My three-year-old niece has found waiting for Christmas grueling. The tree is decorated, the presents are sitting under it, what in the world are we waiting for she wonders?

Hoping to hurry Christmas along, she cut off the rest of the construction paper rings on the Christmas countdown chain that she and her mom made. She is so done.

Do you want to know a secret? Nobody likes waiting!

In a season of waiting, we (like my niece) may get tempted to either take matters into our own hand, or give up waiting altogether.

In his book, the prophet Zechariah foretold a time when God’s people would look back and see that they had been so tired of waiting on God that they had stopped waiting altogether. Because they were no longer looking expectantly to see the promises of God fulfilled, they missed the Messiah entirely.

Then, “they will look at me whom they pierced. They will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child and weep bitterly.” (Zech. 12:10)

On the other hand, at least two people had been waiting expectantly for the Messiah for decades and when baby Jesus was finally born, they didn’t miss a thing.

Both Simeon and the prophetess Anna had been serving God and waiting and watching day after day and at the moment that Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the temple to be dedicated, when everybody else saw a poor couple with an everyday baby, Simeon and Anna met the Messiah. (Luke 2)

I wonder how many times you and I miss what God is doing because we aren’t looking for Him anymore? This Christmas, let’s really look for Jesus.

We are so glad to have you in Bible study with us! If you miss a devotion, you can find them archived at https://comethirstyministry.com/blog/

Reading Plan- Week Fifty-One

Day One- Zechariah 9
Day Two- Zechariah 10
Day Three- Zechariah 11
Day Four- Zechariah 12
Day Five- Zechariah 13