Strength Will Rise
As We Wait Upon the Lord
Estimated reading time: 9 minutes
Word Pictures for “Wait” and “Strength”
A picture may be worth a thousand words, but a few words can paint a beautiful picture.
The keys in the Old Testament about how we get strength are reiterated in the New Testament.
Alabaster Grace: Wait Upon the Lord
The opposite of strength is to be ashamed or to be confused.
Psalm 25:1–5 KJV:
1 Unto thee, O LORD, do I lift up my soul. 2 O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me. 3 Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed: let them be ashamed which transgress without cause. 4 Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths. 5 Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.
If we understand what it means to wait upon the Lord, then we are not going to be ashamed.
What does “wait” mean? It is translated from the Hebrew word kavah. The simple picture behind it is to twist or bind together like a rope. Or like threads woven together into a tapestry. A modern example is a special stitch for knit fabrics that can move and stretch with the fabric; it’s flexible and moves so it doesn’t break.
Our idea of “wait” is not the correct one.
We don’t use the word wait properly in terms of its biblical meaning. It has to do with abiding, continuing, threading our hearts together with God. Biblically, “waiting” is a very active thing.
Psalm 130:5–6 KJV:
5 I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope. 6 My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning.
Psalm 40:1–3 KJV:
1 I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. 2 He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. 3 And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.
The second key is praise and prayer.
1 John 4:12–13 KJV:
12 No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth [continue, abide, wait] in us, and his love is perfected in us. 13 Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.
Word Picture for Strength
Philippians 4:13 KJV:
I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
Philippians 4:13 APNT:
I find strength for everything in Christ who strengthens me.
Strength is translated from the Hebrew word chayil. It’s first use is in Genesis, talking about riches. The basic word picture for it is substance. A rich person has substance. This word for strength is translated “wealth” and “riches” ten time each. It includes the idea of ability.
When we wait (abide, continue) upon the Lord—by hoping in the Word, praise and prayer, and continuing in love—we develop spiritual muscles. This is spiritual strengthening that comes from the Spirit of Christ within us. We have something there that was not there before.
What do we get when we have Christ in us? All the sonship rights. Righteousness, justification, sanctification. We get his love, his faith, his peace, his courage, and more. We just need to learn to walk out in it.
Romans 4:19–22 KJV:
19 And being not weak in faith, he considered not [the word “not” was added and is not in the text] his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara’s womb: 20 He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong [strengthened] in faith, giving glory to God; 21 And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. 22 And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.
Hebrews 11:11 KJV:
Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.
Strength is something we can receive.
Remember the man at the temple gate Beautiful? He had been lame from his mother’s womb and never walked. He wouldn’t have had any muscles in his legs or ankles.
Acts 3:6–8 KJV:
6 Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. 7 And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. 8 And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.
Ephesians 3:16 KJV:
That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;
Ephesians 3:16 AMPCE:
May He grant you out of the rich treasury of His glory to be strengthened and reinforced with mighty power in the inner man by the [Holy] Spirit [Himself indwelling your innermost being and personality].
After David had been chased by King Saul for years, he wrote this psalm (also in 2 Samuel 22) when he was finally delivered.
Psalm 18:1–2 KJV:
1 I will love thee, O LORD, my strength. 2 The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.
Psalm 18:32 KJV:
It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect.
Psalm 18:32 NASB:
The God who encircles me with strength, and makes my way blameless?
He’s made a path, a walkway, that I can walk on and be blameless.
Psalm 18:33 KJV:
He maketh my feet like hinds’ feet, and setteth me upon my high places.
The mother deer, the hind, wants to go to the high places, especially in summer, for protection and for provision for her young. From the high place, she is safe from her enemies and can see when an enemy is approaching. When God sets us upon our high places, it’s for provision and protection from our enemies. God makes us swift and sure-footed as we race up to the high place, walking in God’s strength.
Psalm 18:34–36 KJV:
34 He teacheth my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms. 35 Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy right hand hath holden me up, and thy gentleness hath made me great. 36 Thou hast enlarged my steps under me, that my feet did not slip.
Three things strengthen us:
- the Word
- prayer and praise
- dwelling in love
Those are the three keys to having strength arise as we wait upon the Lord.
Acts 15:32 KJV:
And Judas and Silas, being prophets also themselves, exhorted the brethren with many words, and confirmed them.
This is after they delivered the letter from Jerusalem.
Acts 15:31 KJV:
Which when they had read, they rejoiced for the consolation.
They heard the Word and were comforted, confirmed, and exhorted. And they praised God for it.
Acts 23:10–11 KJV:
10 And when there arose a great dissension, the chief captain, fearing lest Paul should have been pulled in pieces of them, commanded the soldiers to go down, and to take him by force from among them, and to bring him into the castle. 11 And the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome.
That promise carried Paul for more than two years, even during the shipwreck, before he got to Rome.
When you look at Paul’s life you see God’s strengthening day by day.
Acts 28:15 KJV:
And from thence, when the brethren heard of us, they came to meet us as far as Appii forum, and The three taverns: whom when Paul saw, he thanked God, and took courage.
Paul was strengthened by the love of the believers.
When we believe that God is love, we dwell in God and His love, and it just naturally spills over into love for our fellow believers. And that love for each other has a tremendous amount of strengthening.
When you see the deliverance come to pass, it strengthens and reinforces you. You’re strengthened because your heart’s entwined with God’s, and then it becomes confirmed or reinforced when you see the deliverance come to pass.
Many things take time.
Colossians 2:7 KJV:
Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.
Colossians 2:7 APNT:
your roots being strengthened and built up in him and established in the faith that you have learned, in which you should abound with thanksgiving.
Strength will rise as you wait upon the Lord.
Philippians 4:13 APNT:
I find strength for everything in Christ who strengthens me.
Scripture References
Scripture quotations marked (AMPCE) taken from the Amplified Bible, Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)
Scripture marked (NASB) taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
This teaching is also available on the Acts Now Fellowship website.
See Also:
From the Acts Now Fellowship website:
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