Waiting for What Is to Come
Maybe we need a little longing in our waiting. As I am writing this advent devotional, I am on hold with the airline. It’s a long story that I won’t bore you with now, but it involves two wrong boarding passes being issued, resulting in a missed flight at the very busy Atlanta airport that was still catching up from holiday travel over Thanksgiving.
Waiting can be exhausting and even stir up frustration and anger, depending on the circumstances of what one is waiting for. Longing is an emotion, and it can be a positive. It can help us during the waiting for certain things that are beautiful, loving, and fulfilling. Longing can have a negative side as well, leading to loneliness or even hurt or frustration if not managed.
So what does this have to do with advent? Well, in advent we are waiting to celebrate the first coming of Jesus. And we are waiting for his second coming. Obviously, we wait to celebrate an event that has already happened with the birth of Christ, while waiting and evening longing for Christ to return.
In Isaiah 30:18, there are two references to waiting. One has to do with the Lord waiting, and the second has to do with our waiting.
“Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.”
This verse comes in the middle of a prophecy during the time of Hezekiah. Isaiah had warned the Jews to not form alliances with other nations but to rely on him and him alone to be their protector, deliverer, and their ultimate source of peace. In this case, the Lord was waiting for his people to trust him so that they might experience his graciousness.
We are not very different from our spiritual ancestors. God wants us to trust him fully. To rely on him to meet every need and provide victory over our temptations and our various challenges. God lovingly waits for us while we struggle to let go of our self-sufficiency and place all of our faith in our loving Father in heaven.
Isaiah ends this verse with the reminder that all are blessed that wait for him. But our waiting can involve the positive side of longing. When we surrender to the Lord each day, we long to receive his promised blessing. The good news is that the birth of Jesus makes it possible for our greatest need to be met. Through the gift of Christ, we receive forgiveness of our sins and the bonus of the gift of the Holy Spirit as we surrender to Christ.
It will be just a few more days until our celebration of the birth of Jesus. And as we celebrate, we will turn our attention to Christ’s final return. In between these two glorious events we can be assured that God will not leave us waiting in vain. He will meet every need.
Father, we choose to wait to celebrate the birth of our Savior today. As we wait, we are grateful for the promises of scripture that give us great confidence that you will meet every need as we wait and even long for your glorious return. Increase our faith as we place our hope in you today. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Your Time with God’s Word
Isaiah 30:18; Philippians 3:20-21 ESV
Photo by Jeswin Thomas
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