I remember once when troubles descended like a sudden storm that dumps 10 inches of rain in 24 hours. But why is it that way? Why do troubles so often come in bunches or in such rapid succession that we barely have time to catch our breath before another wave hits?

I’m glad the psalmist did not live on a perpetual high. David once longed for wings of a dove so that he might fly away and be at rest. We would settle for the wings of a Concorde or a 747—even a Piper Cub!

But I discovered God’s promise in Isaiah 40:31. There, 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 no faint.”

So it boils down to: Away—or up? The key seems to be “waiting on the Lord.”

In this “instant” generation most of us don’t wait easily. But we can learn. F. B. Meyer once wrote: “Not always talking to Him or about Him but waiting before Him till the stream runs clear; ’till the cream rises to the top; till the mists part and the soul regains its equilibrium.”

Jeremiah, in the most dismal of circumstances, wrote: “The Lord is good unto them that wait for him” (Lam. 3:25).

Let’s start learning!

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