So Worth the Wait
“Wait for the LORD;
be strong and take heart.”
Psalm 27:14 (NIV)
Sixteen years ago, our daughter was in a long season of singleness. During that season of life, Meredith resolved that if she wasn't married by her 30th birthday, she would go to Italy to celebrate. True to her word, Meredith went to Venice, totally unaware that her future husband planned on surprising her there on her birthday with an engagement ring and a marriage proposal. Calling us from Italy to announce their engagement, they both declared, “It was so worth the wait!”
A season is defined as “a limited or temporary period of time.” There are four seasons every year, each one characterized by differences in weather and the number of daylight hours. Seasons provide a certain rhythm and framework for much of our lives and celebrations. Seasons of waiting, however, usually feel like winter frozen in time all the time. A winter waiting season often feels like the same gray, dull days all stuck together for months.
I’ve previously written about our church’s long season of waiting following the death of our beloved Pastor Harry Reeder in May 2022. Briarwood was blessed to have had only two senior pastors in its storied 64-year history. The last two years were filled with uncertainty and anxious waiting as we prayed and looked to God for our next senior pastor. God graciously answered our prayers this summer by calling Dr. Scott Redd, Jr. to lead our congregation. Every Sunday as I listen to Dr. Redd’s sermons, I am grateful for God’s provision, leaders who prayed and waited, and a diligent pastoral search committee. Dr. Redd is so worth the wait!
The truth is that God’s people will constantly be waiting, but God’s people must not be worrying while we wait. God cares about HOW we wait. And He doesn’t want his children “churning and burning” or “stewing and brewing,” which are pretty accurate descriptions of how I usually wait!
The nation of Israel waited hundreds of years for their promised Messiah. Israel longed for the Conquering King promised by Isaiah 700 years before Jesus was born. The Old Testament prophets prayed and kept asking "How long, Lord?" (Habakkuk 1:2, Zechariah 1:12) and still no Savior appeared. There were 400 hundred years of silence between the last words of the Old Testament prophets and the first words of John the Baptist. Still they looked, longed, and waited for their promised Messiah.
“And then, when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman” Galatians 4:4 NKJV. God's promise to Israel was fulfilled with the birth of His Son Jesus. The Messiah's birth was on God's timetable, not Israel's. But God's timetable wasn't limited just to Jesus' birth. In Romans 5:6 the Apostle Paul declares, "You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly."
Christ’s birth, life, and death were so worth the wait.
The Body of Christ has been waiting for Jesus’ return for the last 2000 years. Just before he was arrested and crucified, Jesus warned his disciples to keep watch (Matthew 24:42) and be ready (Matthew 24:44) for his return saying, “No man knows about that day or hour. Not even the angels in heaven nor the Son, but only the Father” (Matthew 24:36).
The Apostle Paul provides additional insight into Jesus’ second coming with his words in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18: “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that we who are still alive will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words.”
For now, Christians live between two advents waiting for Christ’s return and the consummation of the Kingdom of God. Our times are in God’s hands. Whether it's the birth of a child, a season of singleness, or the end of our lives on this earth, God is in our waiting. He works while we wait and never wastes our waiting. We, like the disciples, are to serve faithfully, keep watch, and be ready.
I have no doubt that Jesus’ return will be so worth our wait!