Welcome back to the third in this series of Advent devotionals on the theme “Waiting for God to Appear.”
When my children were little, they found it harder and harder to wait as the holiday drew near. We agreed that they would each be allowed to open one gift on Christmas Eve. One year my daughter chose a package which I knew only contained lightbulbs for a toy wrapped in a separate package. I tried to convince her to wait to open the first package, but the more I urged her to pick something else, the more she was convinced the gift in her hand must be the best.
Abraham had a promise from the Lord that he would one day have a child, and when Sarah suggested he have a child through her servant Hagar, it seemed like a great way to hurry along God’s promise. We all know the result of that effort, the child Ishmael. The middle-East has been torn in two ever since.
Abraham eventually got Isaac, the son God promised, and my daughter eventually got her real gift, an Easy Bake oven, the next day. But both of them had suffered disappointment earlier when they chose to hurry the process of waiting.
Remember what Paul wrote to the Romans (8:25): “If you already have something, you don’t need to hope for it, but if we look forward to something we don’t have yet, we must wait patiently and confidently.”
Don’t give up! Keep on waiting for the best!
