Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord

I've been mulling a little bit on the idea that God has reversed the human situation with His own two hands, through the work of the Son and the Holy Spirit.  God has reconciled the world to Himself (2 Cor. 5:18-19) and we have the expectation of a restored world (Romans 8:20-23) without the darkness and evils we so often see and experience in the world around us.

But do we really live in that promise, can we?  Too often we as Christians become as hopeless and defeated as the world we're supposed to be ambassadors of hope to (2 Cor. 5:20). I think this sometimes happens because we build our expectations and goals from a worldly perspective and rely on ourselves and other things of man.  We also forget God's promises or never knew them to begin with, and instead believe the lie that we have nothing to combat evil with and this darkness in the world is never going away.

 Romans 8:15-25  has a great explanation of the truth of our situation if we are in Christ, and the perspective that we can have.  To live in this hope is easier said than done, but a key to all this is waiting.  "For if you already have something, you don't need to hope for it.  But if we look forward to something we don't have yet, we must wait patiently and confidently." (Romans 8:24-25, NLT)

"But those who wait on 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" (Isaiah 40:31, NIV).

This word "wait" from Isaiah in the Hebrew apparently means to twist and bind, like the material that makes up a rope. We need to let God wrap us up in His story and His strength instead of clinging to our own, otherwise when the suffering comes we will be torn apart. Perhaps one way to help get wrapped up in His story and the hope of restoration is to bring it into our worship. Let's sing about this hope, remind one another about God's promises described in the Word, pray for God to reveal how He is restoring right now and how we can be a part of that work.