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“Active waiting means to be present fully to the moment, in the conviction that
something is happening where you are and that you want to be present to it.”

— Henri Nouwen

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What Isaiah 40 Teaches Us About Waiting

Have you ever felt caught in a state of waiting because you can’t figure out what you’re supposed to do? 

Not waiting because you’re lazy or disengaged. Waiting because you’re trying to obey, but you don’t have clarity. You can’t figure out the timing, you don’t have the next step.

If we’re honest, this in-between place is where we often lose peace. Because waiting can feel like wasting. Like being left behind. Like being forgotten. Like God is silent. But Isaiah 40 tells us something different:

Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but 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 (30–31).

The Ways We Tend to Wait

Isaiah gives us the picture of an eagle, and the way I look at it, there are three different postures an eagle can take.

The first is perched, wings closed, sitting there. This is the kind of waiting that may look spiritual but we’re really just shut down. We don’t trust what’s beyond our control. We’ve been disappointed. We’ve been hurt. We’re scared. So we perch. We fold our wings. We protect ourselves. We stay safe. And we call it wisdom. But it’s not wisdom . . . it’s fear.

The second posture is in flight, wings flapping incessantly, wearing ourselves out. This is the other extreme. This is the person who can’t stop moving. They’re frantic. They’re pushing. Forcing. Overthinking. They’re doing everything they can to make something happen. But Isaiah says even youths grow weary. Even the strongest human effort has a ceiling, so we grow tired, distracted, and disillusioned because we just won’t stop flapping.

Respond

The third posture is the eagle in flight, wings spread, searching for the warm thermal upcurrents. This is the posture Isaiah is describing. “Mount up with wings like eagles . . .” This isn’t perched. This isn’t frantic. This is active patience. Wings spread. Eyes open. Heart attentive.

How to Wait Without Losing Peace

It’s not doing nothing, and it’s not doing everything. It’s being positioned. Because eagles don’t soar by constant effort. They soar by learning how to ride what they can’t control. They catch the current, they yield to it. They adjust to it. And what used to take striving becomes lift, and they rise into a new place and a new perspective.

“The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8)

Closing Prayer

Father, I confess that I don’t always wait well.
Sometimes I shut down and fold my wings,
and sometimes I strive and exhaust myself.
But this week, I choose to wait on You with active patience.
Teach me to spread my wings in faith,
to stay attentive, to stay sensitive,
to move with Your Spirit like the wind.
Renew my strength where I’ve grown weary.
Lift me above fear, frustration, and delay.
Help me to mount up like an eagle,
to run without burning out,
and to walk without fainting.
I trust Your timing, and I trust Your movement. Amen.

Praying with you,

Addison Bevere

P.S. Great news! The 40-day prayer journal is available again, and you can get yours (or one from a friend) wherever books are sold. If you’re been waiting for yours, thanks for your patience.