Advent: Anticipating
– Waiting with Hope
The Advent Season. Light the Advent candle one, now the
waiting has begun.
I once wrote a post about the difference between waiting and
hoping. Waiting to me implies you know the thing is coming. In its time, it is
coming. Still hard, still requires patience, but there is a certainty to it. But
hope, hope is different. You wait without knowing if that thing will come. You
desire it to be, but don’t know if it will be. So your hopes can be
dashed.disappointed.cause pain. Hope may come up empty. Or can it?
What does God’s Word say about hope? It says “Now hope that
is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we
do not see, we wait for it with patience.” (Romans 8:24) Biblical hope sounds a
lot like waiting. In fact Romans says that we wait with patience for the things
hoped for. So what do I hope for? Do I hope for Christ’s return? Do I really
hope to be made whole? Do I hope for a more sanctified me? Then wait. With
patience. Hope in God cannot ULTIMATELY be dashed, disappointed or cause final
pain. He gives us the end of the story. So we wait and hope and wait and hope.
And the Advent season..We await our Saviour’s birth. To
remember what He did. To remember how He came into this world and brought HOPE.
And we wait and we hope and we wait and we hope for His return, for His Kingdom
come.
This is Christ’s gift to the Christian. We wait, but we wait
in entirely different way than the world hopes. We wait with hope of His return
and His making all things new. He is a good God. He will come again and fulfill
the deepest hope of hearts. And the wait will not seem long at all when we
behold our Saviour’s face.
