Patiently Trusting God

If you have small children or grandchildren—or if you have ever spent any time around young people—you know that patience and Christmas don’t necessarily go hand in hand. There is a constant looking at the calendar, counting down the days, and occasional expressions of wishing “Christmas would just hurry up and get here already!” (That’s true for some of us adults as well.) Most of us find it difficult to be patient. We want things to happen on our schedule, but God wants us to trust Him with the timing as well as with the results.

We are not told in Scripture how much time passed between the message given to Simeon that he would live to see the Messiah and the birth of Jesus, but it appears to have been a considerable length of time. When Simeon met Mary and Joseph at the Temple, where they had gone to dedicate Jesus as the law commanded, his prayer of thanks and praise included an expression that his life was complete. He had dedicated himself to living in obedience to God and waiting patiently for what had been promised to Him.

God does not move on our timetable. Peter wrote, “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Peter 3:8). But God does always keeps His promises.

Growth Principle:

We can and should have full faith in God, even when we do not see Him working right away.