Waiting…with open arms

Do you like to wait?  I do not find waiting easy.  I will come back on a different day and a different time if I don’t have to wait.  But sometimes we are called to wait.  We don’t get any other options, but to wait.  While we wait, however, we do get options.  We can wait impatiently, we can wait with an angry heart or we can wait with faith.  During this Advent season we are invited to anticipate the coming of our Lord.  We look forward to His return, but today we wait. 



I have often been drawn to Simeon, the president of the “waiting” club.  Simeon was asked to wait for the consolation of Israel.  He was waiting for the comfort of his nation, but with each day that passed he wondered when it would occur. But the scripture tells us how he waited.  He was told that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.  Given that Israel had not heard from a prophet in over 400 years it took a lot of faith to believe that God was about to break His silence.  But he trusted in the Word that was given to him and therefore he waited—with open arms. 



When you wait with faith it creates two things.  First it creates the belief that God will act.  He had faith that God was going send His Christ.  His faith gave him the ability to go to the temple courts with anticipation.  His faith gave him the conviction that he would not die before he saw God’s promise.  But his faith also gave him open arms.  When Simeon took the infant Jesus in his arms it says that he praised God saying:  “Sovereign Lord, as You have promised, You now dismiss Your servant in peace.”  What did the Lord promise?  He promised that Simeon would receive the Christ.  It did not say that Simeon would receive a child who would be King.  He had faith to be open to God’s sovereign plan.  He was led by the Holy Spirit to recognize God’s sovereign promise.



God is going to call us to wait.  But His invitation is to wait with faith:  faith to believe that God will act and faith to receive with open arms His sovereign plan. 



“Almighty God, grant that we joyfully receive from You Your sovereign plan and that we, your children, will wait with open arms to receive it.”

-Pastor Mark