A People Stuck Waiting

Each week as we journey through Advent season together, we are going to focus our attention on a certain character from the Nativity story. And so tonight, we will be meditating on the character of Elizabeth, the cousin of Mary and mother of John the Baptist. Elizabeth is an important character for you and me in particular because she highlights a struggle that every single one of us has faced or is still facing even tonight as we gather. A struggle that is summed up in this short description that verses 6 and 7 give for Elizabeth and her husband. Luke 1:6-7 says, “And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years.”

A faithful Christian stuck waiting on the unanswered prayer. You all have been here before. Every Christian has. Where you pray to God for that certain thing that is weighing on your heart - that deepest desire - and you pray for weeks, months, even years. And nothing changes. And you are confused because you know what the Bible says about prayer. 1 Peter 3:12 says,“For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer.” Luke 11:9-10 says, “And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” You know what the Bible says about prayer. You are doing exactly what it says, and yet, nothing changes. Oftentimes this leads to one of two places, where either you think you are doing something wrong - maybe some sin in your life is getting in the way, or maybe God just isn’t listening. Maybe he has abandoned you.

And yet, we look at Elizabeth, a woman who more than anyone deserved to have her prayer answered. She was righteous. She was faithful. It wasn’t a bad or selfish prayer. All she asked for was a child. And yet, she got no answer. She was left waiting…for most of her life! God could have answered her prayer right away. It’s not like he didn’t hear her. But he doesn’t. And she is stuck praying this prayer over and over for most of her life until, finally, we get to our text for tonight, and she sees the answer to her prayer at the most unexpected time. But this begs the question: if God was going to answer her prayer all along, then why did he have her wait all those years? Why does God sometimes have you wait before seeing the answer to your prayers?

The answer is found in a fundamental shift of all God does in prayer. Prayer is just as much about what God does before He answers your prayer as the actual answer itself. Think about Elizabeth. Most of her life was spent with this unanswered prayer. I cannot imagine how difficult that must have been for her. And yet you know what God did through that? He deepened her trust in Him. When everything around her said that God wasn’t listening, she trusted in the faithfulness of God. She kept on praying. The same prayer. For decades. Over and over and over. This deep trust and confidence in God. And finally, once she was late into her life, she saw the answer to her prayer.

A reality that Elizabeth helps us see is that a complete and utter dependence and trust in Jesus is greater than any answer to prayer that he could give to us. A trust that can look at everything around you saying that God has abandoned you, and yet you are convinced that He is not only with you, but doing the best thing for you. That is what we ultimately need. That is what our deepest desire should be. And God is cultivating that kind of trust in you and me, and oftentimes, its through our waiting.

You are going to leave tonight and there are going to be things that you are still waiting on. Waiting for God to repair that broken relationship. Waiting for God to bring healing to your loved one. Waiting for God to come again and restore this broken world and make all things new. The reality is we are a people stuck waiting, and yet in that waiting, you don’t "try harder” to convince God to answer our prayer, and you don’t lose hope thinking He has abandoned you, but you follow in the footsteps of Elizabeth. You see waiting on God as an opportunity - dare I say a gift from God to deepen your trust in Him. You wait, because you know the faithfulness of your God will always answer your prayer at the best time and in the best way. That is what Christmas is all about. God answering the prayer of his people in the sending of His Son. Christ coming means that your waiting is not in vain. Restoration is the end. Eternity with Him is the future reality. But not now. Not yet. For now, we keep on waiting. Amen.