Something good is worth waiting for. But that's not a message we hear very often. We are not used to waiting for anything. We can walk into a take-away and get a hot meal in minutes. We can buy almost anything we want a short distance from home. With the internet and mobiles we have instantaneous communication so don't have to wait for letters. The time it would take us to reach most remote parts of the world can now be measured in hours. And even our ethics have lost patience. Why wait til marriage for sex? Patience is no longer a virtue. "Live for today!"
What was it like for the people of Israel, waiting hundreds of years for the messiah to come? Trusting a promise, but not knowing when it would be fulfilled. Every year we compress those centuries of hope (and doubt) into the few weeks of advent. Advent, like pregnancy, is a time of waiting. Not just for the baby. For a future hope. The potential of something better.
And pregnancy is a good analogy. It something we have no control over. Not over timing. Not over sustaining the heartbeat. Not over growth. Not over sickness. Not over labour. Only hope in God. It's incredible how a mother's body is perfectly designed as a safe environment for that tiny spark of life to grow into a baby. I understand now that ante-natal care does not really do anything except look for problems. The doctors are a bit like journalists who watch events and report on them but don't really have any control over them. So much of how (and even what) actually happens is still a mystery. And even midwives don't really change the outcome (sorry Mum). They are just there to help mother and baby through what was going to happen anyway. And it all takes nine months - as part of the design! It gives 40 weeks for the mum and dad to get their heads round the miracle and prepare themselves to be parents. It's a long time. I know now that we are different people now than we were in February. We have changed (?matured) through a difficult pregnancy. Many times we prayed that it could all be over. Maybe we weren't ready yet?
I love the irony in the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth. They had lost hope of ever having a child until God showed up and promised them a son. Zechariah and his wife were old and you could forgive him for loosing hope and doubting God. But afterwards, he couldn't speak another word until John was born. Imagine how long those months must have been for him as he learned to listen and wait on God. Finally God came through, like he promised, and Zechariah had a son. Then he spoke. "He is to be called John". So simple and obedient. All that thinking and submitting to God - the wait was over. He praised God and prophesied. The lesson was to trust God and not give up hope. Through that child (John the Baptist) God began to prepare the world for the fulfillment of His plan and the arrival of His son. Everything was about to change.
Michael Card sings,
What was it like for the people of Israel, waiting hundreds of years for the messiah to come? Trusting a promise, but not knowing when it would be fulfilled. Every year we compress those centuries of hope (and doubt) into the few weeks of advent. Advent, like pregnancy, is a time of waiting. Not just for the baby. For a future hope. The potential of something better.
And pregnancy is a good analogy. It something we have no control over. Not over timing. Not over sustaining the heartbeat. Not over growth. Not over sickness. Not over labour. Only hope in God. It's incredible how a mother's body is perfectly designed as a safe environment for that tiny spark of life to grow into a baby. I understand now that ante-natal care does not really do anything except look for problems. The doctors are a bit like journalists who watch events and report on them but don't really have any control over them. So much of how (and even what) actually happens is still a mystery. And even midwives don't really change the outcome (sorry Mum). They are just there to help mother and baby through what was going to happen anyway. And it all takes nine months - as part of the design! It gives 40 weeks for the mum and dad to get their heads round the miracle and prepare themselves to be parents. It's a long time. I know now that we are different people now than we were in February. We have changed (?matured) through a difficult pregnancy. Many times we prayed that it could all be over. Maybe we weren't ready yet?I love the irony in the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth. They had lost hope of ever having a child until God showed up and promised them a son. Zechariah and his wife were old and you could forgive him for loosing hope and doubting God. But afterwards, he couldn't speak another word until John was born. Imagine how long those months must have been for him as he learned to listen and wait on God. Finally God came through, like he promised, and Zechariah had a son. Then he spoke. "He is to be called John". So simple and obedient. All that thinking and submitting to God - the wait was over. He praised God and prophesied. The lesson was to trust God and not give up hope. Through that child (John the Baptist) God began to prepare the world for the fulfillment of His plan and the arrival of His son. Everything was about to change.
Michael Card sings,
The Lord God said when time was full
He would shine His light in the darkness
He said a virgin would conceive
And give birth to the Promise
For a thousand years the dreamers dreamt
And hoped to see His love
The Promise showed their wildest dreams
had simply not been wild enough
But the Promise showed their wildest dreams
Had simply not been wild enough.
The Promise was love and the Promise was life
The Promise meant light to the world
Living proof that Yahweh saves
For the name of the Promise was Jesus.
Also watch: The Miracle of Life
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