Advent Day Eleven

Advent is a season of anticipation.  In the weeks leading up to the day designated to celebrate the birth of Christ, there is a sense of anticipation as we reflect upon the desperation that the people of God experienced as they waited for the coming of Jesus, the Messiah, the One promised to free people from the bondage of sin and to bring healing and restoration to humanity.  

Have you ever anticipated something that you could hardly wait for?  There have been two times in my life when the anticipation for something was greater at that moment than at any other time in my life.  It was the two times I have been pregnant.  Now let me just tell you, I’m not a very patient kind of girl.  When you are growing a human being in your body, for the ladies that have experienced this before, the few weeks leading up to the birth of your child is like something out of a sci-fi thriller.  It looks like an alien has taken over your body as your sweet little one is running out of space.  I was induced with both of our boys, both two weeks early.  With our firstborn, Preston, it was because the doctor was going on vacation (just keeping it real here).  With our second born, Cooper, I’m not really sure why they offered to induce, however, when you offer a 9-month pregnant woman who is all things puffy and tired of waddling down the street, if she can have her baby early, I promise you she's probably jumping on that train.  

The reality is, we anticipate things that are good. Perhaps even now, you sense that God wants to do something in your life, and you find yourself anticipating it.  You long to see God work in impossible ways in your life, or in the lives of those around you.  In the midst of this anticipation, there is a simple response that places us in a posture to receive what God has for us.  During seasons of anticipation, it might be tempting to complicate things or to lay out a plan for how whatever it is we are anticipating can be accomplished.  I’m so grateful that when the season of anticipation came for Mary, the mother of Jesus, she didn’t try to complicate things.  Mary had certainly heard the stories of God’s promise to send a Savior, a Messiah, that would free people from darkness and captivity.  As Gabriel declares to Mary the redemptive plan in which she plays a key role, her response is simple and deeply profound, “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Luke 1:38 

Are you in a season of anticipation?  Imagine the outcome if your simple response was, “I am the Lord’s servant, may your word to me be fulfilled.”   This season of Advent reminds us that God fulfills His promises.  Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promise of redemption.  What is the promise that God is giving to you as you anticipate the good things He has for your life?  Mary anticipated that God would fulfill His word spoken over her life.  Gabriel reminds Mary that even though God’s plan to use her seems impossible, and even though she is a young, insignificant, virgin girl from a town no one wants to be from, she could cling to the promise that,  “No word from God will ever fail.”  May this season serve as a reminder that the anticipation within you to experience God’s favor, His blessing, His purpose, and His plan will never fail.  God’s promise to you is as certain and true as it was to a young, virgin girl who believed that God could and would accomplish all He had purposed for her life.