Awaiting
Today’s Verse:
And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) ~Luke 2:4
Has anyone ever told you “let’s just wait and see”? When things are out of our control, we have to let go of our anxiety and wait. The days leading to Jesus arrival was a time of waiting and seeing. Let us see how waiting and seeing is God’s way of teaching us faith, trust and dependence.
There’s the wait and see of the multitudes.
“The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined” Isa. 9:2. For many years the Jews awaited the coming of the one referred to as the seed of the woman who would bruise the head of the serpent; the one called Shiloh descending from the tribe of Judah. This was the people who endured great persecution and under the tyranny of the Roman Empire who sat in darkness. Thy waited for many years, but when Jesus arrived this people that sat in darkness saw a great light. Perhaps you are sitting in a dark place in your life. Look for the light of Christ to shine brightly in your heart this Christmas.
There’s the wait and see of Mary.
Mary was great with child. She was in her ninth month. From the moment she was told by the angel Gabriel that she would conceive by the Holy Spirit, she waited excitedly, yet patiently. Being great with child means she was to give birth at any time. She waited to see God fulfill the impossible. Now that impossible would be the revelation of the Son of God. Mary was a humble servant during and after the birth of the Lord Jesus. She realized her ministry was more than that of a mother: it was a daily ministry to the Lord Jesus Christ. She did not despise her ministry and awaited the daily responsibility of being a godly woman that could lovingly wait upon the Lord. Let us remember this Christmas that we, too, should accept with gladness the joy of daily serving our Lord.
There’s the wait and see of the municipality.
“But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting”, Micah 5:2. Many years before it was prophesied that Jesus would be born in the little obscure town of Bethlehem. God uses little things to bring him glory. There was the little cake the widow woman made out of a handful of meal and a cruse of oil that did not run out until the famine was over. There was the little lad who gave Jesus his little fishes and barley loaves that fed thousands. There was the widow’s mite that Jesus praised because the widow who gave it gave her all. From Bethlehem a great than David would come forth. Jesus is eternal with no beginning and no ending. Jesus is the King of Israel, the King of the universe and the King of the ages. Jesus was a little babe when he entered this world, but he was still God and all powerful.
In the Bible the wait and see experiences of past believers was when they were told to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. When we walk by faith we honor God by trusting him by faith and seeing the salvation of the Lord at work. This Christmas, say like Isaiah “I will trust and not be afraid”.
Have a waiting God Morning.
Bible Reading Schedule: 2 Peter 1-3