In the stock market, nanosecond waits to buy and sell can cost millions. In technology, a fraction of a second data transfer wait times can be the determination of if a new product can keep up. In track, a hundredths-of-a-second wait can mean second place. In relationships, waiting too long can mean no relationship. In the age where Star Trek inspired replicators are becoming office fixtures, video-chatting through a phone is archaic, and 4K streaming must be on demand, we have little time for waiting.

But for 4000 years, waiting was all they had time for. The balance of life had been knocked off kilter by sin, and there was nothing they could do to make life true and right and whole again except wait. Wait for what God had promised.

And though we possess that for which God’s people have waited, we still live in a waiting room. We wait for a place where things are right, we wait for redemption from this broken way of life. This Advent, we are waiting with vigilance, repentance, patience, and a promise.