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Readings: Psalm 34
Advent is a season of waiting. It’s a time to anticipate the physical coming of Christ into the world.
Just as we decorate our house for Christmas, Advent gets our hearts ready for Jesus.
But that doesn’t mean the waiting is easy.
In many cases, we wait and wait, only to find the outcome isn’t what we were expecting. We wait with no end date in sight.
But Advent is a special kind of waiting.
We know who’s coming.
We know what he looks like.
Now it’s time to get ready.
Working in after school settings for many years, the excitement of kids around this time is palpable. Among the younger students, we often (ok, multiple times daily) fielded the question, “is it Christmas yet?” Paper chains decorated our classroom, and we made sure to update our countdown to Christmas board every day.
Do we wait for Jesus with that same excitement? Does our joy and curiosity around this season overflow? Are we able to show up every day with the same expectant outlook as a child anticipating Christmas?
Waiting is hard. It’s exhausting work, especially if, like me, your mind constantly fills with “what-ifs.” It’s not pretty or easy work, but, often, it’s necessary.
In Psalm 34, David’s writing teaches me a bit of what it means to wait well, expectantly, and hopefully.
David knows waiting on the Lord is hard. In this Psalm, David spends the first ten verses reminding us, and himself, how he’s seen God move. In the last half of the Psalm, David shares some advice on how to wait well.
David reminds us that waiting on and with God is an active act. Verse 15 of the Message translation says that God’s “ears pick up every moan and groan.”
Hard seasons of anticipation and delayed gratification aren’t supposed to be silent or stagnant.
In our waiting, we’re called to cry out to God (v. 17), believe he is nearby (v. 18), and trust that he will rescue, protect, and deliver us (v. 19-22).
A forced pause allows us to move toward God in faith, trusting that he will provide for us and, ultimately, deliver us from a season of waiting. Mercifully, he does not grow weary.
Likely, anticipating Christ’s birth isn’t the only thing making us hold our breath this season. Situations outside of our control often require us to wait, even if we’d rather choose to move forward.
This week we’re going to be looking at the idea of waiting. Some questions we’ll be thinking about include:
What does it mean to wait well?
Are we still moving forward, even if it feels like nothing’s happening?
Can we both move and wait at the same time?
What should we be doing in the waiting?
What if waiting isn’t stagnant at all?
Thankfully, we don’t stay anticipating things forever. Our seasons of waiting aren’t in vain. Seasons of preparation teach us to rely on God. They change us.
Take heart. The story, your story, doesn’t end here.
Journal prompt: What are you waiting on? How are you waiting well? What might it look like to wait on the Lord, using Psalm 34 as a guide?
