While We Wait

Jesus’ first Advent was prophesied about, but then time marched on. Eve even thought Cain might be the Messiah. Jesus came and fulfilled prophecy and opened heaven for humans as his gift, to allow us to join life with the Trinity. Then he went back to heaven, and we wait for him to come again. How do we maintain trust that he’s coming again? What can we do while we wait to build our faith and be hopeful.

When things are going well, we may begin to believe that we are enjoying the life and success we are due for our hard work, wise decision making, focused attention, and careful planning and execution. However, when days of desperation come, we may become depressed and discouraged. If we’ve given ourselves credit for creating the good life, we may decide to give ourselves credit for the bad. From our helpless place of distress, God delivers. All we can do is give thanks.

Isaiah says that we can renew our strength as we wait. We can build relationships while we wait—relationships with each other and with God. We can develop patience, and we can follow the wisdom and avoid the pitfalls of the patriarchs of Scripture, learning from them what is wise to do while we wait.

This week, some were pained by the election, and others were relieved. Regardless of who won, we know they will have some successes and some failures in our currently broken world. How long can we wait for things to be different, and what do we do while we wait? David was anointed king in a private setting, honored the current king, and waited for God's plan. While we wait, we might do well to follow David’s lead.

Taken captive in a foreign land, out of his element, not clear as to his future, with more unknowns than a pandemic, Daniel prayed. He prayed so regularly, so faithfully, so consistently that it was the only way to get him in trouble with the king by crafty fellow statesmen. While we wait, we can mature in our prayer life. Pray. That’s what Daniel did.

There’s the temptation to run ahead. Moses knows his story: from basket boat to royalty! He craves justice for his people, so he takes things into his own hands and commits murder. But it was witnessed. He flees to Midan, and for forty years each morning he cares for sheep. Finally, he leads his people to freedom, and they refuse to trust that God can give them the land he promised. So for another 40 years he wanders the desert, and every morning he gets up and goes to work sitting in the seat of judgement. Faithfulness in our duties of regular life are certainly a big part of what we do while we wait.

Things can seem tough. We can do the right thing and still have things not work out. We can and will be treated unjustly. Joseph was sold by his brothers and unjustly imprisoned. Joseph had no idea if his wait in jail would be days, years, or decades. What did he do while he faced a totally unknown wait? No matter our circumstances, we can choose to make the world a better place, to be a contribution while we wait.

Job was a great man of faith walking with a God who had prospered him in every conceivable way. Then he lost it all. Stripped of wealth, friends, family, and health—wishing he’d never been born. What can we learn as Job waits in suffering for God to redeem?

Abraham was given a promise: to be the father of a nation, which he heard as the promise of a coming son, an heir, progeny.  He decided that waiting was too long. From Abraham we learn one thing not to do while we wait, and that is to adopt a do-it-yourself plan. A form of that for us might be “getting ready for Jesus to come,” as if we could do that! What does that even mean?