Waiting Christmas and discouragement

The Christmas season can be a rough time for more people than we might think. Everyone is already weathering the merciless scourgings of this Genesis 3 world. The miscarriage of a child. The separation of a spouse. The loss of a child. The letting-go from a job. The news of that diagnosis. The rebellion of a child. For many, Christmas time can be a ruthless reminder of that person or thing or blessing that we are without. Combine that with the pressure to feel merry, when some don’t, and it’s a battle.

One particular difficulty is waiting. Often in life, we find ourselves waiting; waiting under the inscrutable sovereignty of God. Much of life can be summed up like this: we are about to enter a situation where we are waiting on the Lord, we are in a situation where we are waiting on the Lord, or we are coming out of a situation in which we were waiting.

Waiting is nothing new for God’s people. Abraham and Sarah had a lengthy wait, from the time of the promise of a child until he was born (Gen 12:1-3, 16:3, 21:5). David had to wait on the Lord (perhaps 15 years), from the time he was anointed king (1 Sam. 16:12-14) until he actually ascended the throne (2 Sam. 5). The apostle Paul waited, while he prayed repeatedly for the Lord to remove the thorn (2 Cor. 12:7-9). Jeremiah waited, as he endured decades of little to no fruit along with persecution. And yet, he said this of waiting:

The Lord’s loving kindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. 23 They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. 24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I have hope in Him.” 25 The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him. 26 It is good that he waits silently for the salvation of the Lord. 27 It is good for a man that he should bear the yoke in his youth. 28 Let him sit alone and be silent since He has laid it on him. 29 Let him put his mouth in the dust, perhaps there is hope (Lam 3:22–29).

Various words are translated “wait” in Scripture. One word, used in Ps 119:114, has the idea of an extended period of time in a place or state, implying a hope of resolution to some situation. Another, used in Ps 62:5, carries the idea of quietness; silence; stillness; a stilled demeanor, and quietness of soul. A third, used in Lamentations 3:25, refers to looking forward with confidence to that which is good and beneficial, with a focus of anticipation in a future event.

One way to think of waiting is a demeanor of surrendered trust in the Lord that fights to remain patient, prayerful, and faithful in one’s walk with God as Father and Sovereign.

We find ourselves waiting for so many things. The long, painful years, waiting for the salvation of a loved one. A difficult financial situation. A job to come through. Clarity on what to do in life. Weathering a season of perplexing sorrow. Waiting for a child to turn from rebellious ways. Waiting as someone shoots fiery arrow after fiery arrow at you, and it’s inexplicable; it seems useless; they are going through all the trouble to do this to you when they could be doing a million more productive things. Waiting for a spouse to change and grow. Waiting for victory over sin. Waiting during a grievous, lamentable political situation. Waiting for vindication when you have been falsely accused. Waiting during the suffering of a loved one. Having to sit by a hospital bed and wait. Waiting during hospice. Waiting to be reunited with a  loved one in heaven. Waiting for our own glorification, because our sin is tiring. Or just waiting for the return of Christ, to right all wrongs and fix all this damage.

Some of you are waiting. And it’s very difficult

Why does our good God have us wait like this? Sometimes we don’t know (Eccl 9:11-12). Sometimes it’s because of depravity (Ps 13:1-2). And sometimes it’s for the miraculous work of transformation God wishes to do in us (Rom 8:28-30).

Activity

What should we do while we wait? Biblical waiting is never passive. It’s active. God would have us get moving in waiting. Waiting means praying (Ps 119:147). “I waited patiently for the Lord, and He inclined to me and heard my cry” (Ps 40:1). Contained in the “waited patiently” is fervent prayer, hence the next phrase in the verse.

Waiting means saturating our souls in Scripture. When we wait, we read. Your soul is too hungry not to do so. Perhaps God might put us in a season of waiting to kickstart a fire for the word.

Waiting means continual surrendered-trust before our good God (Ps 62:1-2). It’s a time of wrestling; wrestling with wanting to have our will done, and our results produced. But it’s not happening. So, it’s a season where, by the grace of God, we labor to get our soul into a demeanor of surrendered trust.

Waiting means taking shelter in God. “You are my hiding place and my shield; I wait for Your word” (Ps 119:114). The psalmist equates waiting for God to the concept of taking shelter in God. This is not a mystical thing, but meditating on Scripture like Ps 62:1-2: “My soul waits in silence for God only. He only is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold, I shall not be greatly shaken.”

Waiting means continuing to immerse yourself in the people of God. “He who separates himself seeks his own desire, he quarrels against all sound wisdom” (Prov 18:1). It’s the lone zebra who gets picked off by the lions. While waiting, we practice presence with the body in corporate worship. We may not always feel strengthened by it, but we walk by faith, knowing that God is feeding and strengthening us there. In his time of waiting and sorrow, the psalmist longed for corporate worship (Ps 42:4). 

Temptation

Waiting also comes with its temptations. There is the temptation of escape/feel-good sins. We feel like we need a little relief. Temptation promises it but fails to deliver.

