An Advent Devotion for December 14
Read Habakkuk 2:1-5

“Then the Lord answered me and said: Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so that a runner may read it. For there is still a vision for the appointed time . . . If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay.” Habakkuk 2:2-3

The people of Israel waited for a promised messiah, not fully understanding just who the messiah, they yearned for would be. They waited in hope and clung to the promises that one day, a messiah would be born. That yearning was buried in the hearts of the people.
Advent is a time of waiting. We wait with expectation and hope. We wait longing for God to be more fully present among us. We wait for the Christ to be born not only into the world, but into our hearts.

Barbara Brown Taylor writes of waiting, “Waiting is an essential part of the Christian life . . . our waiting is not nothing . . . it is something . . . a very big something . . . because people tend to be shaped by whatever it is they are waiting for . . . When you want something enough – your whole life tends to rearrange itself around that goal” Whatever it is, Taylor writes, “chances are that it has something to do with our vision of what it would mean for us to be made whole, to be transformed into people who are not afraid anymore (whose basic needs are met) and whose wounds are healed and who are more nearly the people God created us to be.” *

Advent is a story of our waiting, our longing for God. But more than that, it is the story of God’s longing for us. It tells us of God’s willingness to do whatever is necessary to find us, to save us, to be with us and to lead us home.

Prayer: God of Advent, In our waiting times grant us the gift of hope, knowing that you and your purposes will ultimately be done on this earth. When we are discouraged, open our eyes to what you are doing and  where you are working in our world today . . . Not only in the world around us, but in us and through us, even as we wait. Amen.

Additional Advent Meditations can be found by clicking here:   Advent and Christmastide Devotions

*“Gospel Medicine” 1995 , Barbara Brown Taylor