The world had awaited their Messiah for thousands of years and when the proper time had come, He entered the world as a baby birthed by a virgin, just as written in the Scriptures.
Even when we know the truth that God's timing is always perfect, it is often hard to trust as we wait for His promises to unfold in our lives. Perhaps you are waiting for a loved one to surrender his life to the Lord. Maybe you wait for reconciliation with a family member. Our congregation awaits the fruition of our God-given vision that includes, in small part, a church building that we can call our own. A church in Laramie, Wyoming awaits the means to install a steeple on their roof and a dear friend of mine waits for the next opportunity to see her missionary children and grandchildren.
Mary waited. She was given the promise, "You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end." (Luke 1:31-33 NIV) And with this promise came periods of waiting. She waited for Joseph to accept her story as truth. She awaited the birth of her son and waited for His life to unfold before her. And just as written in the Scripture, the events unfolded little by little, just as the Lord promised.
It is difficult to wait… and to keep waiting… when we see no progress toward that for which we hope. And the truth is, sometimes we will wait our entire lives and never see the promises fulfilled. Hebrews 11 is full of people who waited with anticipation, trusting that what the Lord promised would be true, but did not live to see them fulfilled. The whole of God's Word tells us that what He said did, indeed happen and there is no reason that we should expect anything less, whether we live to see it or not.
May I encourage you today with the words offered from Elizabeth to her cousin, Mary: "Blessed is she who has believed what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!" (Luke 1:45 NIV) God promised a Messiah and in ways that the world least expected, the promise was fulfilled. He came to us. Immanuel, God with us. And the world was forever changed.
Hold fast to your confidence, my friend, and trust that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:6 NIV)
Seems like we have to wait longer for the good things and good changes to come about than the other unGraceful things. Proving once again, that we live in a fallen world and we long for our Heavenly Home!
ReplyDeleteHere's a quick answer to this situation:
When Satan is knocking at your door, simply say, "Jesus , could You please get that for me."
Like your new background photo! Snow gal!
Maybe our wait for good things just seems longer... like waiting for Christmas when we were kids! It seemed that it took forever to get here, but we had the same number of days to wait as we do now! The wait was not longer in a literal sense, but the anticipation was great so the wait seemed almost unbearable!
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