The Waiting Was Worth It: Lessons from Israel’s Long Expectation

There’s something about waiting for something you really want that makes time feel different.

When you’re excited about something, the days can seem to move slowly.

You check the calendar.

You count the weeks.

You wonder how much longer.

And when the waiting stretches longer than you expected, something changes.

You begin to wonder if it’s still going to happen at all.

Maybe you’ve experienced that in your own life.

You’ve prayed for something.

You’ve hoped for something.

You’ve held onto a promise.

And you’ve waited.

And waited.

And waited some more.

Sometimes the hardest part isn’t the waiting itself.

It’s wondering if the waiting means God has forgotten.

As we move toward Christmas, I think there is something beautiful we can learn from the people of Israel.

For generations, they waited for the promised Messiah.

They had heard the promises.

They had read the prophecies.

They had remembered what God had said.

And still, they waited.

Generation after generation came and went.

But God had not forgotten.

The promise was still moving toward fulfillment.

And then, in the fullness of time, Jesus came.

The waiting was worth it.

And perhaps that is a reminder your heart needs today.

God’s People Had Been Waiting a Long Time

When we open the New Testament and read about the birth of Jesus, it can almost feel like the story begins with Mary and Joseph.

But it didn't.

The story of Jesus begins much earlier.

God had been preparing His people for the coming Messiah through generations of promises.

The prophets spoke of a coming King.

A Savior.

A Deliverer.

A light.

Someone who would bring hope to God's people.

Isaiah spoke of the coming child:

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given.”
— Isaiah 9:6

Imagine hearing a promise like that and then waiting.

And waiting.

And waiting.

The people of Israel lived through seasons of suffering, political uncertainty, foreign rulers, disappointment, and spiritual longing.

Yet God's promise remained.

This is important because sometimes we read Scripture knowing how the story ends.

We know Jesus came.

We know Bethlehem.

We know the manger.

We know the angels.

We know the cross and the empty tomb.

But the people who lived before Jesus came didn't have the privilege of looking backward at the completed story.

They were looking forward.

They were waiting for God to fulfill what He had promised.

And that kind of waiting requires faith.

Waiting Doesn't Mean God Is Doing Nothing

One of the hardest things about waiting is that we often confuse silence with inactivity.

If we can't see something happening, we assume nothing is happening.

But God's timing doesn't work according to what we can see.

Think about a seed buried in the ground.

From the outside, it looks like nothing is happening.

But underneath the soil, something is taking place.

Roots are forming.

Growth is beginning.

The seed is becoming something it wasn't before.

Israel's waiting reminds us that God's promises can be moving toward fulfillment even when His people cannot see the process.

God wasn't absent during the waiting.

He wasn't distracted.

He hadn't changed His mind.

He was working according to His perfect timing.

And that matters for us too.

Maybe you're in a waiting season right now.

Maybe you've prayed for something and haven't seen the answer.

Maybe you're wondering why God hasn't opened the door.

Maybe you're asking why the situation hasn't changed.

Can I encourage you with this?

Silence does not mean absence.

Just because you cannot see what God is doing doesn't mean He isn't doing something.

Simeon Shows Us What Faithful Waiting Looks Like

When we reach Luke 2, we meet a man named Simeon.

Luke tells us that Simeon was righteous and devout and that he was “waiting for the consolation of Israel.” The Holy Spirit was upon him, and he had received a promise that he would see the Lord's Messiah before he died.

I love that Luke describes him as someone who was waiting.

Waiting wasn't a footnote in Simeon's story.

It was part of his story.

He lived with expectation.

He trusted that God's promise would come to pass.

And then one ordinary day, Simeon went into the temple.

Mary and Joseph arrived with their baby.

And Simeon saw Him.

The baby didn't look like a king.

There was no palace.

No army.

No crown.

No great public announcement happening around Simeon.

Just a baby being brought to the temple.

But Simeon recognized what others might have missed.

This was Jesus.

The promised Savior.

The One Israel had been waiting for.

And Simeon's response is beautiful.

He took Jesus in his arms and praised God.

He said:

“Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation.”
— Luke 2:29–30

Can you imagine that moment?

Years of waiting.

Years of hoping.

And suddenly, the promise was in his arms.

What If Simeon Had Given Up?

We aren't told exactly how long Simeon had been waiting.

But we do know that he had lived with expectation.

And at some point, he could have become discouraged.

He could have thought:

Maybe it isn't going to happen.