Like the Israelites in the desert, there is the temptation to grow impatient (Ps 106:13-14). Let us beware when impatience delivers (Ps 106:15).

There is the temptation of pragmatism. Do what seems to produce the quick, desired result that we want. Do what works. If I can get the result I want, then the ends justify the means. But, let us beware of Hagar's solutions in seasons of waiting (Gen 16:1-6).

If we’re not careful, we can compromise in seasons of waiting. Or grow angry or bitter. There is the temptation to withdraw. “If this is how it’s going to be, I’m not going through the trouble to immerse myself with the church.” There’s the temptation of becoming jaded. “If God is not going to pull through on this situation, then I’m going to take a break from God.”

Benefits

By faith, we know that there are benefits to waiting. One benefit is walking with God. That’s much of what waiting is. I am walking with him. I am learning from him. David’s situation in Psalm 23 was, in part, waiting on the Lord. The Chief Shepherd had led him into the valley of the shadow of death. He couldn’t see much in the valley, much less where it ended. Thus, it was a season of waiting on the Lord, while walking with the Lord. We are to seek him while walking and waiting. David knew that: “When You said, ‘Seek My face,’ my heart said to You, ‘Your face, O Lord, I shall seek;” (Ps 27:8). Jeremiah knew this also: “The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him” (Lam 3:25).

Waiting means growing deeper in learning about God’s fatherhood of us. There is no greater privilege than legitimately getting to call God, “Father.” Hebrews 12:5-11 is key here to deepen us in this sacred privilege. God is parenting us while we wait on him. That’s critical to preach to ourselves as we wait lest we be hardened by difficult people and difficult circumstances. For the Christian, God, fathers us in the waiting and by the waiting.

Waiting means growing in applying the sovereignty of God. It’s one thing to boldly declare we believe in the sovereignty of untested confines. It’s quite another to do so in a season of waiting. “Consider the work of God, for who is able to straighten what He has bent? In the day of prosperity be happy, but in the day of adversity consider— God has made the one as well as the other so that man will not discover anything that will be after him” (Eccl 7:13-14).

Waiting means growing in gratitude (1 Thess 5:18). The alternative is unthinkable; hardened bitterness.

Waiting means an opportunity to strengthen the muscles of faith. Moses knew what this was like (Heb 11:24-27). While waiting, we may not get what we’re hoping for in our timing. Faith is the only option (Heb 11:1-2).

Waiting provides an opportunity to distance ourselves from complaining (Phil 2:14-15). Complaining doesn’t shorten the waiting. It may lengthen it. And it certainly makes it seem longer.

Waiting is an opportunity to grow in humility. Humility is something we might pray for. We ought to brace ourselves when that prayer is answered. We grow in humility while waiting because we are seeing that we cannot control things as we might want. We are not sovereign. We are less powerful and awesome than we may have thought. We may have overestimated our abilities to produce outcomes in life. We realize that God is the great outcome-producer. Psalm 131:1 becomes more familiar to us in these times. Waiting reminds us that we are not impressive. We are little spiritual children, held by a great God and Father.

While waiting, we have the opportunity of decreased anxiety (Phil 4:4-7). Waiting forces us to fall on God daily. We realize that our anxiety does not bring about resolutions; though it does defy our profession of faith in God.

Waiting biblically makes us a more enjoyable person to be around (Ps 119:74). We are learning to fret less and less; to rest in God more and more. We become more spiritually balanced; gracious and patient with people.

Waiting forces us to grow in cultivating a spiritual palate (Col 3:1-2). We have to. Nothing else can stabilize the soul.

Waiting also cultivates spiritual vigor in us. “Wait for the Lord. Take courage and let your heart be strong, yes, wait for the Lord” (Ps 27:14). Notice the vigor consequent of waiting: “Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary” (Isa 40:31).

Waiting makes us more skilled at disciplining others (Ps 119:74). While waiting, we transition from knowing about God to knowing God. You no longer merely have highlighted sentences in Christian books. Those sentences have become part of your walk with God. You’ve lived them.

The End of Waiting

I don’t know what you are waiting for. Perhaps the waiting seems unbearable. God knows. And our compassionate God wants us to know that we never have to wait on our greatest joy and need: “But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons” (Gal. 4:4-5).

The greatest Christmas gift ever needs no waiting. Jesus Christ came, clothed himself in humanity, then lived in stunning sinlessness. He then went to the cross as our wrath-bearing substitute to render us clean, righteous, and in the favor of God. He already paid for our sins. He already rose from the grave. Eternal life is accomplished. No more waiting. We know. We have seen him through the eyes of God-given faith. And it’s only the beginning. How much more glory and joy and excitement there remains to be seen by those who have simply opened the empty hand of faith to the crucified and risen Christ. Much, much more.

“He will swallow up death for all time, and the Lord God will wipe tears away from all faces, and He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth; for the Lord has spoken. And it will be said in that day, ‘Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited; let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation” (Isa 25:8-9).

What a year it’s been, beloved. Merry Christmas from all of us here at the Cripplegate.

“Keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life” (Jude 21).

Eric Davis