the day. Which also explains why the approved response from a manservant upon receiving instruction was supposed to be "Yes, m'lord". Eerily appropriate, isn't it?

OK, so back to the verse. "They that wait upon the Lord will renew their strength". Remember, we're talking about an alternate concept, not the clear understanding that this means "wait for" the Lord. But while we're waiting for the One we serve, shouldn't we be waiting upon Him as well?

What does it mean to wait upon the Lord in this sense? Well, for starters, I'd say it means we're supposed to be doing what He wants us to do while we wait. I don't think the concept here is "go sit over there until I get to you". I think it's more in line with Scripture to say that we're to be doing while we wait, not just waiting to do. Does that make sense? And all this goes for all of you who are reading this, too. How are you - how am I - supposed to be filling up this time as we wait for the Lord to heal? Do we sit and wait? Do I sit and blog? Is there more to be done? What is it He wants you, and I, to do during this time?

Well, for one, I can tell you that there are many, many hurting people who need to see God's faithfulness during their time of crisis. They're near you - in a hospital, or a funeral parlor, or a jail or homeless shelter near you. Are you touching them? Am I? Jesus would be - what's our excuse for not doing so?

I want you - yes, you individually who are reading this - I want you to consider what it means in your life to wait upon the Lord. What is He asking of you? What is He requiring of you? What is He expecting of you? I want you to ask yourself those questions.

And when you've answered them, ask another one -

Why aren't you doing it?

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Day 628 - March 5 - Bits and Pieces

A bunch of short items I've been meaning to mention but haven't blogged about yet - I'm gonna number them for later reference. I hope you don't mind...

1) I want to take a second to say how extraordinarily proud of my daughter I am. She and her husband are finishing up their Bachelor's degrees at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago this Spring - their hands are overflowing with work, and school, and studying, and getting ready to move their household back to California in May, and trying to find jobs out here, and a million other things. And she is is sensitive, intelligent, and compassionate enough to recognize that she may have impacted someone in the wrong way, and courageous enough to do something about it. If you didn't see her comment on the last post, all I can say is "what she said". Way to go, Joélle! Your Pops is so proud of you!

2) I'm pretty proud of Connor this week as well. He handled himself so well through two different doctor's sessions - so much better than anybody could have asked for. On Tuesday he saw his SCI doctor, which was a good visit all in all. Amongst other things, she's going to be ordering some physical therapy for him, assuming we can find a therapist that is covered by our insurance and will work with someone on a ventilator. There's a prayer request for you!

She was also frankly a bit astonished when she examined him. After looking at the state of his muscles, his lack of atrophy, and his breathing, she shook her head and said that Connor's body is not following the path for SCI patients - he is limber, his muscles are toned, they aren't atrophying, and he doesn't breathe or talk as if he were on a vent. She has decided to get the original MRIs from Fresno (she's actually been trying but they haven't been willing to send them) and order some new ones because, in her words "there may be something that's causing the nerves to act this way (in these unusual fashions) and we need to find out what it is". I am praying that there will be some clear, physical cause to Connor's situation that can be addressed, and that when taken care of will remove his paralysis. My God is a mighty God - He miraculously repaired Connor's arteries back in Fresno - and He can do this. Pray with me...

3) Connor saw his pulmonologist yesterday because of trouble with his lungs. He seems to be having some difficulty staying saturated with O2, and so the doc wants to do some X-rays and stuff to see what's going on in that department. Please be praying for that situation as well - even with a machine breathing for you, that whole oxygen thing is still kinda important...

4) If you only check the blog occasionally and spend all your time on Facebook instead, the ConnorWatch Community has a presence there as well. Search the Pages for "ConnorWatch" and you'll find us. So far, it's been a sort of annex to this site. It'll be interesting to see what becomes of it!

5) We're in the market to hire a trained massage therapist to work with the boy a couple of times a week here at the house. If you're local, and either are or know of an experience massage therapist looking for some more work, we want to talk to you! Contact me directly through the "Contact Us" page on the site, which can be reached from the bottom of each site page.

OK, enough. I know that as soon as I stop blogging, I'll think of something else I should have posted, but it's time to get ready for work. Thank y'all for sticking with us. Continue to trust God and wait with us!

Eric

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