Waiting

Why do you think there is so much waiting in life? We wait to be born, to talk and walk, to go to school, to get married and to advance in our careers.

We wait for our kids to be born, and then wait for them to leave. Many people even wait to die. What does all this waiting mean?

One of the keys to Advent, the season of anticipation of the coming of Jesus, is waiting. What was it like for a first century Jew living under the yoke of foreign oppression for so long? What did it feel like waiting for the savior to appear?

How about Anna, who had prayed and waited for over sixty years for the promised King to appear!

Luke 2:36-39
Anna, a prophet, was also there in the Temple. She was the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher, and was very old. She was a widow, for her husband had died when they had been married only seven years. She was now eighty-four years old. She never left the Temple but stayed there day and night, worshiping God with fasting and prayer. She came along just as Simeon was talking with Mary and Joseph, and she began praising God. She talked about Jesus to everyone who had been waiting for the promised King to come and deliver Jerusalem.

It can be said that God is more interested in the transformation of our lives than He is in our gifts. If we have eyes to see it, God has a purpose behind our waiting, whatever we are waiting for. No matter how irritating it is to wait, God can have something for us; a nudge, a whisper, a promise of a better way and day.

What is it you're waiting for? Are you upset that you have to wait for it?

Galatians 5:5
But we who live by the Spirit eagerly wait to receive everything promised to us who are right with God through faith.