Advent: The Hope of Christ

Does it feel as though God is silent or distant? Does it seem like the Christmas season only reminds you of the ache in your heart for the ones you wished were with you? Do you wonder if God will breathe life into the broken places of your heart, or if there will ever be a day where it won’t feel so dark?

You are not alone in those questions, fears, and silent cries for God to not feel so silent. In fact, for 400 years the people of Israel felt those same questions stirring in their souls. The God who had guided their people through the wilderness, performed miracles, spoken through prophets, and promised a Savior would come to redeem and restore His people, appeared silent and distant. Were the promises they read still true? Was God still coming for them? Would there still be a Savior? Would the darkness ever end?

“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shown.”
Isaiah 9:2

I wonder, as God’s people read those ancient words of Isaiah, if they wondered if light would come at all. They had been waiting so long. For 400 years they had been a people who waited in the darkness—who waited with hope. Hope that the promised Savior would still come, hope that God would bend down, speak, and restore. I imagine it was often a wavering, wondering hope. They were a waiting people.

The word “hope” in Hebrew is translated often as the word “qavah.” It means “to wait, look for, hope, expect, bind together.” I love this word because it not only points to what we are hoping for, but also to what is being bound in our hearts while we wait for that hope to be fulfilled. As God’s people waited for the fulfillment of that promised Savior over thousands of years, they were drawn into deeper intimacy with Him. Though let’s be honest, they struggled to trust and walk with God much of the time. And then, after 400 years of silence—Light!

Astounding, wonderful light broke into the world. Jesus. When God seemed silent for so long, it was only to set the stage for the most magnificent miracle of all. God Himself, coming to earth in the form of a baby to redeem His people. No one, not even the prophets themselves, could have fully comprehended the great wonder of what God was about to do. They were only given glimpses of God’s plan. But we are privy to the bigger story. We know the Hope they were waiting for. And yet, we are also a waiting people.

For though we know Jesus, and the greatness of His love and power to invade our world and our lives, we still remain under the effects of the brokenness of this world. We know that not all has been redeemed. Not all that was lost has been found. And we too, like the Israelites, sit in the waiting. We also wonder when He will redeem it all. When will He make everything new? When will He come to restore all this pain and wipe the tears from our eyes? We cling to His promise. We hope for His return. But as the days seem long with tears and grief, and our hearts ache for the child or children we have lost, it is so easy to lose sight of that hope.

Yet, this Christmas season gives us an opportunity to look back at the light that has already broken through the darkness. It is an opportunity to sit in a space of wonder, thinking of those who had waited for the Savior to come, and ponder what it must have been like to discover His coming. God has not forsaken us, and He has not been silent. As we celebrate the coming of our Savior, let us be reminded that Jesus—who came to bring life, hope, and restoration for all people—will come again. He will bring that life, hope, and restoration in all its fullness and glory. We know, see, and taste in part now. But one day we will taste it in full. So we cling to the hope that has come as we wait for all mankind to be redeemed.

Paul says in Romans 8:25 “But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.”

The Christmas season has become sweeter to me in the midst of the ache it surfaces as I miss my first two daughters. I am reminded with wonder of how Jesus’ coming enables me to have hope amid such a great loss, even as I sit in this advent season still waiting with longing for His return. And if He has already fulfilled His promise to come, I know that I can live in the hope that He will come again. This gives me freedom to not only grieve what is lost today, but grieve with a hope that it will not be lost forever.

Questions for reflection:

1. In what ways do you feel you are waiting for God to show up?
2. How does Jesus coming give you hope today?
3. Take time to ask Jesus to meet you this Christmas season with His hope amid your grief.

Lindsey lives in Orlando, Florida with her stud of a husband, Kevin. She has four beautiful children, two with Jesus and two in her arms today. She is the author of Buried Dreams: From Devastating Loss to Unimaginable Hope. You can find more of her writing on her personal blog at www.vaporandmist.com. You can also find her on Instagram at lindseydennis_.

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