Waiting...

What is the hardest part about waiting for something?

Have you ever waited for something so intensely that you could taste it?

I have a Golden Retriever named Nola that tends to steal food, even though she’s ten years old, we are still working on getting her to wait for us to give her something in her bowl. She has recently started barking at our food whiled it's still on the table.  We’ll make her sit or lay down and you can see her eyes brighten when that food is in sight, she starts to squirm, if she’s laying down, she’ll sometimes even army crawl just to get nearer the food bowl.  She’ll sometimes even start chewing before she has it in her mouth.  

Nola in her calm state without food around

Ever feel that way?  I think Christmas can be that kind of a time. Maybe you give hints or write notes to Santa, or have some anticipation for something special, as the time draws near, it’s like you can almost taste it. 

This season of Advent is practice in the art of waiting.  Bonhoeffer said “Waiting is an art that our impatient age has forgotten. It wants to break open the ripe fruit when it has hardly finished planting the shoot.  But all too often the greedy eyes are only deceived; the fruit that seemed so precious is still green on the inside, and disrespectful hands ungratefully toss aside what has so disappointed them.  Whoever does not know the austere blessedness of waiting—that is, of hopefully doing without—will never experience the full blessing of fulfillment.”

In Galatians 4:4-6, Paul says “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.  And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.”

Previously, Paul talks about a child who inherits all of his father’s wealth, yet is waiting until he is old enough to actually manage it on his own.  But when the time was right, God sent his son, so that we who trust in him could receive the inheritance of Jesus, not as a servant, but as a son or daughter.  Now that sounds like it is worth the wait!  

No wonder we get all antsy like my golden retriever.  Romans 15:13 says “May the God of all hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may about in hope.”  We are currently in a season of Advent, having gotten a whiff of salvation from Jesus, sent as a baby to be God’s presence with us (Emmanuel), receiving the Holy Spirit that fills us with all joy, peace, and hope. This keeps us focused with laser-like focus on Jesus who is perfecting and writing our faith until he returns for us, where we can spend eternity in his presence.  

As much as I hate waiting, I don’t want to get detoured by imposters that turn out to be too good to be true, looking ripe and juicy right now, but turn out to be green and bitter. During this season of Advent, not just December, but my life, waiting until the fullness of salvation in God, my prayer for myself and for you is that of the Psalmist in Psalm 62:5-8:

For God alone my soul waits in silence, 

For my hope is from him.

He alone is my rock and my salvation, 

My fortress; I shall not be shaken.

On God rests my deliverance and my honor; 

My mighty rock, my refuge is in God.  

Trust in him at all times, O people;

Pour out your heart before him;

God is a refuge for us.