Emmanuel. God is with us. What a great and wonderful promise!

“Look! The virgin will conceive a child!
She will give birth to a son, and they will call him
Emmanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’”
Matthew 1:23

If you have been a part of our family here for a bit you know that the last several years I have been learning about Advent. It wasn’t something I grew up with or raised my kids observing. But lately there is something calling me to the quiet expectation of Advent. The waiting for Hope. The waiting for the Promise.

We are all familiar with the joyful anticipation of an upcoming trip or event we are excited about. We are also familiar with the dread and uncertainty of waiting for test results or having a hard conversation with someone.

Waiting is a part of life we get to practice since we were little kids: “Just 5 more sleeps”, “You can have that snack after dinner” or the dreaded “Just wait till your father gets home.”

This year as I’ve been reading and thinking about Advent I was reminded that there was 400 years between Malachi and Matthew. 400 years God was silent to His people. The only thing they had to go on was the Torah, the words of the prophets and stories passed down through generations.

The season of waiting in our lives can seem like 400 years! What are we holding onto in our waiting? How are waiting? … angry … frustrated … hopeful … trusting …

Luke 1 tells us about Zechariah and his wife, Elizabeth. They are described as “upright in the sight of the God, observing all the Lord’s commandments and regulations blamelessly.” Now that’s something I would want to hear God say to me!

Through the 400 years of silence Israel was ruled and oppressed by the Persians, Alexander the Great and the Romans but there were some that held onto the promise that God will again come to them.

How did they remain faithful to God and His ways when so many did not?

We continue to read in Luke 1 about the time when Zechariah and his division of priests were to minister in the Temple. Zechariah was chosen, usually a once-in-a-lifetime deal, to worship God by burning incense.

Maybe that’s the key. Zechariah was serving faithfully, he was worshipping and spending time in the presence of God.

Through all the dark and uncertain times there was a community that spoke about the hope and promises of God. They reminded the Israelites who they were, Who they belonged to and what He can do.

We know during that time of serving and worshipping in the Temple, Gabriel told Zechariah about the birth of his son, John, and the huge role he would play in bringing many Israelites back to God as well as preparing the way for Jesus.

That was the hope and promise they were waiting for!!

As I have found myself in a season of uncertainty … a season of waiting. And what I learned from Zechariah is be faithful; to continue to worship even when I don’t see the promise and to honor and revere God.

There can be a lot of times in our lives that waiting is front and center, where we don’t have a definite direction to go. All we see are obstacles and roadblocks. Do we have a community that will help us remember the faithfulness of God? To declare His promises and hope into our dark or ambiguous season? Are we being faithful to serve and worship our God?

I don’t know where you are at today or how you wait, but let’s take a page from Zechariah’s book and serve well, worship freely and know that at some point God will speak again!

Isn’t it wonderful that we have a God that sees us and loves us?!!

Have a wonderful day, Loved of God!
All My Love ~
xo ~ Jodi

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