Waiting! Yuk!!

"My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoice in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant" (Luke 1:46-48).

Hey Gang:  if I asked you what bugs you the most, how would you answer?  For me, it is easy, I hate to wait!  This morning I went to get my license renewed at the Secretary of State Office and was twenty fifth in line.  For the next hour as I waited, I fretted over the logs that were piled in my yard needing my attention and here I sat wasting precious time. 

 

Waiting is not a malady I learned as I grew more mature, it was inborn in me the day I was born.  I entered the world crying and demanding that I have my way immediately!  If you have ever taken a trip of more than six minutes with a small child in the back seat you have heard the question, "Are we almost there?" about every six seconds.    If you are a woman and have ever been pregnant, very likely you answered the question, "How soon?" a multitude of times.  This is especially so when the due date has come and gone. 

How many know there is a vast difference between the mundane waiting we are required to put up, as compared to the 400 years that the Jewish people had to endure between the end of the Old Covenant and the beginning of the New Covenant, when God was silent.

And, when the waiting ended, it came with a scandal.  A young couple, Mary and Joseph, were engaged and Mary announced to her husband,  "I am with child"!  Think about that, he's on a ladder doing the final finishing touch to the dry wall when Mary comes in and says, “You better come down from the ladder, I have something to tell you.  Today it is more common for that sort of thing to happen but not in Jewish society of that day.    Nothing escaped the gossip mill at the local water well.

Most guys would blow their tops but Joseph did not - he wanted to put her away quietly.  What he did not know is God sees things differently.  What was a scandal to Joseph was a solution to God.  God's major theme centered on "I want to give you a way to come back to me, so we can do life together."  Joseph had a minor, but a very important, role in this theme.  God's delivery system was an angel.  I suspect it took an angel to calm Joseph's nerves.  And notice - the angel visited while Joseph slept.

When the angel talked about the line of David, Joseph might have perked up, knowing the prophecies that had been taught through the ages.   There is the question- since God cannot tolerate sin in His presence, was Mary sin free during her pregnancy.  If you get two rabbi's together and ask this question, you would get at least three  interpretations. 

Keep in mind, sin has been in the human creature's DNA since Adam and Eve.  Not hardly that Mary could go sinless for that time, at least in the opinion of a majority of the folks.   As the old country preacher said, "When the hens get ta clucking around the town well, it turns even a saints eyes red".

Soooo,  We are in that period of what we call "mud- slinging"(election over, but campaigning never seems to stop)  when integrity and truth are set aside for the sake of gaining a seat in the ‘Belt Way’.  Each time one of the candidates slings another wad of mud, I am reminded of Jesus’ words, "How can you say to your brother, "Let me take the speck out of your eye," and behold, the log is in your own eye?"  (Matt.  7:4).

Blessings,

Gramps