Living the Story of Advent: Waiting for the Deliverer, and He Doesn’t Come as Expected

This Advent I have the opportunity to experience the uncertainty and waiting. God hasn’t moved the way I’ve expected.

Each year I find myself in the Christmas story. Some years I have been Mary, pregnant or with a newborn baby boy, looking into his eyes and wondering how he will be used by God. Other years I am Anna, patiently waiting for what seems like ever so long. Grasping tightly to hope that I will see Jesus. This year I find myself among the people of Israel, feeling the weight of a world in chaos and calling out for my deliverer.

I know that in many ways I am still in the early years of my life walking with Christ. But if there is anything I’ve learned so far is that God is reliable but unpredictable. Let me explain what I mean by this.

Israel needed a Messiah. A nation under occupation, a once great people brought low by a conqueror with a bigger army. They dreamed of freedom and yet clung to what little they had, afraid to hope for more. The Romans allowed them to practice their faith provided they paid their taxes, followed the laws and didn’t stir up trouble. What they desired most was a Moses or a David, who would unshackle them from their oppressors and lead them into a new era of Jewish power and strength.

What they weren’t expecting was a child born to a young mother, of a middle class family in a small city. The incarnation was surrounded by salt of the earth people not the powerful and significant. The only people of status to see Jesus for who he was weren’t even Jewish! The Magi were of the wrong faith and the wrong nation yet they saw Jesus arrival for what is was, the birth of a king.

Jesus arrival was perfectly timed and placed, but it probably didn’t seem that way. Certainly not the the nation waiting in exhaustion for a deliverer and certainly not to his parents whose entire lives had been upended by his unexpected conception.

I think God is late or uncaring in his response because I forget that his answers come in the fullness of time and not a moment sooner. I wish I could say that my waiting has always been filled with hopeful anticipation. I prefer to think of it as quiet desperation and cautious faith. I take each step forward hoping the ice beneath will not break and believing that when the moment comes that I can’t walk any further, God will be there.

As you move through this sacred time of year, I encourage you to think about what you are waiting for. I pray that we will not grow weary in our waiting but that we will be confidently optimistic through the in-between times. Confidence built on God’s faithfulness in the past and hope fueled by a genuine excitement at his imminent arrival.

Hail the heav’nly Prince of Peace!
Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings,
Ris’n with healing in His wings.
Mild He lays His glory by,
Born that man no more may die;
Born to raise the sons of earth,
Born to give them second birth.

Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King!”