Waiting with expectation

The people of Israel waited for hundreds of years before receiving the promised Messiah. It not only seemed like a lifetime to wait, it was a lifetime, many generations of lifetimes. Yet God came through.

Many of us are waiting for promises of God to be fulfilled in our lives. Christmas reminds us of God’s faithfulness to his promises. There was a particular man involved in the Christmas story who demonstrated a life of waiting with expectation, 

“Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him” (Luke 2:25).

Simeon’s story is amazing. The whole focus of his life was waiting for the Messiah. Christ, our Consolation has come! We don’t know how long he waited, but we do know he was an old man and ready to ”depart in peace” after he had seen the face of baby Jesus. It may have seemed like a promise long-delayed, but God fulfilled his word.

 So friends, let us not grow weary in the wait, “For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end – it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay” (Habakkuk 2:3).

It’s not our job to figure out how the promises of God will be fulfilled. God has a plan and will bring it to pass – in the appointed time. 

Whatever God has said is as good as done.