Waiting at this time of year when Christmas is only two weeks away can really test our patience. We wait in long lines at the store. We wait on Amazon to ship our items. We wait for prices to drop a little more before we make a purchase. We wait for a day when we can really dive into the holiday cleaning and baking.
And sometimes we wait for other things. Answers. Direction. Resolution. Healing. We wait for God to answer our biggest prayers. Our family has been waiting for an answer to a prayer for over a year now. I would be lying if I didn't admit that our patience has grown thin, especially recently. We still cling to the belief that somehow, God will answer this prayer.
Will God really answer?
Lately, I've found myself wrestling with questions. How much longer must we wait? Doesn't God want the best for us? Have we done something wrong that God isn't answering us?
I'm guessing I'm not the only one who has felt the guilt of asking these questions of our Father in Heaven who loves us so much. Peter acknowledges in chapter 3, that in the Christian life there will be such times of frustration and hopelessness that we cry out again and again, "Where is the promise of his coming?"
Peter reminds us that
, "...with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day."
(v.8) When I stop to think about my own impatience and discouragement during our year of waiting, what is a year for my family to God really? Maybe a second or a minute? That makes me stop and think just a little differently.
No one wants trials and sufferings at this time of year. We want to be able to enjoy every day leading up to the birth of our Savior. We want to experience the same type of joy and festive merry-making that they do at the end of a Hallmark Christmas movie. We want our unanswered prayers to be answered so we can go through the Advent season unencumbered by stress and questions.
God's promises are so much greater than we realize. God's vast love for us and our salvation drives the perfect timing, even when we wish God would love us in the way and
at the right time
when we want.
Are you waiting on a big prayer to be answered right now? What if we paid attention to all of the little ways in which God shows faithfulness to us while we wait? Maybe that's all we need to be a bit more patient. Even if we have to look minute by minute sometimes, we will see God's promise to be with us.
