The Nearness of God in Our Waiting

As we walk with Jesus on this planet, we can see evidence of hope all around us. Think of the magnificence of the skies. Think of the beauty of our planet. These all point to the God who is to be worshipped. I think of a typical prayer of a child, “Thank you, God, for being the King of creation and the one who made the world. You make the bees buzz, and you make the birds fly.” Children are rightly in awe of all that God has done and made. I think we stand to be refreshed through the perspective of babes. After all, God receives praise through their lips. We can stand back and thank God for His mighty works displayed in creation, even a creation thrashing in birth pangs.

Hope does not negate the present suffering. Hope is not even its antithesis. Hope is simply what cuts through the suffering so that we can have true and real joy amidst it. Jesus has come to put an end to death and pain. If it were not so, He would not have told us of our hope!

But He has, and He will return.

I think that we join in the cries of creation when we do cry “Come, Lord Jesus!” amidst our own waiting. And I believe that He is honored as we cry out in that way—when we indicate in our cry that He is the only one who can and will right the wrongs of time (as Charles Spurgeon put it). He is the focus of our prayers and our cries, for He is able. And at the time when He has appointed it to happen, we will be made whole and holy before Him to live sinless lives on an earth that has been born of glory — not one that is in a process of death and decay, as we are.

Perhaps our focus and perspective can be, today, simply on the Jesus of time and eternity. The Jesus whose court is better. The Jesus who breathed out the Scriptures, that we might have hope. The Jesus who gave the Holy Spirit as a down payment for our eternal inheritance. We will, as a church, inherit our Savior as our Head, as our Husband and King. And so, we will always be with the Lord. Let us comfort one another with these dear words of hope.

And as we await the birth of the world to come, let us be encouraged by those who have waited before us, and stayed faithful to Jesus. Let us consider the lives of those who have been of praise to the Lord. And let us consider how God has worked all things together for their good—now absent from the body and present with Him. Jesus is near to us in our times of waiting, just as He has been near to the saints of old in theirs.

More from this author
He Is Willing to Help You Rest and Run
How Shall the Righteous Shall Live by Faith?
Hunger and Thirst after Righteousness in Relationships

Photo credit: ©Getty Images/PIKSEL

Lianna Davis is author of Keeping the Faith: A Study in Jude and Made for a Different Land: Eternal Hope for Baby Loss. She is also a contributor to We Evangelicals and Our Mission with Cascade Books. Lianna is a graduate of Moody Bible Institute and a student at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. She lives in Illinois with her husband and daughter. You can learn more about her writing at her website.