(The following is the December 15 devotional from my Next Step Devotions book. Before reading it, I suggest you read Revelation 11 and pay close attention to verses 15-18.)
Waiting is a normal part of life. We wait in traffic, in shopping lines, for family members to come home, for food to finish cooking, and other daily routines. We experience more significant waits pursuing an education, finding a spouse, advancing in our career, raising children to adulthood, and other life achievements. Our most extended wait is for the fulfillment of God’s promise to his children of spending eternity with him. We must wait until this life ends for the one in his presence to begin.
Whether something is worth the wait depends on how much we value it. I may willingly spend five minutes in line for fast food, but not an hour. However, I may gladly wait an hour with my wife for a fine meal at a superb restaurant on our wedding anniversary. The latter is more valuable than the former, so I’ll wait longer.
As we wait for God to fulfill his promises, it’s good to read them to remind ourselves that the time is coming. It may be moments or many years away, but it’s coming. We glimpse what is ahead in several remarkable things that happen at the sound of the seventh trumpet in Revelation 11. Voices in heaven say: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever” (v. 15). The 24 elders fall before God and worship, proclaiming: “The time has come for the dead to be judged and to give the reward to your servants the prophets, to the saints, and to those who fear your name, both small and great, and the time has come to destroy those who destroy the earth” (v. 18).
At the sound of that trumpet, our longest wait will end. It will be worth the wait and everything we endure until then.
Next Step:
How much of your day do you spend waiting? How patient are you in those times? What do you anticipate most about life with Christ in eternity, and what are you willing to endure for him until that day?
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