We’re getting super close to Christmas now and there’s a lot of excitement in our house. We’ve just about finished all the shopping we need to do (we’re super organised this year) and have all the presents we’ve gathered for our son stored in a secret place where he won’t stumble onto them. The reality is even if he did know where they are he is old enough to understand that he shouldn’t see them yet, but the knowledge of them being there and not being able to get them would be torture for him.

I know how he feels;

It’s a difficult thing to know that there is something available that will benefit us or give us enjoyment that we aren’t able to have yet

The temptation in moments like this is to cut out the waiting and try and find the thing we know is there. If it’s for us and it’s good then why would we wait? I could understand why my son might think “just give the presents to me now – I’m gonna get it anyway so why wait?”

Sound familiar?

However, like everyone knows there is something super rewarding about waiting for those gifts and having the anticipated joy of opening them together on Christmas morning. In a strange way we might say that even though the presents are currently available we, and they, only become ‘ready’ to open on Christmas morning. There’s something about the hiddenness and delay of those gifts that actually builds something in us that comes to fruition on Christmas Day.

I know I’m stretching the analogy a little here but work with me!!!

I was once told, and I totally believe, that God doesn’t hide things from us but that He hides things for us. In a similar way to us hiding presents for loved ones, there is something important in the ‘hiding’ process that is super important we don’t miss. We see this in so many ways throughout the scriptures. Whether it is Abraham and Sarah’s wait for a child, Joseph and the gap between the dreams he received from God and the fruition of it in Egypt, Moses and the Israelites time wandering in the desert, David and his anointing but delay to become King, or the wait for Israel in receiving the Messiah, there are many times where the promised solution seems hidden from the receiver.

With hindsight we can see the timing of the Lord was perfect in each scenario and if He had delivered the promise at the precise moment He spoke it the receivers would have been unable to handle it. Abraham and Sarah hadn’t built the trust God required, Joseph didn’t have the maturity for the responsibility God had planned, Moses needed to control his fear and anger, David needed to learn to lead, and Israel needed to learn obedience.

God wants to bless us but He needs to ensure we can handle the blessing.

That all sounds really nice of course and we can nod along at sentiments like this……but the reality is the waiting can be excruciating. I don’t just mean like the wait a kid experiences in the anticipation of Christmas morning, I mean real pain. Abraham and Sarah were heartbroken at their inability to conceive, Joseph spent years in captivity and his dad believed he was dead for all those years, Moses and the Israelites struggled and experienced much loss, David was on the run for his life and the Israelites had experienced the oppression of the Greeks and the Romans – the waiting, the ‘hiding’, was no joke.

I understand why people might ask whether the pain was necessary. I understand why we might be frustrated at God for not intervening quicker or revealing the final outcome which would solve everything. I’ve been there and I’ve asked those questions.

But I’m simply learning to trust

Just like my son might not understand why we would delay the gift giving I need to trust that God knows way more than I do. Even if I might experience pain in the process, and I don’t believe that pain comes directly from God, I have to rest in the fact, to sort of quote Paul, that this present pain is nothing in comparison to the glory that God has in store for me.

If you’re experiencing that hiddenness today , just rest in His arms and trust that the good Father knows just what you need when you need it. If you haven’t received what you believe He has promised trust that it will come when it and you are fully ready.

Christmas is coming