Slow Burn: The Work and Wonder of the Waitنموونە

Day 1: Teach Me, Lord, To Wait

Music is the life source of our family; it marks our culture and family bond. My uncle Teddy Grover wrote a song inspired by Isaiah 40:31: “They who wait for 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.” I grew up singing that song again and again—in churches and nursing homes, in my parents’ studio where they wrote and produced music, at family gatherings and in everyday moments. The simple chorus of Uncle Teddy’s song is Isaiah 40:31 verbatim, and then the last line of the chorus simply says, “Teach me, Lord, to wait.”

Have you ever prayed a prayer without knowing it? I look back on the thousands of times I sang that song over the years and can see the power of my prayer with twenty-twenty vision. The declaration of faith I sang was a prophetic statement for my life journey.

In a sense, my life journey is no different from yours. You know about struggling with the tension of earth and eternity, present and future, pause and press. You’ve endured much over arduously long stretches of time. You are living it now.

Waiting is inescapable. And while we might feel like a whole lot of nothing is going on, we couldn’t be more wrong. There most definitely is something going on. Whether we’re dealing with divorce, heartbreak, sickness, loneliness, betrayal, or confusion, God will use our pain to serve his purpose. We always can keep trusting him to do that. When we don’t trust him, though, our pain can lead us to waste the wait.

A season of waiting is one of the greatest invitations you will have in life. God wants to give you a pace and perspective that only comes from the wait; he’ll give you time to reflect, renew, and then refocus. I believe you are in your finest hour because God is close, and I have great expectation for all he desires to do in your life from the inside out.

REFLECT: What area of your life needs renewal and refocus in this season?