Isaiah 40:31
But those who wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] Will gain new strength and renew their power; They will lift up their wings [and rise up close to God] like eagles [rising toward the sun]; They will run and not become weary, They will walk and not grow tired.
The Hebrew word for wait here is Qawah – which doesn’t just mean wait. It means to patiently wait, to expect, to hope and to entwine
Psalm 42:11
Why are you in despair, O my soul? Why have you become restless and disquieted within me? Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.
The Hebrew word here is Yahal – which is similar to Qawah – to wait, to tarry to expect, to be patient, carrying the sense of hopeful expectation.
The bible uses wait and hope interchangeably in these two verses and in several others. In the waiting there is an expectation of God, looking to God, hoping in God. The inverse is also true that hoping in God requires a period of waiting. The Hebrew words here add the adverb “patiently”. This wait is one filled with hope in God, it’s a wait that that takes time and requires patience and it’s a wait that means having an expectation that God will do what he has promised.
Often when I think of waiting, it’s an exercise of impatience. Waiting is uncomfortable, something we want to speed up. Waiting in a queue, waiting for the workday to end, waiting for something I’ve ordered to arrive, waiting for my kids to get ready. Waiting becomes this stressful excercise that we try to speed up, because waiting is awkward and uncomfortable. Sometimes we even pack it with other things – ok while I wait I can do AB and C. Yet the bible describes waiting as an exercise that requires patience, that is needed when being hopeful of something.
In the waiting, may we be patient, remain hopeful and stay expectant as we look to God.