For All Who Wait

Advent is a time of waiting. Children and even adults eagerly wait for Christmas to come. We wait for presents to be opened, joyous worship services, times when we’ll gather with family and friends, and the focus that will bring new life to the hope we have in Christ.

Of course, we’re not the only ones who have waited to celebrate Christ’s birth. Do you recall Simeon and Anna? Anna was an 84-year-old prophet who had been widowed at a young age. She dedicated her life to fasting and praying in the temple courts, waiting for the redemption of Israel. Similarly, Simeon lived a devout life and is described as “waiting for the consolation of Israel” (Luke 2:25). The Holy Spirit had revealed to him that he would not die before he had seen the Messiah.

As Simeon took the child Jesus in his arms, he gave thanks that the time of waiting was over: “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel” (Luke 2:29-32).

When we think of waiting, I think we often have in mind only something that will happen next, but it’s important to see that, in Scripture, waiting is integrally related to hope. Psalm 130:5-6, for example, says, “I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope. I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning.”

Depending on the Bible translation you use, Isaiah 40:31 reveals the close relationship between waiting and hoping even more dynamically. The Revised Standard Version says, “They who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,” while the New International Version states, “Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.”

The concepts of waiting and hoping are almost interchangeable, and the outcome of waiting and hoping in God is the same -- the opportunity to renew one’s strength, soar like eagles, run without growing weary, and walk without growing faint.

This Christmas, I’d like to suggest that we forget the sequence of “I’ll wait until ____ happens” and instead adopt a posture of of living with hopeful dependence on God.

With such a posture, we’re not longing for the next event, the next vacation, or even the next blessing. Instead, our posture is one of full dependence on God the Creator, Jesus our Savior, and the Spirit by whom we are empowered.

May we join together during this time of Christmas and throughout the coming year with a posture of hope-filled waiting on the Lord.