27:14:“Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD
The Azusa Street Revival of the early 20th Century ushered in many practices that are still around today. One practice that has pretty well died out is called the tarrying services and was once very popular in the old line Pentecostal churches. This idea grew out of Luke 24:49 and Acts 2:4 where the disciples were encouraged to tarry or wait until you be endued with power from on high. The tarrying services appealed to those seeking the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and they would wait up all night praying, singing and reading Scripture waiting for the Holy Spirit to come and fill them with power.
Indeed throughout Scripture we find the word waiting. Yet, when you think about it does it really make sense that the Lord is deliberately withholding the power of the Holy Spirit and that you have to sit around fasting, praying and waiting before He decides if you are eligible or worthy to receive this power? Judging from many of those who claim to have received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit I suspect that if the Lord had to wait until we achieved some sort of perfection in the flesh or natural before He would grant that power, nobody would get the power. Yet that is the logical conclusion that God is waiting around just to see how sincere and devoted you are to determine if you are a good candidate for this power . I hold myself as a prime example of one who should never be entrusted with the power like the first century Christians demonstrated. It does makes sense that God would not grant this power until we have proven ourselves and proven our desire to receive this power except for one thing. God knows our hearts, He already knows how we feel about receiving this power and our motives behind it, we don’t have to prove a thing to God.
However, I would not throw out this concept of waiting entirely, I would just redefine it. Let’s take a look at this word in Psalms 27:14: Wait on the Lord, be of good courage. Actually, that word for be of good courage is simply chazaq and in this particular form should rightly be translated, be strong or become strong. This strength or chazaq is a strength of firmness, to be solidly planted and unmovable, to be firm in your resolve. The syntax suggest that this is the result of waiting, it is not another condition. In other word the Psalmist is not saying wait and be strong, but wait and you will become strong.
So again it appears that we have to wait around twiddle our thumbs and patiently wait for God to suddenly zap us with strength. I think this can best be understood if we understand the word that is used for wait. It is the word qavah which in its Semitic root is the word for making rope. Make rope in ancient times is very similar to making rope today. You take numerous strands of fabric which could easily be broken by itself, but when placed with hundreds of other strands and when bound tightly together you have a rope that is unbreakable. This waiting process is not just sitting back waiting for something to happen, it is a time of binding yourself to God.
Many thousands have testified to receiving spiritual power after a time of tarrying. I for one will not question another’s subjective experience. If they say that after a period of patiently waiting the Lord saw fit to send His Holy Spirit to fill that person, I will accept that. But I will not blame the Lord for deliberately withholding his Spirit from them until they have proved their persistence. One thing that has always impressed itself on me about the Holy Spirit is that He is holy. I am not holy and my unholiness has sealed up the entrance gate for the Holy Spirit. I have to deal with a lot of unholiness in my life and for me that takes a lot of time, a sleepless night of examination and confession is not unusual in my case. So for me, I am not waiting for the Holy Spirit to come, He has already come, He is just waiting for me to clean up my act, confess my sin, let the blood of Jesus cover those sins so He can enter my life and empower me.
I daresay that these tarrying meetings are not a time of waiting for the arrival of the Holy Spirit, it is a time of the Holy Spirit patiently waiting for everyone to get their act together. I remember attending a prayer meeting where the person in charge declared that it was her role to protect the anointing. I suspect what she was doing was protecting the emotional climate of the meeting so no one kills the mood. As far as protecting the presence of the Holy Spirit, if I were the one hindering the Spirit of God she would have had to point out my sins and demand that I start confessing. But unless she has the power to read that in me about the only thing she will be successful at is protecting the mood, the emotional atmosphere and determining when it is a good time to be quiet and when it is a good time to shout.
It is curious the text does not say waiting for or on the Lord but to the Lord it is the word ‘el which is the preposition to, unto, or toward. That doesn’t sound right in English, but if we use the Semitic root of the word qavah as binding then it would make sense to use the preposition to. We are to bind ourselves unto the Lord. When we bind ourselves unto the Lord we will have chazaq, strength, courage or another use of this word is power.
So I am not opposed to a tarrying service so long as it is understood that we are not waiting for the Holy Spirit to make His appearance. Rather the Holy Spirit is right there, ready, willing and able to make an appearance just as soon as we spend time in self-examination, confession, prayer, Scripture reading and even fasting so we can subdue the flesh and let our spirit which is cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ be released into the embrace of the Holy Spirit, whose holiness will not be offended because the blood of Jesus has covered any and all of our offenses.
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