Scripture Readings:"Mark 1:1-4, Isaiah 9:6-7" HOPE and Wait,  WAIT and Hope The first Advent reading each year is usually about hope. Have you ever stopped to think about HOPE, what it means, what is required?  Hebrews 6:19 calls hope an anchor saying “ We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.” Hope is an anchor for our soul. Hope is what keeps us going when things are tough. Hope is the engine that makes us want to persevere. But hope requires waiting.   Hope is the anticipation of a future something. Without waiting there is no hope. We wait for visits from family or friends.   We wait for test results from the doctor. we wait for the birth of a new grandchild.   And we hope. For fun times, good outcomes, a beautiful baby. We have hope in our waiting. But waiting is required . Wait a minute. Wait a month. Or even years or lifetimes. We don’t like to wait, whether it’s in traffic or the waiting room, or in line at the store....

Exodus 17: 1-6 The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as the LORD commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. So they quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses replied, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the LORD to the test?” But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?” Then Moses cried out to the LORD, “What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.” The LORD answered Moses, “Go out in front of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Is...

Isaiah 40:31 (ESV) but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength;    they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary;    they shall walk and not faint. This verse was in two devotions today, two.  That means I should pay attention, right?  some translations say "trust" instead of "wait".  When I read the translation with "trust", my attention wasn't stirred.  But when I read the same verse with the translation "wait", it got my attention. You see, I trust God.  I firmly believe that He will take care of me to use for His purposes and to prepare me for life in eternity with Him. But it never occurred to me that one manifestation of my trust was waiting for God.  Psalm 40:1 which was also part of my devotional reading today says " I waited patiently for the LORD..." I'm thinking that the point I'm supposed to get today is that even though I say I trust the Lord, I am not demonst...