Maybe I misunderstood.

Maybe God has forgotten.

But he kept waiting.

And because he kept waiting, he was there when the promise arrived.

There's something here for us.

Sometimes we want to give up just before something changes.

We don't know God's timeline.

We don't know how long the waiting will last.

And that's what makes waiting so difficult.

But we can know God's character.

He is faithful.

He keeps His promises.

He does not forget what He has said.

The waiting may be longer than we expected.

But God's faithfulness is not dependent on our timeline.

Anna Kept Worshiping While She Waited

And then Luke introduces us to another person who had been waiting.

Her name was Anna.

Luke describes her as a prophetess who was advanced in years. She had been widowed and spent her time in the temple worshiping, fasting, and praying. When she saw Jesus, she gave thanks to God and began telling others about Him to those who were waiting for Jerusalem's redemption.

I love the picture of Anna.

She didn't spend her waiting season doing nothing.

She worshiped.

She prayed.

She fasted.

She stayed close to God.

And when the promise came, she recognized it.

What if waiting isn't simply about how long we can endure?

What if waiting is about how deeply we learn to know God while we're waiting?

That's a different way to look at it.

Instead of asking only:

“How much longer?”

We can begin asking:

“Lord, what are You teaching me while I wait?”

That question can change the way we experience a season of waiting.

Waiting Can Prepare Our Hearts

Sometimes we think the purpose of waiting is simply to make us patient.

And yes, God can certainly develop patience in us.

But there can be so much more happening.

Waiting can soften our hearts.

It can teach us dependence.

It can help us recognize God's voice.

It can expose our desire for control.

It can deepen our prayer life.

It can teach us to appreciate the answer when it finally comes.

Think about Simeon.

He didn't just see a baby.

He recognized salvation.

His waiting had shaped his ability to recognize what God was doing.

Perhaps some of your waiting is preparing you to recognize something God is doing that you might otherwise overlook.

Perhaps God is working on your heart before He changes your circumstances.

Perhaps He is teaching you to trust Him before He gives you the thing you've been asking for.

We don't always know what God is doing in the waiting.

But we can trust that He is not wasting it.

The Promise Came Differently Than Expected

There's another lesson here that I don't want us to miss.

Jesus came.

But He didn't come in the way many people expected.

Israel was waiting for the Messiah.

But Jesus came as a baby.

He wasn't born in a palace.

He didn't arrive with political power.

He came quietly.

Humbly.

In Bethlehem.

That reminds us that God's answer may not always look like what we imagined.

Sometimes we have already decided what the answer needs to look like.

We tell God what we want.

We picture how He will fix the situation.

We imagine what the blessing will be.

And then God works differently.

Not necessarily worse.

Just differently.

The people waiting for the Messiah had expectations.

But God's plan was bigger than their expectations.

And sometimes we need to leave room for God to surprise us.

God's Timing Is Not Late

I think one of the hardest thoughts we can carry during a waiting season is:

God is late.

But God is never late.

He may not work according to our preferred schedule.

But His timing is not careless.

Galatians 4:4 says:

“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son.”

The fullness of time.

Not too early.

Not too late.

The right time.

Jesus came when God knew the time was right.

And that gives us something to hold onto when we're waiting for our own answers.

We may not know the timing.

But God does.

You may look at your calendar and wonder why nothing has changed.

God sees the whole picture.

You see today.

He sees the beginning, the middle, and the end.

That's why trust matters.

What Are You Waiting For?

Let's make this personal.

What are you waiting for right now?

Maybe it's something you've been praying about for a long time.

Maybe you've almost stopped praying because you're tired of hoping.

Maybe you're waiting for restoration.

For direction.

For provision.

For healing.

For a relationship to change.

For an opportunity.

For an answer.

Maybe you're waiting for something you don't even know how to put into words.

Take a moment with me.

Bring that thing to mind.

Now imagine Simeon.

He waited.

Anna waited.

Generations waited.

And then Jesus came.

What if you could bring your waiting to God without needing to know exactly when the answer will come?

What if you could say:

“Lord, I don't know how long this will take. But I trust You with the timing.”

That's a prayer of faith.

Not because waiting is easy.

But because God is faithful.

Don't Waste the Waiting

If you're in a waiting season, I want to encourage you not to waste it.

You don't have to spend every day wondering when the answer will come.

You can live faithfully today.

Pray today.

Worship today.

Love people today.

Open your Bible today.

