Meditate on a verse of Scripture each day that will encourage you or lead you to praise and worship. Hide His Word in your heart and apply it to your life.
Sometimes, I feel like 99% of life is waiting – and I am not good at waiting. Never have been. Whenever I find myself waiting for Brian to finish a doctor’s appointment or waiting in line for something, I pull out my phone and play one of those silly match-three games or Mahjong just to keep myself occupied in the waiting, which helps me not become inpatient and upset in the waiting. While most of us are uncomfortable in the waiting, God often uses the waiting time to grow us, prepare us, make us more like Him, and help us learn to depend on Him. While we might grow restless in the waiting, God is never late. He always shows up right on time.
King David understood waiting. Samuel anointed him king of Israel while David was still caring for his father’s sheep. Bible scholars place David about the age of 15 when Samuel came to his home looking for the one that God would have him anoint as king. But it would be many battles fought and 15 years later before he would sit on the throne as king. Yet, he also knew that his hope was in God.
When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, God promised a way of redemption. However, it would be 4000 years later until Jesus is born. Throughout the Old Testament, the people lived their lives hoping for the Messiah. They would all die without seeing the promise fulfilled, yet they never lost their hope. They passed that hope down from generation to generation for 4000 years. And then when Jesus arrived as a baby born in a stable and laid in a manger, they didn’t even realize that what they had waited and hoped for had finally arrived. We see this in John 1:43-46. Jesus finds Philip and said, “Follow Me!” Philip in turn found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the One Moses wrote about in the Law (and so did the prophets): Jesus the son of Joseph, from Nazareth!” Nathanael’s response was, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” I love Philip’s response. He said, “Come and see.” The baby in the manger changed everything for us. Jesus invites us today to come and see…to experience the eternal and sure hope we have in salvation when we trust and believe in Him. He invites us to come and see and experience Him through a personal relationship with Him. If you have not yet found that hope, what are you waiting for? If you have, then what prayer are you waiting for God to answer? Jesus invites you to come and see the plans he has for you…plans to give you a hope and future (Jeremiah 29:11). The hope we have in Him, encourages us and gives us strength in the waiting. The baby in the manger did indeed change everything.
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