The most obvious thing about any pregnancy is that it involves waiting. Excited parents often find out early these days that they are expecting a baby and one of the things they often say is ‘I just can’t wait!’ Children often ‘just can’t wait’ for Christmas, opening the doors of their Advent calendars excitedly. Waiting is difficult, but there is, in God’s wisdom, no shortcuts to waiting.
This seems baffling to us. After all, we believe in a God who is not limited by time and space the way we are, and we do read at times of God doing amazing things (the Spirit of God moving Philip from his conversation with the Ethiopian eunuch to Azotus, for example (Acts 8:39-40)). But for the majority of the time, waiting is part of the refining process and a necessary part of life. Ps 27:14 urges us to ‘wait for the Lord; be strong, and take heart and wait for the Lord.’
I often think of the waiting involved between the miraculous appearance of the angel to Mary and Joseph and the actual birth of Jesus. Nine ordinary months, perhaps, but how hard it must have been for this young couple. They knew they had done nothing wrong; they knew this was a miracle baby, but they had to live through periods of doubt, anxiety and, I am sure, sheer bewilderment.
Waiting for the fulfilment of God’s promises to us is never easy. Mary at least had the visible sign of Elizabeth’s special pregnancy and her own swelling stomach to assure her that what she had heard was not just fantasy! Often, we have to hide God’s word in our hearts (Ps 119:11) as we wait patiently (Rom 8:23-25), reminding ourselves of God’s faithfulness (Ps 117:2, Ps 119:90). If you’re waiting today, don’t lose heart. God is never early, never late, but always comes at the right time – Christmas is proof of that. (Gal 4:4)