Serve today.

Rest today.

Give thanks today.

You can still experience God's goodness while you're waiting for something else.

This is where gratitude becomes so important.

Because waiting can cause us to focus so heavily on what we don't have that we forget what God has already given us.

We can become so focused on the unanswered prayer that we overlook the answered ones.

So today, look around.

What has God already done?

Who has He placed in your life?

What prayers has He already answered?

What small blessings have you received?

What Scripture has encouraged you?

Where have you seen His faithfulness?

Sometimes the waiting becomes easier when we remember.

The Blessing of Remembering

Israel had a long history of remembering what God had done.

Again and again, Scripture calls God's people to remember His faithfulness.

Why?

Because we are forgetful.

We can remember the problem and forget the provision.

We can remember the waiting and forget the ways God has already carried us.

We can remember what hasn't happened and overlook what has.

So when you're waiting, remember.

Remember the prayers God has answered.

Remember the doors He has opened.

Remember the moments He sustained you.

Remember the Scriptures that carried you.

Remember the people He placed beside you.

Remember the times you thought you wouldn't make it through and somehow, by God's grace, you did.

Your history with God can become an anchor for your current waiting.

A Few Questions to Sit With

Before you move on, take a few quiet moments with these questions:

• What am I waiting for God to do right now?
• Have I allowed the length of the waiting to make me question God's faithfulness?
• What can Simeon teach me about waiting with hope?
• What can Anna teach me about worshiping while I wait?
• Where have I seen God's faithfulness in the past?
• Am I willing to let God answer in His way and in His timing?
• What can I thank God for today, even before the answer comes?

You don't have to rush through these.

Write them in your journal.

Talk to God about them.

Let the waiting become a place where you meet Him.

A Prayer for the Waiting Season

Father,

You know what I am waiting for.

You know the prayers I've prayed over and over.

You know the hopes I've carried and the moments when I've wondered if the answer will ever come.

Help me remember that You are faithful.

When I become discouraged, remind me of Your promises.

When I feel forgotten, remind me that You see me.

When I want to rush ahead, teach me to trust Your timing.

Help me, like Simeon, to wait with hope.

Help me, like Anna, to keep worshiping and praying even when I don't know how long the waiting will last.

And when the answer finally comes, help me recognize Your hand in it.

Thank You for sending Jesus at the fullness of time.

Thank You that Your promises are not forgotten.

Thank You that You are still working even when I cannot see what You are doing.

Give me grace for today.

Give me patience for tomorrow.

And help me trust You with everything in between.

In Jesus' name,

Amen.

The Waiting Was Worth It

The story of Israel's long expectation ultimately leads us to Jesus.

Generations waited.

Prophets spoke.

Families remembered.

Faithful people hoped.

And then, one night in Bethlehem, the waiting began to look different.

The Savior had come.

The promise had taken on flesh.

God had not forgotten.

He had been faithful all along.

And maybe that's the reminder you need as you walk through your own waiting season.

God has not forgotten you.

The waiting may feel long.

The answer may not look the way you expected.

The timing may be different from what you hoped.

But God is still faithful.

So keep praying.

Keep worshiping.

Keep opening His Word.

Keep remembering.

Keep trusting.

You don't have to know when the answer will come.

You can simply trust the One who holds the answer.

Because when God fulfills His promises, we often look back and realize something we couldn't see while we were waiting:

The waiting was worth it.

And perhaps the greatest gift of all isn't simply that God eventually gives us what we've been waiting for.

It's that He teaches us, in the waiting, that Jesus is worth waiting for.

Keep Your Heart Focused on God's Faithfulness

As you continue preparing your heart for Christmas, I want to encourage you to make room for gratitude.

Not just gratitude for the things you're still hoping for, but gratitude for the things God has already done.

If you want to grow in the daily practice of trusting God, I want to invite you to join us in our 52 week journey of monthly 30-day journaling adventures by the Campfire series. It's an experience you won't want to miss to grow your faith. 👉 Check out The Campfire Experience 2027👈

It's a simple way to slow down, notice God's goodness, and intentionally remember the blessings that can so easily get overlooked.

Because sometimes we need to remember what God has already done while we're waiting to see what He will do next.

So if you're in a waiting season today, don't lose heart.

Remember Simeon.

Remember Anna.

Remember Israel's long expectation.

And most of all, remember Jesus.

God keeps His promises.

His timing is trustworthy.

And His faithfulness is worth waiting for.