Sometimes it seems that troubles descend on us like a sudden storm that dumps 10 inches of rain in 24 hours. Troubles so often come in bunches or in such rapid succession that we barely have time to catch our breath between them.

We don’t live on a perpetual high, and neither did the Psalmist David. He once longed for the wings of a dove so that he might fly away and be at rest.(1) We’d settle for the wings of a 747 plane–or even a Piper Cub!

In Isaiah 40:31 I discovered God’s promise to us: those who “wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”(2)

So it boils down to running away or waiting. The key seems to be “waiting on the Lord.”(3)

In our “instant” generation most of us don’t wait easily. But we need to learn. F. B. Meyer wrote, “Prayer means not always talking to Him, but waiting before Him till the dust settles and the stream runs clear.”

Jeremiah, in the most dismal of circumstances, wrote: “The Lord is good unto them that wait for Him.”(4)

(1) Psalm 55:6. (2) Isaiah 40:31, KJV. (3) Cf. Isaiah 40:31. (4) Lamentations 3:25, KJV.