Where Can We Find Hope?

Hope Is What Keeps Us Going

Advent began this past Sunday and goes until Christmas Eve. It is a season observed in most Christian denominations as a time of waiting and preparation for both the celebration of Jesus’ birth at Christmas and the return of Christ at the Second Coming.

There are four different themes of Advent: hope, peace, joy, and love. These aren’t just sentimental feelings tied to the holidays, but are a reality of life.

Advent is a time of hope!

In this current, fast-paced world, it can be hard to be patient and wait. We want things now.

It’s a little like the old Tootsie Pop commercial where the little boy asks the wise owl, “How many licks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop?” The owl starts licking and says, “One, two, three,” and then bites it.

This is an older commercial, but it shows the same kind of impatience.

It can be hard to be patient. When we don’t get what we want when we expect it, it can be disheartening.

The Christmas story begins with Jesus’ cousin, John, the son of Elizabeth and Zechariah. They were old and hadn’t had any children after years of waiting and wishing. They had lost hope. Then things changed. In Luke 1:5-25, Zechariah was visited by an angel who informed him that Elizabeth was going to have a baby.

There are three lessons that we can learn from Elizabeth and Zechariah’s story:

First, not everything is going to go the way we want. This may lead to blaming other people or beating ourselves up, convinced that things are going wrong because we aren’t worthy. As people, we don’t wait well.

Second, our unmet longings are a place where God can meet us. In an unexpected situation, Zechariah was told by an angel that Elizabeth was going to have a baby. He had to be willing to wait. We need to be willing to wait. Hope that is seen isn’t hope at all.

Third, the answers to our longings don’t always turn out the way we expect. John—living the life he did—is probably not what his parents imagined. But he had an important part in preparing the people for Jesus’ coming. We need to be open to what God’s answers are.

Hope is looking forward to what’s coming.