What are you waiting for?

Ask any kid how many days there are until Christmas and they'll have your answer before you've finished asking the question  They're eagerly waiting for Christmas.

What are you waiting for?   

As we celebrate advent, we remember the longing felt as God's people waited through adversity and uncertainty for the promised Messiah-for centuries I might add.  We remember, as we too wait expectantly for the promised answer. 

The answer to our longings.  The answer to our hurts.  The answer to our unrest.

"And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."  Luke 2:10-11

Jesus came!! The long awaited Messiah came!  Heaven came to earth. 

And yet you're still longing, hurting, restless. 

You're still waiting .

So, what are you waiting for?

I don't know your deepest longings.  I don't know what keeps you awake at night.  Or what finds its way back into your mind the moment the world gets quiet.  I don't know what you've prayed for, begged for, or maybe even given up on all together because the wait has been so long.  But I know you're waiting for something.   I know you're waiting, because I know I'm waiting.  It's part of our human condition.

So, what are you waiting for? 

Are you waiting for a husband?  A baby?  A job?  Or maybe you're waiting for your husband to change, your baby to sleep through the night, or a better job.  Maybe you're waiting for healing of your body, your heart, or your relationship.   Perhaps you're waiting 'til you're not so busy, not so broke, or not so scared.  Maybe you're waiting for a sign, or just the right time.

The  Wonderful  Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace came,  and yet we still ache and long and wait.  How can this be?? 

In Romans 8 it says that "all of creation waits with eager longing... to be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of  the glory of the children of God."

Ever since Adam and Eve sinned, this world, and all who live in it, have been subject to sin's destruction and bondage.  Like a blanket of darkness that's fallen over us, perpetually holding our mortal spirits down to crawl along the dirt covered earth, far from heaven's splendor and freedom.  This is why even after we've finally attained whatever it is we've been waiting for, we still ache and wait and long for more.  Even when this life seems to be offering us its best, devastation is rampant. Earthquakes still swallow up cities.  Refugees are still discarded.   Spouses still walk away.  Babies still die.   

What are you waiting for?

Are you waiting for something that is fleeting, temporary, earthly?  Is your hope hinging on something that can be given and taken away?

Or are you waiting for the Lord?

"Our soul waits for the Lord; He is our help and our shield.  For our heart is glad in Him, for we trust in His holy name.  Let your steadfast love, oh Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in You."  Psalm 33: 20-22

In the same way that the early Christians waited for Christmas, so should we eagerly await the day of His second coming.  When He will set ALL things right again.  When death shall have no power and sin and suffering will be no more!

Oh how we long and wait for that day!

But until then, we wait.  Not for a circumstance, an experience or a feeling.  Not for things that are temporary.  Not begrudgingly, but expectantly!  We wait for the Lord!!  And while we wait, we remember that one of the names given to Jesus that day was Immanuel, God with us.

You are not alone in your longing and waiting. 

He is with us, believers, and He is working in our waiting. 

"What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?... Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?... No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.   For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."  Romans 8: 31-32, 35, 37-39 

Points to ponder:

• *What are you honestly waiting for?  Or put another way, what is the thing you think you need to move forward/be ok?
• *Is there something you need to stop waiting for in order for you to move forward in living the life that God's called you to?
• *What would it look like in your life today if you truly waited for the Lord?  How differently would  you feel?  How differently would you act?
• *Spend time this week thinking on how Jesus has been your Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace and  Immanuel.