A: Hope
Do you remember waking up on Christmas morning, the house filled with the aroma of hot fresh Tamales? Remember your mouth watering as you anticipate the taste of that first bite?
Do you remember waiting for Christmas when you were a child?
Do you remember how the excitement and anticipation built as Christmas drew nearer? Do you remember wondering what waited for you under the Christmas tree?
Do you remember picking up each package and shaking it, wondering what was inside?
What made you feel that way? Hope!
B: Hopeless
How would you feel if it were always winter and never Christmas?
In C.S. Lewis’s book “The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe” the land of Narnia was under the spell of the white witch. She kept the land in a state of winter, “always winter and never Christmas”.
Have you ever needed God and felt like He wasn’t listening?
Have you cried out to God and felt like he abandoned you?
Why does God make you wait when you called out to Him?
Have you ever felt betrayed by God?
What made you fell like that? Hopelessness!
Why? You wanted God to do things when you expected, instead of in His time.
You wanted God to do things in a certain way, instead of how He wants.
You gave up expecting and anticipating.
Gen 3:15 - 4000 years from creation to the Birth of Christ
(The world had to wait for God to say when).
Ex 12:13 - 2000 years from Passover to the birth of Christ.
(The Jewish people had to wait for God to say how)
Mic. 5:2 - 750 years from the promise of his birth in Bethlehem before Christ was born.
(The world wanted to know where).
Isa. 9:6 and 7 – It was somewhere from 740 to 735 years from this promise, until the birth of Christ. (The Jewish people expected a conquering king the world received a humble infant)
Heb 13:5b – No matter what the situation is you have a promise from God to be there with you and for you.
Instead of giving up and believing the situation is hopeless, hold onto the excitement and anticipation of seeing what God has in store for you. Keep wondering how God is going to be glorified in this. Remember that each adversity is another opportunity to see a surprise, a present that God has waiting for you. It may not be how or when you think it should be, but how and when God will be most glorified.
Only God has the authority to say when, where and how your Christmas will come. God wants you looking to Him. God wants you anticipating that gift. God wants to do it because He loves you, and in a way that glorifies Him.
