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One of my high school classmates who has been married for ten years is still childless. The couple and their friends have offered sacrifices and prayers for a child to no avail. One day, the wife called me up to say that she missed her monthly visit twice in a row already. She was jubilant. But her doctor informed her that she tested negative. She was so disappointed because what she has been longing for proved to be a false alarm. The husband comforted his sobbing wife: “It does not mean that because we do not have a child today, we will no longer have one in the future.”
The husband is like the prophet Isaiah who faces a discouraged Israel. Israel had been expecting salvation and a Messiah who would deliver them from oppression. But they were told: “The Messiah is indeed to come, Do not be impatient. You must carry on. If the Child is not born in our time, He will be in our next generation.”
Some people laughed at Isaiah. But we know now that he was right because a child was born to Israel –Jesus Emmanuel. And Jesus fulfills the promise as He says, “Come to me, you who are restless and I will give you rest. I am the fulfillment of the promise and all My words will be fulfilled.”
Let us ask the Lord to deliver us from the temptation of impatience and from doubt that God listens. God answers prayers. Isaiah told us that God answers prayers and a Child was born. To us, children will continue to be born. Children who will give us hope, children who are God’s promise to us.
Let us not give up. Sometimes when we pray, the Lord says, “Yes,” immediately. Other times, He says, “No,” momentarily. But very often, He says, “Wait for the right time.”
HOPING AGAINST HOPE
Is 9:5
Jesus In My Heart
