The Words You’ve Been Waiting For

The season of Advent calls us to wait.

Most of us are familiar with the waiting rooms of life. We wait for graduation. A spouse. A child. A job. A diploma. A prodigal to return. A cure. A retirement celebration. Another round of chemotherapy. Relief from chronic pain. Freedom from debt.

Just as the prophets waited to hear a word from God. Just as humanity waited for a Savior.

God’s people waited for the highly-anticipated Messiah’s arrival. Some waited with baited breath. Others had stopped holding their breath altogether.

Life is filled with seasons of waiting that become the breeding ground for insecurities and self-doubts as we anticipate what’s next. Yet joy comes with Jesus’ arrival.

In this fortunate turn of events, an angel speaks the words the world had been waiting for:

Love is coming in the flesh. Emmanuel, God with us, is moving into the neighborhood.

No matter what you’re waiting for, you don’t wait alone. God is ever-present in our waiting. The Hebrew word for wait, yachal, means to “wait expectantly.” Waiting invites us to grasp for God.

In our waiting, let’s fight back with joy and declare that the darkness has not and will not win. (Click here to preview the Fight Back With Joy 6-Session DVD Bible Study).

The wonder of Advent is that though you wait, we wait, all of humanity waits—we do not wait alone. God hasn’t forgotten you. He hears your prayers. God is with you.