Advent Devotionals: Day 2

People look forward to Christmas, giving and receiving gifts, getting together with family and friends, and enjoying good food. But sometimes people look forward to things that never come, a perfect spouse, a perfect friend, a perfect job, or a perfect neighborhood. Because nothing this side of heaven is perfect.
 
Waiting is never fun. Waiting for the car in front of you at a green light. Waiting for parents to quiet down a loud baby. Waiting at airport security. Waiting for your spouse to get ready. Waiting at the doctor’s office. Waiting in line at Starbucks. It’s amazing how upset people get when they must wait. Yet waiting is part of life.
 
There are things we wait for that are promised by God. These hopes are a sure thing because they are based on God’s eternal Word. In the Old Testament, God’s people had to wait, but they knew what they hoped for was going to happen. And that gave them endurance as they went through some very challenging situations. They knew He was with them, and His promises always come true.
 
Many years later, in the New Testament, God’s people were still waiting. We see Jesus’ birth in Luke 2. And after Jesus was born, we read about two people who were waiting: Anna and Simeon. Anna was waiting for the ‘redemption of Jerusalem’. Simeon was waiting for the ‘consolation of Israel’. Like the generations of God’s people who preceded them, they were looking forward to the fulfillment of God’s promise in the Old Testament.
 
So, when the Christ child was born, Anna and Simeon rejoiced. They took baby Jesus in their arms knowing that the waiting was over. This was the fulfillment of God’s promise to Israel.
 
Prayer: Father, I thank You that Your promises always come true.  There are things you have promised me that have not happened yet, but I know they will. Help me to trust You. And when these things happen, help me to rejoice, giving You the praise and glory!