Seasons of Waiting
Dear Reader,
Waiting is the worst. Sure, we all hate standing in line at the grocery store or waiting at stop lights, but we assume this is our vice of impatience and we are working on it. But what about when we are waiting for something larger? What about when we’ve waited years for something we are not even certain will come?
I think of when my husband and I were waiting and praying for our sweet baby girl. Two years we waited and hoped. Looking back, it is easy to see how God was working, but in the middle of waiting, not knowing the end pf the path, it was hard. It was hard to trust in the Lord’s timing, to continue to pray faithfully.
Waiting can often feel like stagnation. What are we to do while waiting on an answer from the Lord? I was recently reminded of Elizabeth and Zechariah. Zechariah was a priest and Elizabeth descended from Aaron, a line of priests. Luke says “they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord,” and yet they were “advanced in years” and had not borne any children because Elizabeth was barren (Luke 1:6–7). Their lack of children was clearly not some sort of punishment for their actions, but more than that, they spent their time of waiting walking with the Lord and living purely. One way we can respond in a season of waiting is to be faithful to God and live out his Word.
One day, Zechariah went to fulfill his priestly duties. He was chosen by lot, meaning by chance. However, God is sovereign over all; He certainly was in control over the lots cast that day. Nothing that happens to us is purely chance but part of God’s intricate plan. When Zechariah met the angel, he responded with disbelief and the Lord silenced his tongue. Miraculously, Elizabeth conceived! But the baby was still and silent in her belly; she could not feel him. In an age without sonograms and heartbeat monitors, this stillness would have seemed like the worst omen. Would the baby live?
Last Christmas, I was mired in a different sort of anticipation than the one before. I had only just over a month to wait to give birth, and, amid my mess of pregnancy-fueled fears, I felt excited to meet my baby. I had the promise of her coming, but I still didn’t know what she would look like, how she would feel in my arms, or what it would be like to take care of her as a mother. Jesus came into the world as a baby, God in the flesh, the incarnation. Similar to Elizabeth and me, as Christians we have the promise of Jesus coming again in full glory, bring his kingdom to fruition on Earth. This promise is as certain as the birth of a baby, as the incarnation of Christ. The world is pregnant with the glory of God.
A wise man once made a point about God’s sovereignty by explaining that how we view the past, set in stone, is how God sees the future. He exists outside of time and has his hand on it all. Our future is as certain as our past. The infant in Elizabeth’s womb leapt when she met Mary, pregnant with Jesus, just a few months younger. John the Baptist was a baby born at the perfect time, a time purposed by God, to announce the coming of the Messiah.
God may not give us everything we want. Or, like some of the great people of faith mentioned in Hebrews 11, we may not see the fulfillment of our prayers in our lifetimes. And yet as the angel told Zechariah, the words of the Lord “will be fulfilled in their time” (v. 20). God’s promises are true and good. This Christmas, let us soak in the anticipation of our season of waiting—however bitter or sweet. Let it remind us that our future is as certain as our past and, let it image for us the anticipation of the glorious coming King.
Join the conversation
When have you been in a season of waiting? How did God show himself faithful? If you are still in a season of waiting, how is God working in the waiting?