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God's Waiting Room 

An Advent Prayer Resource

by Rachael Stone


We think a lot about waiting during Advent. In fact, it feels like we’ve been doing a lot of waiting this year. Waiting for news on the pandemic. Waiting to see which tier we’ll be placed in. Waiting to see how the latest restrictions will affect our lives. Waiting for news about a vaccine. Waiting and wondering where God is in all this…..

We are all missing fellowship, being able to meet in church and worship together as well as meeting together in our homes. We’re fed up with having to wear masks, not being able to sing, not being able to hug one another. Most of us would probably confess to feeling some some degree of frustration and loss.

I woke last night with a vivid impression that totally challenged the way I was looking at the situation….  a sense of God’s heart in this situation, his perspective instead of mine.

In that moment it was as if God said “The sense of loss and loneliness and separation you’re feeling now is how I have felt every time you’ve turned your face from me and pushed me into the background. You withhold your prayer and your worship from me and now you are getting a sense of my grief and loss”.

The second part of the picture was of a waiting room. People were sitting around the room, staring into space. It was as if God was saying “What are you going to do while you wait? Will you grumble because your appointment is late? Will you stare at the walls and grow frustrated and critical…or will you smile at others and start a conversation?”

Maybe we need to think completely differently about the times we’re living through. Maybe instead of longing for it all to be over so we can get on with our lives or asking why God is allowing it all to go on so long, we could try to discern what he wants from us during this time. Maybe he’s waiting for us to seek him with all our hearts so he can turn and heal us. Maybe he’s waiting for us to humble ourselves and pray so he can heal our land.

Father, please give me a fresh revelation of your heart in these times. Help me to lift my gaze from worldly concerns to heavenly perspectives. Help me to wait actively, not reactively. I turn to you….I seek your face.

2 Chronicles 7:13-15
Matthew 13:15