Advent Reflections {1}

The Wait

In the story of God, humanity, and redemption, there has been a lot of waiting.

Back in the garden, after Adam and Eve sinned, God told of One who would crush the head of the serpent.  He would be one of Eve's descendants..

About 1700 years after the garden promise, in the midst of widespread evil, God spoke to a man named Noah.  I am bringing a flood to destroy everything on earth, but I will make a covenant with you.  Noah and his family were saved - one tiny thread to continue the line of Eve's descendants.  Still the Deliverer was nowhere to be seen.

Over 400 years later, God spoke to Abraham, promising to make him a great nation and bless all the families of the earth through him.  Here was the line God was choosing to send the Deliverer through.  There was just one problem; Abraham and Sarah had no children.  How could an immeasurably great nation come from a childless couple?  It was 25 years after God's initial appearance to Abraham before their son was born.

More time passed.  The family grew, relocated to Egypt because of a famine, and were eventually enslaved.  Who would imagine the Deliverer would come from a nation of slaves?  Who would believe they could survive the brutality of their situation?  And yet they did.  After 400 excruciating years, God chose Moses to lead the people out of Egypt, back to the land He given to Abraham.

But the wait was far from over.  Under various leaders over the next 450 years, the nation of Israel - Abraham's children - went through cycles of rebellion and repentance in the land.  To King David, God spoke of a covenant yet again.  Your house and your kingdom will be established forever.  The Deliverer would be a descendant of David and rule on his throne.

Around 300 years later, through the prophet Isaiah, God gave more details about this coming Deliverer.  A child from David's family - from the stem of Jesse - who would be called the Prince of Peace.  Born of a virgin.  Full of wisdom and righteousness.  One who would who punished by God for the sins of the people, like a sacrificial lamb.

But where was He?  How many more years would there be to wait?

- - -

I don't like waiting.  I never really have.  Advent is a season about anticipating what is not yet, about believing that God is at work even when the wait seems interminable.

So today, I pause and reflect.  I remember the years of this Story and let the impact of all that time sink in.  There is hope in the waiting, because God is our hope and He has always been present.