An Advent Prayer for When You’re Tired of Waiting
- Lauren Gaskill
- Published Nov 17, 2016
I looked at the clock on my phone for what felt like the hundredth time since I’d walked into the restaurant.
12:44. The numbers stared back at me, taunting me with feelings of rejection and defeat. If clocks could talk, then this one was shouting: They’re not coming because you’re a nobody. Your book isn’t even published yet. Why should they give you the time of day?
My fingers traced the cover of the manuscript I’d brought to share with my no-show lunch date — the message God had put on my heart to share with women; the message I’d been waiting years to get out to a larger audience — and I sighed, placing it back in my purse.
Out of sight, out of mind, right? But that didn’t make the feelings go away.
“Will it just be you eating here, then?” the waitress appeared once again. “Or are you still waiting for someone?”
“It looks like I’ll be dining alone … But I guess that just means more food for me!” I said, trying to make light of the situation. “I’ll have the falafel wrap with a side of soup and hummus, please.”
“Wonderful. I know you’re probably tired of waiting, so I’ll be sure to get the food out to you right away,” he replied.
Waiting is hard. And whether you’re waiting in traffic, waiting for the seasons to change, waiting for your husband to get home from a work trip, or waiting for your dream to come true — waiting is never fun.
I mean, seriously, who likes to wait? Who wakes up and says, “I hope I have to wait for something today?” (If you’re reading this and that’s you, please email me so we can be friends and I can learn your secret!)
All joking aside, if the majority of the world could choose between waiting and not waiting, I think we’d choose the latter. Because chances are if we’re waiting for something, that means we want it pretty bad, but we don’t have it yet.
The Bible is full of people who had to wait ridiculous amounts of time for something they wanted.
Noah and his family waited 40 days and 40 nights for the flooding to end (Genesis 7:12). Abraham waited 100 years to have a son with his wife, Sarah (Genesis 21:5). The people of Israel waited 400 years to be delivered from Egyptian slavery (Acts 7:6) And mankind waited thousands of years for Jesus Christ to be born (Luke 2:7).
As I sat in the café waiting for my lunch date to show up, I thought about Noah, Sarah, Abraham and the Israelites. I thought about the prophecies of Jesus’ coming, and how many years had to pass before those prophecies came true.
Then I thought about my book manuscript. I’d only been waiting a few years for it to be published. Surely if God had placed the message on my heart and wanted it to be in market, I could wait a little bit longer. Better yet, I could trust Him to show up and make things happen even when people didn’t.
We can trust, wait and rest in God, because God always comes through on His promises.
2 Peter 1:4 tells us that “because of his glory and excellence, God has given us great and precious promises” — promises that redeem, restore and sustain us.
All throughout Scripture, God declares His love and devotion for us by fulfilling promise, after promise, after promise for His people.
Not once has God ever left a promise unfulfilled.
His Word proves that He is faithful to the end. Take a look at this passage from Lamentations 3:22-23:
“The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease.Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.”
Did you catch that? Great is His faithfulness. Not just good. Great, never-ending, never-failing.
Unlike my lunch date who disappointed me when they didn’t show up (turns out they had written the wrong date down in their planner), I can count on God to show up and do a work in and through me — even when the wait seems long.
There’s a difference between waiting on man and waiting on God, and the Advent season reminds us of this. When we wait on one another, there’s an element of uncertainty, distress and confusion. But when we wait upon the Lord, the Bible tells us we become renewed (Isaiah 40:31).
Comfort, joy and strength are given to those who wait upon the Lord.
And those who wait upon the Lord are not without hope, because Hope is the very one they are waiting on. God is love (1 John 4:8). God is life. God is truth (John 14:6) God is hope (Romans 15:13).
Dear sister, I don’t know what you’re waiting on right now, but in this season of Advent I want to invite you to draw strength not only from those who have waited before us, but from God himself.
Draw strength from the promises of God and look forward to the fulfillment of those promises. For our God is not a God of false or empty promises, but of beautiful, certain promises.
Instead of being impatient or disillusioned in our seasons of waiting, let us be like David, who in Psalm 62 shows us a better way to wait.
“Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him.He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will not be shaken. My victory and honor come from God alone. He is my refuge, a rock where no enemy can reach me. O my people, trust in him at all times. Pour out your heart to him, for God is our refuge.” – Psalm 62:5-8
We are not alone when we wait. God is with us and He wants us to pour our hearts out to Him. He wants us to trust and find refuge in Him.
I pray that as we wait, we will hold on to these truths and we will let God’s Word renew our souls.
Whatever He has for us is worth the wait.
Lord, you are not just the God of time but the God of timing. Help me to trust You as I wait for the things I desperately want. Help me not become discouraged or depressed in this season of waiting, but help me take my place joyfully with all the saints who persevered through the wait you had for them. As we walk through this season of Advent, help me to spend time meditating on Your promise to bring our Savior into the world. Thank You for Your plan to come again and bring restoration for all things! In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.
Image Credit: Unsplash.com
