“But sometimes God delays His blessings to examine what’s in your heart. He waits on purpose. It’s not that He doesn’t want to bless you, but He’s after a purpose greater than your immediate blessing. God doesn’t want to just fix your problems. He wants to transform you in the process.”
–Tony Evans, American pastor and author

Who likes to wait? Seriously? No one does. It’s not in our DNA, especially in today’s hustle-bustle world. As witness, we have a world of information at our fingertips on a keyboard, and we get mad and impatient when we perceive our computer to be too slow! And, how about when we catch a stoplight and impatiently tap on the steering wheel, waiting for the light to turn green? It takes forever … or maybe just forty-five seconds!

Do your remember when the Christmas season didn’t start until the day after Thanksgiving? No more. Now, we see Christmas merchandise displayed in stores in October, if not earlier. Merchants can’t wait to take advantage of our beneficent tendencies during the holiday “season.”

Think back to your childhood Decembers. Didn’t it seem Christmas would never come? We counted down the twelve days of Christmas–finally a math problem I could handle–until Christmas morning arrived. We were up early to check out what Santa had left and the things our family members had gifted us.

Clearly, the way we shop has changed. Too impatient to stand in store lines, we buy stuff online, and then wait for our orders to be delivered. One reason Amazon has cornered the market in online shopping is the company minimizes our wait time. Bezos, et. al. figured out the way to our hearts … and our pocketbooks!

For Christians, the Christmas season, Advent, is a time of liturgical waiting. Some two thousand years ago, the magi, having seen the eastern star, had to travel and wait possibly as long as two years to visit this king of the Jews. Today, year after year, we await the birth of the Christ child, as had been predicted by the Old Testament prophets. Even though we enjoy the secular aspects of the season–the gifts, the parties, the decorations, the concerts–as much as the next person, we know the true reason for the season.

It’s no accident that “Patience” is a fruit of the spirit. Abraham and Sarah, nee Abram and Sarai, had to wait decades on the birth of Isaac. And so the ancestral lineage of Jesus began. Hundreds of years later, Zechariah and Elizabeth, childless and in their later years, were gifted with a pregnancy that yielded John, the greatest prophet in the Bible.

While Mary became pregnant as just a teenager, her betrothed, Joseph, had to put the consummation of their marriage on hold and wait for God’s greatest plan to play itself out. Imagine the patience (and understanding) that required!

These iconic people in Biblical history were somehow equipped by God to wait. It required patience–a virtue that’s still difficult to master.

In this season of waiting, what is it you are waiting on? Is it healing from a serious medical diagnosis? Recovery from financial hardship? The opportunity for a new way forward after a failed relationship? A new job? Whatever it is, know that you too are equipped to wait.

And, in our waiting, perhaps God will transform us. I pray it will be so.