The God Who Is With Us: A Five-Day Advent DevotionalSample

We live in such a fast-moving society, don’t we? We are likely experiencing that to its fullest right now during the Christmas season. The holiday season tests our patience. We want things now, and if shopping isn’t our thing, Amazon Prime is right there to ship us what we need overnight. Amazon is, in fact, not slow to fulfill its promise of free shipping and overnight service. Unfortunately, this is how we count slowness. Something that doesn’t happen or arrive exactly as fast as we desire it to. We don’t want Amazon to be patient toward us, as much as we usually don’t want God to be patient with anyone else but us.

But God, in all of His perceived slowness, is actually patient toward you. And them. Think of it like this: if it is in the heart of God to draw close to His hell-bound creatures, then it means He will be patient toward those whose paths have not yet been rerouted.

How do you count slowness when it comes to your view of how God acts in the affairs of humanity? If you were honest, could you say that you lack patience with God’s pacing? Are there people you’d like to see come to justice? Are there relationships you wish could be resolved? Are there loved ones long gone who you want to be reunited with? Are there family members far from God who you wish He would finally intervene and save?

Why does God wait? We’re going to have to wait to know the answer to that question. What we do know is that the hand of God is only slow inasmuch as His heart is patiently seeking to save the lost.

And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in you. (Ps. 39:7)

Waiting for the ultimate fulfillment of God’s promises keeps us hoping for what we cannot see. We never hope for what we already have. We don’t need to have patience for something we have already received. God makes us wait for those very reasons, so that hope and patience produce a character that brings about the joy and happiness of Christ in us. God is not slow like we define slowness. In the same way that you are able to wait for Christmas morning much better than a child because the waiting and anticipating are as much a part of the joy as the receiving, God wants you to know a joy that can only come through a patient heart immersed in the surety of hope.

He is not slow. But He is slowing us down to become more like His Son.

Hope in Him.