Misplaced Desires

I love looking to the future and imagining what might be. I dream about things that are sometimes impossibly far off. Allowing my thoughts to wander in this way is not always a pleasant experience. I get frustrated seeing the difference between reality and my imagined future. My struggles with anxiety stem in part from this gap in my life and in the world. Nothing is ever quite where I would like it to be.

Generation after generation of people in Israel were subjected to such anxiety. They longed for a promised Messiah who would establish their kingdom once and for all. In reading the prophets we don’t see a nostalgic people looking back to the good ole days of David and Solomon. Instead we usually see them looking forward to the coming King.

You’d think a couple hundred years of watching and waiting for this one thing would have helped them recognize Jesus when he finally came on the scene. I know when I finally get what I want I usually notice! Yet we read in John “He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.”

What a tragedy that in all of their waiting and longing they missed it! They had attached all sorts of longings and desires and hopes to the Messiah that they shouldn’t have. When He finally shows up, their primary concerns were these extras desires that fell outside of what they should have truly been looking for.

This has me wondering what works of God I miss in my life because of misplaced desires. Do I long for God himself or simply for benefits that I see him bringing in my life? In my impatience in waiting for God to bring change do I miss seeing God at work in significant ways?

The Advent season is about waiting. It marks Israel’s ancient longing for a Messiah but also our current longing for His return. We are reminded in many places in scripture to be alert and attentive as we wait for the Lord. We have a sure and hopeful expectation for God to fulfill all his promises in and through Jesus Christ. So we, too, continue to wait.

This year, take an inventory of what hopes you have for God’s work in your life. Like Israel, are political, financial, or social desires of first importance? Or is your heart like Simeon’s who, after many long years of waiting, looked upon the baby Jesus with joy. Just seeing and being with Jesus was enough for him and so it should be for us. May your praise this Christmas be like that of Simeon’s in the temple those many years ago:

            “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.”