“Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?” Matthew 2:2 (Amplified Bible)
“I know I don’t know you, but God told me you are defiantly the one He chose.” Tears streaming down my cheeks, I stared down at my phone in disbelief. This unexpected, yet perfectly timed message from a complete stranger shook me to my core.
Hesitantly, I messaged back, “I’m going through a rough season in my life so this message really means a lot more than you could ever know.” Allow me to elaborate. Just a few weeks prior to receiving this message, God had told me, “No. Wait.” I was honestly offended. The audacity! Wait? That’s the last thing I want to do. I know what I want, and I want it now! I don’t want to wait! I know what you must be thinking. Good things come to those who wait, right? Yes. Sure. Of course. But I didn’t want to sit around waiting for this one good thing!
It honestly sounds ridiculous in retrospect. I don’t know about you, but I find it hard to hear God’s voice when I’m too caught up in my own busyness. What? Did I really just admit that? Yes, I did! Amidst a season of rejection and disappointment, I lost the still small voice. Well, more like I chose to ignore it. God, ever faithful, found a tangible way to make sure I knew He was right there with me, even when I didn’t want to listen to His guidance. And God does the same thing for you. “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?” He’s right there.
During the chaos that often fills the Advent season, it’s so easy to lose focus. It’s easy to get caught up in the busyness that perpetually fills our lives. It’s easy to get caught up in the things that won’t matter down the road. But God calls us into a beautiful season of searching for and finding Him in the waiting.
We may not always understand what God is doing or why God is calling us into this season called “the waiting,” but in it, you’ll search for a “solution” to the “problem” and look for comfort and rest. Know it’s where you’re supposed to be, even when it may not always feel like it. Know it’s where you’re supposed to be, even when you don’t always want to be there. Life is filled with one waiting season after another. There will always be something your heart desperately longs for, the one thing you think will satisfy you. It’s not the thing that satisfies us or the season of waiting that brings comfort, but Jesus alone. Praise is what changes our perspective to find peace and rest in the waiting. The waiting season can only be lived well when we praise God and shift our perspective from “problem” to “promise.”
Without the difficult seasons, the waiting periods, we wouldn’t see the miracle of an answered prayer. Or the very fact that the work God is doing within us during the waiting is just as important as the waiting itself. The waiting is the building of character, the reliance on Him, the truth that we will have seasons of waiting, but Jesus will forever be enough for us. He is always more than we could ever ask for or think of.
So, this Advent season, let praise be what changes everything for you, even in the waiting. When you find yourself wondering, wandering, getting lost, looking for direction, turning around, and starting again, I’ll be right there with you and so will He. You are defiantly the one He chose! Just you wait.
“But as for me, I will look expectantly for the Lord and with confidence in Him I will keep watch; I will wait [with confident expectation] for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me.” Micah 7:7 (Amplified Bible)
Tanya Ebenezer is a devoted Marketing student in the Zapara School of Business at La Sierra University. In her down time, she’s an avid reader, coffee connoisseur, dog enthusiast, and freelance photographer.