expectant

I’m not a mother myself, though I still hope to be someday. Even without the benefit of personal experience, I can never separate the word “expectant” from the adventure of childbirth. To me, it’s the perfect picture of all that word entails. Everything from joyful anticipation to anxious apprehension; the bliss and the discomfort; the excitement, pain, inconvenience, and hope; all of it is rolled up into that precious, holy season. Of course, this idea is not original to me. It’s woven into the story of Scripture from beginning to end. Over and over, God speaks to His people in terms of the cycle of life: growth and death, rebirth and new life. 

The most striking example of this, in my mind, is captured in The Message paraphrase:

All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it’s not only around us; it’s within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We’re also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don’t see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.

Romans 8:22-25 MSG

In the face of everyday realities like struggle and hardship and pain, how do we honestly hold to a hope that is solid and real? Of course, it’s the very thing we need most, that we’re desperate for, but when we’ve been knocked down so far, and held down for so long, it’s also the hardest thing to accept. When we’ve been crying out to God over and over, and it seems our prayers are just bouncing off the ceiling, when our God-given dreams seem like they’ve turned to dust and ash, and the pain and the brokenness and the weight of our own darkness just go on and on and on … Where is the grace to hope? How do we find the spiritual strength to approach a new year with expectancy? Are we done dreaming? Maybe we should just settle for survival …

from barrenness to birth

But that’s exactly what I love about these verses: the pain, the discomfort, the anguish, the groaning … birth pangs! They’re all proof that the life God has implanted is preparing to be born. And not only in us, in our personal lives and families and communities, but in all creation, in all the world, as God works out His Kingdom plan in every dimension. It’s going to get messy, it’s going to be hard, but He is moving, life is stirring. This is all part of the process.

And we feel the pain, because “These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance.” Just think of how many times in Scripture barrenness comes as a prelude to the fulfillment of God’s promises! Sarah and Rebekah and Rachel, Ruth and Hannah and Elizabeth — and probably more I’m forgetting — the yearning to bring forth life, to experience deliverance. Beyond the specific experience of childbirth, we remember the Hebrew children in Egypt, the Maccabees at Hanukkah, the Jewish nation longing for a Messiah, and even the household of faith today, the Spirit and Bride and the very saints under heaven’s altar, crying out for Him to return — how long, oh Lord?! — to make all things right, to make all things new.

enlarged in the waiting

I have intimately experienced the theme of waiting in my own life — waiting for a husband and family of my own; waiting to walk more fully in my calling; waiting for the right time to write the book, to start the ministry, that the Lord has placed on my heart; waiting to see God-given dreams realized, my relationships with Him and with others come into greater fulfillment — but who among us has not experienced a season many seasons of waiting? How many of us are in one now? Indeed, much of the Christian journey could be captured in the idea of waiting. Surely, it’s one of God’s favorite tools for shaping the lives of His saints. For there is such a place of intimacy with Him when we commit ourselves to waiting well. Such trust is developed when we submit our will to His, no matter how long the wait, rather than going our own way and creating an Ishmael.

For remember this: the waiting does not diminish us. Just like a pregnant mother, “we are [being] enlarged in the waiting” — strengthened, enabled, prepared — ready not only to give birth to the promise God has implanted, but to sustain and nurture it, to shape it and see it grow into maturity. The waiting is purposeful; the pain has meaning and value. And if we can learn to embrace it, rather than shun and fear it, not only will we experience greater joy in the waiting, but we will actually ease the process of delivery! 

For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do NOT see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.

Romans 8:24-25 NASB, emphasis added

Notice that the time to hope is not when things are going well, when we’re feeling good and things are coming together, and it seems like all our prayers have been answered. These are times to rejoice, absolutely! And to feel gratitude and express thanksgiving … but that’s not the same as hope. Hope, according to the Apostle Paul, is for what we do NOT see. When time is running out, we’re up against a wall, we’re weary and frustrated and weak because our prayers have been met with silence, and nothing seems to be going our way … This is exactly when hope comes in! Believe it or not, all our waiting is training us in perseverance, equipping us with just what we need to finish out the waiting process eagerly, expectantly, until the fullness of God’s promise is delivered.

stirring our hope

I don’t know what it is you’re waiting for in this season, friend, or what hopes you have buried so deep you barely remember they’re there. But I do know this: He who promised is faithful. And I am asking Him to stir within each of us the breath of His promise that we do not see, but with hope, we wait for expectantly. 

Would you do something for me right now? Would you take a few moments to sit in silence and seek the heart of God on this thing? What is that most impossible, completely outrageous, unseen hope that His Spirit is prompting you right now to ask Him for? It probably seems impossible, like it’s too late or too selfish, or He couldn’t truly mean that. And then, once He’s shown you, do one thing more: write it down. Write it as a prayer, as a conversation, as an offering, and surrender it into His loving hands. Don’t be vague or general, but specific enough so that when He answers, you will have no doubt of His heart for you. For it’s not the promise we are placing our trust in here, friend; we place our trust, our hope, our expectancy, in the Giver of every good gift, in the Lover of our souls. If He is the one planting the seed inside your spirit, you can believe with everything in you that He will cause it to bear fruit in His time.

After you’ve written down your God-given hope, seal it up and put it somewhere special, so you’ll remember to come back to it in a year’s time. As the year unfolds, continue lifting it to our Lord in prayer, and just watch what our mighty God will accomplish in the face of these “hopeless” circumstances or “impossible” situations. For, as one very special expectant mother was reminded: “Nothing will be impossible with God!” (Luke 1:37)

Blessings on your hope, dear friend! May the Lord of Life lift up your head and stir His promises in you so that you walk forth, expectant, into the new year ahead.