Advent Devotional by Jerry Hill

Micah 5: 2-5a

Waiting.  That is always a tough proposition for some of us.  I know it is for me.

I was in the basement bedroom that I shared with my younger brother.  We were waiting on one of my older sisters and her new husband to arrive at our house before we would be allowed to come upstairs to open our Christmas gifts.   We just couldn’t wait any longer.  I devised a plan.  My younger brother would climb out the window and go around to the front of the house and ring the doorbell.  When I heard the doorbell, I would run up the stairs, through the house and into the living room where both the presents and the front door were located.  Mom would answer the door, see my brother, then see me in the living room.  She would think this was funny and she would then have to let us go ahead and open our presents.  A perfect plan.  The wait would be over.  So out the window he went.

As with most of my plans in those days, the real risk was on my brother, not on me.  In fact, just to be sure, I didn’t run up the stairs when I heard the doorbell ring.  I waited.  I waited to hear mom’s reaction. 

She opened the door expecting to wish my sister a Merry Christmas and instead she saw my younger brother.  She did not think it was funny.  She did not decide to let us open our presents then.  In fact, she did not let my brother in through the door.  So, he trekked back around the house and back through the window.  The waiting continued.  (He was not real happy that I didn’t initiate my part of the plan.)

The fifth chapter of Micah prophesies that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem.  The people were waiting on the Messiah to come.  They waited and they waited.  In fact, the prophesy in Micah was likely written at least 600 years before the birth of Christ in Bethlehem.

Maybe one of the messages of advent is to learn to wait.  To trust that God is with us.  To trust that He understands our needs more than we do. And trust that He didn’t just come to Bethlehem, but rather he comes to us in every situation and every day that fills our life.  Waiting is related to trusting. Let’s spend some time waiting on the Lord this advent season.

Jerry Hill