Advent: The Waiting

Last year I started a blog series on waiting that quickly fell by the wayside. There were several reasons for this: over ambition, laziness, and fear at what I would find upon further introspection. However, the idea of "wait" keeps coming to me in so many different ways: scripture, whispered voices, a computer rebooting, and long lines at a store. The message remains the same: Wait. Often, it seems like wait is a "four-lettered" word that should not be uttered in polite company.

Yet, as I examined it further, I discovered wait is not always a passive sitting around. Wait means to be available or in readiness, to look forward to eagerly, to await - look for in expectation. Then it dawned on me, Advent is not just a time of preparation but also a time of waiting for the Christ Child to come.

"I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the Land of the living.
Wait for the Lord, be stouthearted and wait for the Lord." Psalm 27:13-14

It is interesting to see how we can read scripture several times and continue to see "new" verses and insights. Recently, I "discovered" the two verses from Psalm 27 and have found them very encouraging.The idea that the belief in the goodness of the Lord before it comes can be very challenging. Often we as humans want to see God's goodness before we believe but that is not what scripture says. Rather the belief needs to come first. And even then there is no guarantee that our definition of goodness is the same as the Lord's. Instead, He asks us to wait and be stouthearted.

What is stouthearted anyway? My old-school dictionary defined it as brave and resolute; dauntless.

Combining wait and stouthearted together gives a different picture of waiting: brave expectation. It is the idea that sometimes, or perhaps often, God asks us to wait for the good things He has planned. We do not know what they are and must trust that God's plan is best (i.e. brave). Yet, we know that God is extravagant in his gifts and that they will be His best for us (i.e. expectation).

I want to see the Lord's goodness.
I wait to see the Lord's goodness, and I believe.

How are you waiting in brave expectation today?